Shinobi Series - Part 7

The GG Shinobi (1991)
By: Sega Genre: Platform/Fighting Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Sega Game Gear First Day Score: 000,000
Also Available For: Nothing
Download For: 3DS Virtual Console

This great, now-celebrated series was only four games old but it had already started looking as though it was heading downhill. The original game and the MegaDrive sequel were both widely acclaimed (with good reason) but Shadow Dancer (both versions) less so, and Cyber Shinobi, the series' only Master System exclusive, was not well received at all. The next title would need to be a corker or Musashi-san might be heading for the gaming retirement home. Luckily for keen assassins such as myself and no doubt many of you, it looked as though the title in question might restore Joe's crown as gaming's top ninja! In an effort to push their shiny new handheld, Sega made the game an exclusive for it. Known simply (and slightly confusingly) as 'Shinobi' outside Japan, fans always refer to it these days by it's Japanese title - The GG Shinobi - and here's a look at it.

Set in Neo City, you once again find yourself in the shoes (or tabi?) of the legendary Musashi-san who finds himself faced with a 'powerful dark force' that has set up base in the city. Other ninjas sent from The Master of the Oboro school have all failed to return and are assumed captured, so it's the player's job to not only vanquish this terrible force but also rescue the bumbling oafs who got themselves caught. This is done over five side-scrolling areas. The four outlying areas - Highway, Valley, Harbor, and Woodland - can be tackled in any order and consist of two, two, three, and two stages respectively, followed by a boss battle. They're also each home to one of the four kidnapped ninjas who are creatively-named Blue, Yellow, Pink, and Green (with Joe himself being 'Red'). These colourful fellows all have unique abilities too which, as you might imagine, adds quite a bit to the design of the stages.

All ninjas can walk/jump but that's about all they have in common. Joe 'Red' Musashi has been significantly downgraded since the previous games and now only has a sword with which to attack his terrible foes. Getting through the Highway stage, however, will give you Pink who can throw bombs and stick to ceilings; the Valley stage will give you Blue who carries a kaginawa (grappling hook) which can be used as a weapon and also to hook onto pegs found here and there to swing across gaps; after Harbor you'll have Yellow who has an energy ball attack which can be charged, and he can also walk on water; lastly, finishing the Woodland stage gives you Green who throws shurikens and can perform the somersault jump that Joe has apparently forgotten since Revenge of Shinobi. Each of them also has their own ninja magic which are handy too. After this, you'll have all your ninja buddies and must venture bravely into the city centre where things get a little floopy.

Many areas in the preceding stages feature the odd bonus that only a particular ninja can reach, which I guess means it doesn't matter which order you 'do' them in, but the final area is made up of lots of smaller stages/rooms that can't even be exited without a particular talent. There are a lot of them too, with various bosses interspersed between them. In fact, this final area takes about as long to get through as all four of the previous ones combined! You could perhaps even consider them four training areas to get you used to using each colour of ninja, or you could if they were a bit easier anyway. Indeed, it's a pretty tough game right from the off really. The Highway area sees Joe jumping across a succession of moving vehicles and the Valley area sees him balancing on logs flowing down a river while Wonder Women throw bones and ninjas jump out of the water, for example.

The other stages take place in/on things like a skyscraper, caverns, a cargo ship, treetops and others, and they are populated by a variety of enemies, most of whom seem to like throwing or shooting things at Joe and his colourful companions! He/they get an energy meter so we're not in one-hit-death territory, and you can pick up more health and ninja magics along the way, but GG Shinobi is still among the trickiest of the games in the series so far. There aren't a huge number of enemies and they don't respawn, they're just a pain in the arse much of the time! They take the form of soldiers, ninjas, hammer dudes, amazons, and various other thugs and martial artists with unique weapons; nothing new there but their placement can cause problems, especially the first time you encounter them as many leap at you from off-screen, and you can't even hit them until they've landed on a platform!

The stages are designed excellently for the most part though. Certain sections remind me of past games in the series but there are plenty of original ideas and some interesting locales, and there is a lot of variety visually too. I really like the visual style actually; the colours and level of detail are just right and suit the GG's display well. The audio is even better. I forgot how good somehow, which I shouldn't have since the soundtrack is once again a mighty Yuzo Koshiro effort, and it has been my favourite GG game since its release. It may be pretty tough but it's not the kind of tough that will have you punching the screen. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was a fantastic game at the time, challenging in the right way and varied enough to keep you interested even after you've finished it. A superb sequel that has aged very well, and one that's well worthy of the great name. Still one of the GG's best titles.

RKS Score: 9/10

Gameplay Video: here's a video of the whole game being played by one of the talented fellows at World of Longplays (check out their great channel here). Oh, and don't watch if you want to avoid spoilers!