RF Generation Message Board

Next month get ready to throw more stars than a Kindergarten teacher grading papers....


September 1st - 10th - Shadow Dancer (February 1991)
September 11th - 20th - The Revenge of Shinobi (December 1989)
September 21st - 30th - Shinobi III: Return of the Master Ninja (July 1993)


PARTICIPANTS:
singlebanana
GrayGhost81
Mr. Stubbes
Disposed Hero
MetalFRO

Finally! We're playing Ninja Hamster!

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e9/NinjaHamsterC64TitleScreen.png)

I'm sensing a ninja theme...

Aw yeah!

[img width=350 height=546]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W0UW-cc4l6c/UOU-U2TcWCI/AAAAAAAAA8o/rKqnDFhZUP0/s1600/Wrath%2Bof%2Bthe%2BBlack%2BManta.JPG[/img]

Cybershadow as a real guess

I would be so in for this play-through.


I would also be on board for this ;)

Fingers crossed for Ninja Golf on the 7800

I wish, it would give me an excuse to shell out the stoopid amount to buy it.

I don't think I've ever played a shinobi game, now I get to play three of them. I'm in!

I'll try to make time for these in September. I played Shadow Dancer a ton as a kid and will always have a soft spot for it. I've only dabbled with the other two games but I know they're good.

These games also have really cool music, and Revenge of Shinobi is a Yuzo Koshiro OST too, so the music in that game is especially awesome. The boss fight theme in particular has always really stood out to me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGnEg085j6U

Well, assuming I have more time for gaming next month than I have during August so far, I'll have to be in for this! I have all 3 on Genesis, and this would be a good excuse to put some real time into them. Been forever since I fired up Revenge or Shadow Dancer, and I haven't played Shinobi III in a few months.

I'm going to join in too... I'm sorry I've not been more active in the forums for the play through.   I've been visiting lots of Dr's lately and not getting a chance to finish them.

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Started playing Shadow Dancer yesterday to try and and get a feel for the game. I’ve never really been good at games like these but I feel like with enough practice and attempts I should be able to make my way through these games. I was able to get to 3-2 before running out of continues. Also why do my lives go down every time I start a level? I haven’t really focused on it too much but I feel like you would have to use a continue at some point even if you never die.

So the counting down who you start the stage adds you life back to it, so if you have 4 lives left it will say 5 until you start. It's confusing.  I started and got to 2-2.  I'm sucking at this.

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Started Shadow Dancer today. After three full plays, I ended up making it to the last stage, Level 5, Room 4. I agree that the game is a bit trial and error with some memorization, but the stages are so short and none of them super difficult. Most stages have 1 good place to use your special, so I  typically find that spot and make good use of it. Also, the dog is super helpful, especially against the enemies with guns. The bosses are fairly easy to figure out after a few attempts. Unless there's a drastic difficulty spike, I can see myself finishing this game.

I also found if you stay to one side or the other  on the bonus stage you'll get all 50 every timr

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Nice! I think if you get at least 47, you get an extra life.

I think it’s 50 for 3, 49 for 2 and 48 for one. Or you can do what I do and do absolutely nothing kill 0 ninjas and get a free life.

That's what I've found while playing this morning. I've only managed to get 50 once, but I can get 48 or 49 pretty consistently by moving Shinobi to about 1/3 in from the left side of the screen, and tapping the attack button fairly rapidly.

4-1 is where it gets real. The game ramps up in difficulty a fair bit at that point. I also managed to get to Round 5, Room 4, and burned my last continue just learning rooms 1-3. But with a little persistence, I think I can probably beat this game. I've never managed to get this far before, but then I've never played this game very seriously. It's one I would just pop in, play for a bit, have some fun, and move on. I will say the stage 1 and 2 boss have just enough randomness to their attacks that they can be a bit frustrating. It's odd that Sega chose to make a "new" game for the Mega Drive/Genesis instead of just porting the arcade game. I wonder what the reason was for doing so, because it basically uses the same template and mechanics, but with all new areas. Seems like more work than bringing the arcade game forward.

Well, Sega did release it on the Master System. I would think that at the time, they made or ported a game and moved on. It's not like today where everything that's remotely popular gets a remaster.

Something I've discovered in playing today is that there's a hidden 1up in most stages. I don't think there's 1 in every stage, but I've found a 1up in most of them. These are uncovered by throwing shuriken at specific spots in the level. Sometimes it will be along the ground, sometimes up in the air. Between that, and the bonus stages, it can certainly help with the tougher areas, like Room 4 and 5 in Round 5, or 4-1. That final boss battle, however, continues to skunk me.

The stage 1ups can also be revealed by using the Special.

That makes sense, since that's an attack type, though unless you have trouble right in the area where the 1ups are at, it seems wasteful, since you only have 1 magic use per life. There are a couple instances where I think that makes sense, though, like Round 5, Room 5, with the 1up that's right above the door before the final boss, and there's that large group of gray ninja that just swarm you.

You only have one special per life, but that special regenerates every stage, but not each room.

Anyway, I was able to beat Shadow Dancer today. I really enjoyed this one and pumped to start Revenge. Gonna miss my doggie though...
 Can't post pics because Imgur is being a wanker (currently watching lots of Ted Lasso atm). So here a link to my Instagram for those who have it:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTppjOZr1BF/?utm_medium=copy_link

I started Revenge of Shinobi today and I have to say, this game really feels like a step back.....but of course it is.  I wanted to play these in release order and got the dates wrong as I originally used the release date of the Shadow Dancer arcade version, which release earlier in the same year as Revenge of Shinobi; however, the Genesis port was released a few years later.  Maybe it's just me, but this game feels really stiff and rigid.  The double jump feature also doesn't work for me sometimes.... I was only able to get to Stage 2-2 after a few runs of this game.  I hope that I can get a little more use to the mechanics of this game and finish it this month.

Was finally able to clear Shadow Dancer. I never really got good at the later levels, especially 4-2… that level sucks lol, but I was basically able to brute force my way to the end by stockpiling lives by using Douglie’s strategy in the bonus game and going all the way to the left or right of the screen. I was able to get a 3 UP every time. I also tried to learn were all the hidden extra lives were cause some of the can give you 2 lives. Overall I enjoyed this one the and am excited to play the other two games this month.

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/0y9QWSp.jpg[/img]

I was able to finish shadow dancer! that last room before the boss I just ran to avoid and bounce off people lol

I did the same thing for the level 5 rooms lol. I'm not exactly sure how it worked, I felt like it was a little random sometimes, but you can bounce off enemies and stagger/knock them back. Which made it easier to run through them instead of trying to fend of bunch of them at once

So after, what I considered, a grueling week I was able to get through Revenge of Shinobi. As Rich mentioned the controls do feel really stiff. It was definitely tough learning the none juitsu double jump, I had the best luck holding the jump button down until the peak of the first jump and hitting it again to get the double. Even with the easy mode this game is challenging. I found that I relied on the jump juitsu a lot to just kinda jump around the levels avoiding as many enemies as I could. I like that this game has a health bar, but the knock back from enemy hits can be so bad at times it might as well be a one hit kill. Ultimately I was unable to save my girlfriend/wife? And got the “bad” ending. Due to the difficulty I don’t think I’ll try and save her again. I’m hoping Shinobi III is more fleshed out than this one, because if not I don’t know if I can or want to put the time into trying to beat it….

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/HVoZzmb.jpg[/img]

spent some time with the games this weekend and finished the other 2.  they seem to get harder as you get to the next game.

Beat Shinobi III tonight. Overall I thought it was much easier than Revenge of Shinobi up until you get to stage 7. Where the game relies heavily on platforming. Which wouldn’t be too bad if the double jump didn’t suck. That being said with Shinobi III being the later title of the three games we played, it definitely seems the most fleshed out. The controls in general are better and there’s a lot more moves available to you as a player to help you through each level. The bosses are fun and creative, with a couple being a throwback to the 2nd game. Overall I enjoyed this one even with the difficulty spike at the end.

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/lcCMxrn.jpg[/img]

If I had to rank the from my best to worst, it would go Shinobi III, Shadow Dancer, and then a very distant Revenge of Shinobi.