I am a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to videogames. I do appreciate a bit of nostalgia when it comes to game design, but don’t coin me as digital hipster. I just miss a simpler time when everything didn’t suck. This being the case, I love emulators and recently I opened up some old files that I haven’t gone through in a couple of years so I wanted to bring an old classic to your attention; Shinobi 3.
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| Holy f'n shit!! He's gonna horse rape us! |
Shinobi 3 is an example of how a game should be designed. More often than not modern games tend to be very polar. They over think the graphics and under develop the content 9 times out 10. Shinobi 3 is prime example of a simple concept implemented well. Ninja v. Ninja crime syndicate; simple, easy to follow, and of course, completely preposterous. Keep in mind that everything from the 80’s is preposterous. The entire Shinobi series is a total 80’s throwback to when every guy was somehow a shirtless commando mercenary, a karate expert, or a ninja. The original Shinobi series (pre PS2 reboot) was about an Oboro ninja named Joe Higashi trying to save his girl / avenge his clan against the Neo Zeed syndicate. I know what you’re thinking; it’s completely ridiculous but back then, games didn’t have to make sense or be credible. They just had to be fun.
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| Everyone loves ninjas raining death in the forest. Nothing cliche here folks |
Nostalgic tears aside, Shinobi kicks ass where ass should be kicked. The graphics are colorful and vibrant without being obnoxious or overdone. Sprites are big and well animated. Enemies seem to lack some animations, but the game is 17 years old and came out on some computer chips sandwiched in a black plastic case. Limitations were obvious but it really seems as if a lot of work went in to making this game really “pop” graphically. It has similar graphical pop to the Sonic series. It’s much less dingy looking than Return of Shinobi. One major question that does come to mind is why the hell a “ninja” would be wearing a white and red getup in the first place. Not very sneaky…
Gameplay is challenging without being overbearing. This means that you could start the game cold on Friday night, and probably beat it before you have to drag yourself outta bed on Monday for work. You’re abilities are formidable without making you feel god-like. Way on my top features in this department is easy wall jumps, blocking, and a jump kick. By and large Joe feels very maneuverable but the AI actually does a decent job of tripping you up if you don’t concentrate or get cocky. When you do get hit, it does feel like it was a “fair” shot you got tagged with. Only gripe about the gameplay is that the double jump is a little finicky because it has to be timed exactly. That gets to be a bitch in the later stages when timing has to be spot on.
The music is absolutely spot on and just catchy as f$%! I would stack this soundtrack against such classics as Streets of Rage, Sonic 2 and 3 in terms of quality. Whirlwind, or the surf level theme, made me want to go click on the amp and get busy on a cover (*it actually has been covered numerous times on youtube). Overall the music does a good job of capturing the mood to such a degree that it goes completely unnoticed in some stages in positive way like a good movie soundtrack. In that way it’s sticky but not distracting.
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| This boss fight plays out like a good date with a bad girl: lotta spitting and hand action. |
The level design is absolutely exquisite. The game is well paced and the learning curve is fair. The game starts you off slow but doesn’t treat you like you’re a moron. Most new games try to be edgy and start you off in the thick of it, but very few times does that actually have the desired effect. Usually its just damn annoying. Note game designers: It worked well in RE2 and God of War 1; you can stop doing that crap now. Needless to say the game is well paced and you can feel that the levels become gradually more difficult without spiking unexpectedly. The first level feels like a first level and the last level feels like a last level. Power ups are evenly spaced but many times in auto scrolling levels power ups zip by at inopportune times often requiring a Pyrrhic mentality if one wants to be a completist. My only real complaints are with the industrial stages looking a bit too, well industrial. They all kind of form on big run-on stage that while challenging, gets old after a half hr. Level 6 definitely gets honorable mention as one of the most unique stages I’ve ever seen: falling down a chasm hopping from rock to rock killing ninjas all the while. Two words: bad ass.
In summation, Shinobi 3 is pretty close to a perfect game. It’s fun. It’s challenging. It looks good. It plays well. It’s friendly to newcomers as well as vets and is a great example of good design. This game originally came out on the Genesis in 93 and if you still have Genesis soaking in a Lazarus pit in your basement, you can play it on that. For the rest of us with computers, you can find the emu fairly easily or you Wii people can download it at the game marketplace.
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