Shinobi II: The Silent Fury/The GG Shinobi II: TSF (GG, 1992)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-8 Control-7.5 Challenge-8 Story-5?
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+ Pretty good variation, MM-style mechanics (choose your path through the first four levels, rescue four playable ninjas with different abilites (that you can switch between on the fly) by beating bosses - climb on ceilings/bombs, walk on water/large boomerang shuriken, grapple hook, somersault/shuriken), upgradeable life bar, each character has its own spell/technique (somewhat different here: red=teleport to beginnign of level, pink=freeze?/light up/lower water, yellow=shield, blue=tornado transformation, green=smart bomb), good bosses overall (easier regular bosses than in the prequel overall), good mid-air control, more large and detailed sprites, bumping into enemies generally doesn’t hurt you, improved spritework (some still look a bit generic), can now attack upwards with yellow, password save, replay beaten levels (you need to find a hidden crystal in each level to reach the final one here), some innovative level design (the room with red acid drops (which can be destroyed), the part with black steel balls rolling downwards that you can affect the momentum of by hitting them, using pink in a room with moving plattforms and one with two paths of disappear/reappearing platforms), the abilites are used a bit more in the regular levels,
+/- No dodge or run move, all characters share the same health bar, no time limit, no speed power ups, no super jump (tornado instead), no shuriken upgrade (they're still pretty weak here), can't move while attacking, can't cancel an attack by jumping, somewhat high default jump height, enemies don't respawn, only partial HP refill from bosses (until the final five), another boss gauntlet in the final level (MM1 style), each regular level is a bit bigger and more maze-like here and the final level is a maze as well, no in-game explanation of the different abilites and spells/techs, easier regular levels but harder final level
- Slow horizontal movement with vertical-based jumps (see RoS, Contra etc.), trial & error (off screen shots in one level, figuring out the smoothest order of levels to take through the game, some very tight jumps (especially with the grapple hook though you can skip most by using the tornado), cheap enemy placements and attacks here and there (fewer than in the prequel though), still can't look up/down, boss patterns), still doesn't show bosses health bars, no options menu, first ninja doesn't have a ranged attack (shuriken) or somersault - feels like padding to not have basic abilites from previous games (similar to MMX), sometimes uneven difficulty (several difficulty spikes in the final level, pretty easy armadillo boss when using yellow), you'll probably repeat some parts at least once in the final level to beat it and there's some backtracking in the regular levels (you'll also have to repeat some levels even if you know the best order), pretty bland ending again, forced collecting of the crystals to beat the game, missing some of the better enemies from the prequel, somewhat tedious factory level (easy to fall down and have to repeat large parts of the level),
Notes:
Best order? - Green, Blue, Yellow, Pink (repeat G and B), Red
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+ Pretty good variation, MM-style mechanics (choose your path through the first four levels, rescue four playable ninjas with different abilites (that you can switch between on the fly) by beating bosses - climb on ceilings/bombs, walk on water/large boomerang shuriken, grapple hook, somersault/shuriken), upgradeable life bar, each character has its own spell/technique (somewhat different here: red=teleport to beginnign of level, pink=freeze?/light up/lower water, yellow=shield, blue=tornado transformation, green=smart bomb), good bosses overall (easier regular bosses than in the prequel overall), good mid-air control, more large and detailed sprites, bumping into enemies generally doesn’t hurt you, improved spritework (some still look a bit generic), can now attack upwards with yellow, password save, replay beaten levels (you need to find a hidden crystal in each level to reach the final one here), some innovative level design (the room with red acid drops (which can be destroyed), the part with black steel balls rolling downwards that you can affect the momentum of by hitting them, using pink in a room with moving plattforms and one with two paths of disappear/reappearing platforms), the abilites are used a bit more in the regular levels,
+/- No dodge or run move, all characters share the same health bar, no time limit, no speed power ups, no super jump (tornado instead), no shuriken upgrade (they're still pretty weak here), can't move while attacking, can't cancel an attack by jumping, somewhat high default jump height, enemies don't respawn, only partial HP refill from bosses (until the final five), another boss gauntlet in the final level (MM1 style), each regular level is a bit bigger and more maze-like here and the final level is a maze as well, no in-game explanation of the different abilites and spells/techs, easier regular levels but harder final level
- Slow horizontal movement with vertical-based jumps (see RoS, Contra etc.), trial & error (off screen shots in one level, figuring out the smoothest order of levels to take through the game, some very tight jumps (especially with the grapple hook though you can skip most by using the tornado), cheap enemy placements and attacks here and there (fewer than in the prequel though), still can't look up/down, boss patterns), still doesn't show bosses health bars, no options menu, first ninja doesn't have a ranged attack (shuriken) or somersault - feels like padding to not have basic abilites from previous games (similar to MMX), sometimes uneven difficulty (several difficulty spikes in the final level, pretty easy armadillo boss when using yellow), you'll probably repeat some parts at least once in the final level to beat it and there's some backtracking in the regular levels (you'll also have to repeat some levels even if you know the best order), pretty bland ending again, forced collecting of the crystals to beat the game, missing some of the better enemies from the prequel, somewhat tedious factory level (easy to fall down and have to repeat large parts of the level),
Notes:
Best order? - Green, Blue, Yellow, Pink (repeat G and B), Red