Shinobi/The GG Shinobi (GG, 1991)
Graphics-7 Sound-8 Control-7 Challenge-7.5 Story-5?
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-8 Fun-6.5 Originality-5.5
Overall Score-6.5
+ 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/charge attack, grapple hook, somersault/shuriken), upgradeable life bar, each character has its own spell/technique (red=smart bomb/block breaker, pink=freeze/light up/lower water, yellow=shield, blue=tornado transformation, green=kamikaze), good bosses overall, good mid-air control, some large sprites, bumping into enemies generally doesn’t hurt you
+/- 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 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, can't attack upwards with anyone, boss gauntlet in the final level (MM1 style), final level is a maze, no in-game explanation of the different abilites and spells/techs
- Can't replay beaten levels (means you have to take a specific route to get all of the HP upgrades), slow horizontal movement with vertical-based jumps (see RoS, Contra etc.), trial & error (off screen shots in wood lands, specific order through levels to grab all items, one near pixel perfect jump, cheap enemy placements here and there (can't look up/down), some very fast enemy attacks, boss patterns), doesn't show bosses health bars, uneven graphical quality (some background parts and sprites look half finished), no options menu, green's kamikaze tech kind of sucks (costs all techs you have + a life just to kill all enemies on screen; use red's instead), 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), slight delay before you can start charging another attack as yellow (if you press too soon then nothing happens instead of the new charge simply being delayed like in Mega Man), a bit short (5 levels), wood lands boss (red demon head) is very easy if you have the blue ninja and there's a safe spot at the valley boss (blue waterfall ninja), need to repeat some slow parts at least once in the final level to beat it (some tedious vertical platforming and a part where you need to pause and use a tech over and over to get through some breakable blocks) - more times if until you know the correct path through the maze, pretty bland ending
Notes:
Best order - Highway, Harbor, Valley, Woodlands, Neo City
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-8 Fun-6.5 Originality-5.5
Overall Score-6.5
+ 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/charge attack, grapple hook, somersault/shuriken), upgradeable life bar, each character has its own spell/technique (red=smart bomb/block breaker, pink=freeze/light up/lower water, yellow=shield, blue=tornado transformation, green=kamikaze), good bosses overall, good mid-air control, some large sprites, bumping into enemies generally doesn’t hurt you
+/- 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 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, can't attack upwards with anyone, boss gauntlet in the final level (MM1 style), final level is a maze, no in-game explanation of the different abilites and spells/techs
- Can't replay beaten levels (means you have to take a specific route to get all of the HP upgrades), slow horizontal movement with vertical-based jumps (see RoS, Contra etc.), trial & error (off screen shots in wood lands, specific order through levels to grab all items, one near pixel perfect jump, cheap enemy placements here and there (can't look up/down), some very fast enemy attacks, boss patterns), doesn't show bosses health bars, uneven graphical quality (some background parts and sprites look half finished), no options menu, green's kamikaze tech kind of sucks (costs all techs you have + a life just to kill all enemies on screen; use red's instead), 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), slight delay before you can start charging another attack as yellow (if you press too soon then nothing happens instead of the new charge simply being delayed like in Mega Man), a bit short (5 levels), wood lands boss (red demon head) is very easy if you have the blue ninja and there's a safe spot at the valley boss (blue waterfall ninja), need to repeat some slow parts at least once in the final level to beat it (some tedious vertical platforming and a part where you need to pause and use a tech over and over to get through some breakable blocks) - more times if until you know the correct path through the maze, pretty bland ending
Notes:
Best order - Highway, Harbor, Valley, Woodlands, Neo City
