Hello everyone and welcome to another walkthrough. Let’s carry on this journey of my childhood (and probably yours) with this game called “Shinobi”. Remember that the Master System was the first system I’ve played when I was a kid. I played lot of games with my grand-brother at that time, we tried to beat those games and some of them, like Alex Kidd in Miracle World, well… we didn’t beat them. “Shinobi” is one of those games and, several years later, I decided to make the walkthrough of this game and beat it once and for all. I apologize for the lack of screenshots in this walkthrough, however as the game is really linear, I don’t really see the point of including a bunch of screenshots. Oh well, I hope you will enjoy it and find it useful

So here we go, let’s fight those bullies and save the kids, shall we? And remember, it’s “Shinobi”, not “Mickael Jackson’s Moonwalker”

STAGE 1-1

Kill the two guys then crouch to avoid the gunshots, kill the guy and save the first kid. Go up, get rid of the guy to the left and save the second kid. Save another kid to the right behind the block of bricks, kill the bad guy while he launches the deadly boomerang and save the fourth kid. Carry on, kill another guy behind a line of crates and save the kid. Go down, proceed to the east, kill the guy behind the crate and the other one behind him. Those two enemies are tricky. Make sure to to have the good timing to jump and hit the head of the first guy, then jump over the gunshots, duck and kill the other one. Carry on, kill the guy a bit farther to the right and go on the roof in order to kill the bad guys and save the last kids of this level. Now, go down and go to the east in order to end this level.

STAGE 1-2

Right at the beginning, two guys to kill. Isn’t that lovely? Kill the first one then duck and shoot the knees of the second guy. Carry on, shoot the head of the second gunman, then kill the first one. There’s a kid kept by *insert Spiderman theme*. Kill the enemy, save the kid, go on the pile of crates, kill another Spiderman, go down, kill another bad gun and save another kid (1). The next bit is tricky. You have boomerang man, spiderman and gunman, keeping a kid. What a perfect combination of those three enemies! Take care of Spiderman, then fall down, duck, kill the boomerang guy and finally the last bad guy. Save the kid, carry on kill the thugs on the containers, save the kids, kill the last enemy up above the last kid’s head, save the last kids and proceed to the next stage.

BOSS 1

This giant man with this blue samurai suit is the first boss of the game. His weak point is the head. Yes, the head, which means you have to jump and shoot a couple of shurikens in his face in order to kill him. This boss will shoot two homing fireballs in your direction. There’s a way to beat him. Go to the left, let him shoot the fireballs, jump once (that will make the fireballs go up if you got the perfect timing), go underneath the fireballs and shoot his face. If you miss, don’t try again and go to the left and repeat the same method. You just have enough time for one shot. Hit him four times and you will be victorious.

STAGE 2-1

Right at the beginning, two guys will greet you. Say hello to them with some shurikens and carry on. Go up, kill the boomerang-man, save the kid, kill another one to the east and go down to get rid of the two bad guys and save another kid. Carry on to the east, save another kid, then go down and kill all the bad guys. Save the kid, go to the east, kill some enemies, save the last kids and go in the boat to end this level.

STAGE 2-2

Kill the boomerang man, then the two green ninjas, save the kids and go up. Kill the enemies, save the kids, go up, kill more enemies and go the east. The green ninja between the two piles of yellow crates is a bit dumb: he can’t jump sadly (poor guy…). If you have the bombs you can kill him easily, if you don’t, I suggest you to skip this enemy (or try to kill him at your own risk). Go up, kill more enemies, save the kids, go up and go to the east. Yeah, I know there’s the exit to the left but go to the right first. There’s one last kid to save… and two dumb green ninjas to kill. Now, go to the exit and proceed to the next level.

STAGE 2-3

You will meet some divers in this level. Sometimes, you will have to beat two of them. You can walk on water (I’m not kidding… remember you’re a ninja and ninjas can walk on water). This level is short and linear but it can become obnoxious with all the enemies, especially at one point of this stage, halfway of the level. You’ll need good timing and incredible skills to avoid as many hits as you can during this level. The end of the line is to the east and finding all the kids shouldn’t be a problem there… as always if you check everywhere.

BOSS 2

Black Turtle is the next boss to beat. This helicopter is not really hard to beat compared to Ken-Oh, the first boss of the game. All you need to do is shoot the little spot below the cockpit and get rid of the ninjas it will drop. Sometimes, it will launch some missiles, however if you are fast, it might not do that. After a few hits, Black Turtle will bite the dust (and another gone!).

STAGE 3-1

Kill the two enemies at the beginning, go up, kill the boomerang man and save the kid. Go to the east, kill all the enemies and save all the kids until you can’t go any farther. Go down, kill the ninjas, go to the west, kill all the enemies you will encounter and save the last kids before going to the east and go in the mountain.

STAGE 3-2

This level could be hard. Some enemies can be hit with the bombs. That will make the things harder with the other upgrades. Kill the enemies, save the kids and go down. Kill the enemies, go down, save the kids to the left and carry on to the east. Kill more enemies, save the kids, go down, kill the rocket launcher men and go down. Spiderman is back! And guess what? He has brought his brother. And the cherry on the cake: there’s Mister boomerang man! Kill them, save the kid and proceed to the next level.

STAGE 3-3

Kill the two green ninjas at the beginning of the level and start your progress. Kill two other green ninjas and get rid of the two blue annoying ninjas. Three kids are waiting for you (2). Kill the two boomerangs men, save them and carry on to the east. Look out, on your way to the boss’s lair, you will encounter some ninjas. It happens that the blue ninjas disappear for some odd reasons which is kind of stinky since they are such a pain in the butt to kill them. Are you ready for the next boss fight? Because I’m not really ready for fighting my worst nightmare when I was a kid. And that, my friends, is a long long story. Oh well, we can’t turn back now, it has to come to an end. Like Alex Kidd in Miracle World and other games I haven’t beaten when I was an innocent kid… yeah…

BOSS 3

This boss is a pain in the butt and has two forms. It gave me lot of troubles when I was a kid, I couldn’t beat it. Several years later, I finally got my revenge ha ha. The first form is the real challenge. See this laser beam behind you? DO NOT touch it, it’s instant death. Now, see those statues? That’s the first form. You need a good timing in order to shoot your projectiles as fast as you can and get rid of them quickly. I know, it’s really hard, barely impossible but there’s a way to beat it. Two ways to be honest. Either you stay where you are and you spam the “fire” button or you start shooting while you are walking in direction of the statues. With a good timing and using the second option, you should get rid of the first column. Now, move backward just a bit and shoot. Repeat this method until the second form of the boss appears. This form is really easy. You have to shoot the red jewel on the face. This face will throw some fireballs but there are two patterns. When it goes up, the fireball will bounce so you can avoid it easily. When it goes down, seize this opportunity to hit the red jewel and jump over the fireball. After a few hits, this boss will become a bad dream.

STAGE 4-1

Remember the blue ninjas? They are back! Also, you will encounter a new enemy who throws some bones at you (it looks like bones for me ). This level is linear, you have to make your way to the pagoda to the east. Not really easy though because of most of the enemies. You should have gotten used of the difficulty and improve your incredible ninja skills at this point so it shouldn’t be a problem. Yeah, I said “it shouldn’t be a problem”, bad things may happen. Make your progress, kill the enemies on your way, save the kids and reach the pagoda to the east.

STAGE 4-2

Things are getting serious. Now you have to avoid the dangerous pits of death, which means that you have to make perfect jumps. A new enemy will appear in this level: some kind of hunchback looking like Grant from Castlevania 3. Train hard with the jumps because the next level will have more gaps. And yeah, enemies, annoying ninjas included and lot of projectiles to dodge. I said things are getting serious. Trust me, there are more dangers later, waiting for you so stay alert.

STANGE 4-3

Like the previous stage, you have some gaps to make. I hope you can jump like a great ninja otherwise you will fall down. What else can I say? It’s just like the previous stage. You will fight those sneaky hunchbacks, some boomerang men and one blue ninja. The only difficulty in this level is the gaps I suppose but, since you got used of that in the previous level, this shouldn’t be a huge pain in the butt (probably).

BOSS 4

That boss… Remember that I haven’t beaten Mandara when I was a kid. When I reached that boss and start to hit his head, I was like “Really…”. My reaction is not a joke, this boss is probably the easiest boss of this game so far. You just have to jump and shoot his head. His katana will come in handy for him in order to stop your projectiles if you don’t have the good timing. Otherwise, with the good timing, this boss will die after six hits or so. Yeah, I’m not kidding, this boss is a piece of cake seriously.

STAGE 5-1

Almost the end of the game. This is the last part of the game. In this level, you have some pits. Don’t worry, you can skip those holes you go on the wall. There will be two kids halfway kept by a boomerang man so look out, especially with the holes (you can easily sneak behind the boomerang man). Otherwise, this level shouldn’t be a problem, there’s no annoying blue ninjas this time (woohoo!). Go to the east in order to proceed to the next level.

STAGE 5-2

Bamboos jungle… that probably means ambushes. Of course, there will be traps! Blue ninjas exactly! Yeah, they are back and sneaky. That’s the only thing you should care about in this level. Those blue ninjas are unpredictable and will hurt you if you are careless. Your progress has to be as slow as a snail and careful too. No need to be hasty though, there’s no time limit since the beginning of the game so why should you “speed run” this level, hmm? There’s no point of doing that. Just care about those sneaky blue ninjas who will spawn anywhere they want and reach the end of the level located to the east. Also, recycled enemies are here too, don’t worry. You will have to fight the Jack’O’Bones (I will call them Jack’O’Bones because they remind me of that enemy from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night) and the boomerang men. Good luck, it’s hard I admit but not impossible.

STAGE 5-3

Ok, last level before the final boss. In this level, you will fight the last set of enemies of that game. Boomerang men, gunmen, Jack’O’Bones and green ninjas. No, no more blue sneaky ninjas. Oh and you will go up and down (and all around, no just kidding ). This level might be hard at some points but it’s possible to reach the end without being hit once. If you are careful and go up and down with a good timing, you shouldn’t get any troubles. The door to the final boss is to the east, above the head of the last kid to save.

BOSS 5

Here we are, standing in front of the final boss: the masked magician, ah no the masked ninja sorry (3). The best way to kill him is the close combat. During the first round, duck and wait until he lands on the floor to hit him with your best shots. Hit him three times and get ready for the second round. No more halo, he will use the wind. The projectiles won’t hurt you if you crouch. Duck and hit him three times. Now, the last and final round. He is really mad at you that he will dash like a bull. Wanna play a bullfight? Go to the left or to the right, jump over him, stuck him in the corner and spam your attacks until he dies. Congratulations, you beat Shinobi. Watch the last “magnificent” (cough cough) screen of the game.

Well that’s all for this walkthrough. I meet you in the next walkthrough. See you next time for another adventure, bye