The Shinobi game introduced players to the concept of the ninja in the 80s. The Sega arcade game was a standard side scrolling game where you went from left to right and used your star throwing abilities and magical attacks to plow through the waves of enemy goons and flying enemy ninjas who spun and jumped at you through the air. Sega came out with Shadow Dancer a few years later which gave the player a pet dog that would rush forth on command to engage enemies while you jumped in for the kill. Sega moved the property to the MegaDrive for the next two releases, Revenge of Shinobi and a Mega-Drive version of Shadow Dancer which was nothing like the arcade but the dog was kept as your partner. Sega's last Shinobi was this one. It

surpasses all of the previous Shinobi's in terms of graphic quality, player control, character moves and challenge level. In other words, its the best yet. Shin Shinobi gives Joe Higashi a number of new moves that he can use to defeat his adversaries. He can now block oncoming shooting stars with his sword, do a running forward slash with his sword which will slice an enemy attacker in two and a spin which is helpful for going places and for killing people. When he spins, he can make sure his sword is unsheathed, which will then slice anyone in the way.