The Cyber Shinobi

The Cyber Shinobi, also called Shinobi Part 2, is a hack and slash game from 1991. Sega developed and published it for the Master System. It is the third Shinobi title on that console, counting Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, and acts as a futuristic follow-up to the first Shinobi. The game came out only in Canada, Europe, Australia, and Brazil, because the Master System was no longer sold in North America and Japan.

Gameplay

The gameplay and controls differ greatly from the original Shinobi. While the goal remains reaching the stage’s end and facing a boss, the player cannot move forward in certain areas until all enemies are defeated, like in a side-scrolling beat-'em-up. The main attacks are a sword slash and a crouching kick.

Holding up on the d-pad while pressing the jump button makes the player leap higher. Four gauges appear at the top of the screen: a life gauge for damage taken, a power gauge for attack strength, a shot gauge for sub-weapon ammo, and a Ninjutsu gauge for spells. Destroying item containers in stages yields power-ups marked L, P, S, and N, each filling one unit of the corresponding gauge.

Picking up a Shot power-up first gives the player a shuriken launcher. Subsequent Shot pick-ups replace it with an automatic Vulcan gun, then grenades.

Each sub-weapon holds up to eight shots; when ammo runs out, the player reverts to the previous weapon, and so on until all are empty. Four Ninjutsu spells are available: Fire (needs one or two units), Tornado (four units), Lightning (six units), and Earth Element (eight units). Performing any spell consumes only two units, so the player can max the gauge, use a powerful spell, then work down to weaker ones.

Plot

The story takes place in the 21st century. The player controls Joe, the grandson of ninja master Joe Musashi. He must defeat the forces of Cyber-Zeed, a terrorist group formed from the remnants of the Zeed organization the original Joe destroyed. Joe travels through six stages—a construction site, a harbor, a heliport, a jungle, a waterfall, and the enemy hideout—to stop Cyber-Zeed from launching stolen plutonium worldwide.

Reception

Reviews were mixed. Sega Pro gave it 68 out of 100, criticizing its lack of content and easy difficulty. Richard Leadbetter scored it 46%, comparing it unfavorably to the Master System version of the original Shinobi.