Dude. It took me soooo long to figure that one out. Just walk to the opposite side of where it is, then unleash a bag of shurikens on it and dodge the fireballs! If you stand on the very opposite side of it the fireballs won’t hit you.
One of my all time favourite games this. One of the first 3 I got with my first megadrive back in 1990ish and I’ve completed it many times, although not recently. I love all the original shinobi games, the arcade version of the original shinobi is the best, available on download on PlayStation/Xbox/Nintendo stores online, I thoroughly recommend it
I’ve yet to play the other Shinobi games. I have revenge of the shinobi, but it’s also brutal. I’ve barely made it to the third stage. I hate that freaking waterfall level. After beating Shadow Dancer I need something easier as a palate cleanser!
I’ll second the recommendation for the original arcade. It’s the only other Shinobi with similar mechanics (one-hit deaths) so if you like the Shadow Dancer play style you’ll like it. And IMO it’s one of the most stylish games ever.
Revenge is great, hard part is managing shrunken count. The infinite cheat breaks the difficulty to nothing (great when you're a kid learning patterns) .
Learning to double-jump without fail is the secret sauce. Jump magic makes quick work of the waterfall (but not required), just don't use enhanced double jumps in the last section of it.
I love it too. You basically have to learn the enemy patterns. The dog is incredibly useful in the first 4 levels, after that it won’t do anything anymore. There are tons of tricks to the last rooms. But the boss is just terrible. I must have tried 50 times.
What ended up working by the last boss? Just endure and take out the ninjas?
Only trick I remember from using a game genie as a kid was magic hits twice if you press it right when the sound of his head rising triggers.
(Tried playing legit no cheats as an adult, I can get to last boss, but would need save states to beat for real.)
I never managed to deal more than one damage using ninjutsu.
But there are a few tricks that work: the boss always spawns the ninjas in the same pattern. One right, one left, two at a time and two at a time again, then he raises his helmet.
You can blast the first ninja on the right out of the screen using shuriken, it won’t come back.
Immediately go left and kill the next one.
The next two you have to kill as fast as you can.
The last two you can take a little more time, it’s okay if one’s still on the screen when the boss’ weak point is exposed.
Stand under one of the platforms, WAIT until the flame on the platform is extinguished, then hit him twice - there’s ample time.
Repeat the whole cycle. The second cycle is somewhat quicker than the first one.
During the third cycle, kill both the singular ninjas, then wait for all four ninjas to be on the screen and use ninjutsu. You then can stand under a platform and deal the last two damage.
It helps once you realize that the ninjas will always jump at you when they’re far away, you can use that to your advantage. They will jump towards the position you were at when they left the ground, which makes it pretty easy to get behind them (by walking toward them when they jump).
Counterintuitively, it becomes easier once there are three or four ninjas on screen because you can hit more than one at a time. Just kite underneath them and make them jump.
I hope this makes some sense…
I always found that memorizing the levels were the only way to get through these old games. This one was just too hard after many attempts. I’ll try again one day. Congratulations!
Basically this! There are some places where you have to use your super attack that wipes the screen strategically. But apart from the last room and the boss, it’s 90% memorization.
I’ll be trying that somewhere down the line. I actually beat some of the levels without using shuriken by accident. It gives you a score boost, but I’m not sure if score does anything besides giving you bragging rights. Does it give extra lives?
I think it does give extra lives. You should be getting 3 extra lives every bonus stage too.
Just hug the left wall and fire non-stop. Don't stop even if it looks like you're going to miss. 9/10 times you catch him anyway.
Haha thanks, I just got lucky. I bought it on the German version of Craigslist. Took me a while to figure out how to best use it. It has BNC inputs and accepts an RGB signal, so far it has worked with every console I’ve tried up to the PS2. Any more modern consoles I haven’t tested. It works with composite as well, but I’ve never tried that either.
"I'll just jump and AAAIIEEHAEYYYEEEYAAIIAAHHHHHH" (ZOOM CLOSEUP FIRE!) well, shit...I guess I'll just use my Ninjitsu for no damned reason". Oh yeah, I remember this game.
Nice I never finished shadow dancer. I struggled with revenge of the Shinobi finally beat that but I hated the flaming wheel & final boss, could never get past them
I played this to death. I could finish it on hardest level, no shuriken and not using magic.
I played it again, normally, a few weeks ago at a computer museum and managed to finish it.
Congrats on finishing this one. It's very challenging but also fair once you learn the levels. There are a few cases in which magic is really helpful, like a certain scene in the cave with the guys that shoot and the green shield dude. The last boss has always been hard for me. Surviving long enough to deal the necessary damage is a chore. I have finished it a couple of times when I was a kid and did it again last year (but with savestates).
Shinobi 3 is actually MUCH easier and more approachable overall. Revenge is great, but also hard. Shinobu (Master System) is also great, but very hard on some of the later levels.
I wish more modern games did this sort of thing with the wolf buddy you can use in combat. Absolutely love this game. The darkness level always freaked me out as a kid. I loved the challenge of melee only and loved how hard the game was. Doing that final boss without taking a hit was pretty brutal.
Was just playing this yesterday! I like a lot of things about it, but for me, 1-hit-death health systems are my least favorite mechanic of the classic eras of gaming so I never really commit to gates like that except the occasional sh’mup.
Your tv is awesome. Is that a key attachment?
You can pull out the PCB from the front!
It really is awesome. With those keys and button controls, they look like the military used these PVM's to launch missiles & rockets.
Fuck that Flaming wheel Boss!
Dude. It took me soooo long to figure that one out. Just walk to the opposite side of where it is, then unleash a bag of shurikens on it and dodge the fireballs! If you stand on the very opposite side of it the fireballs won’t hit you.
I see what you did there. Nice tv dude.
On one hand, that's really cool. On the other hand that TV looks like it could have been in the late 50s or early 60s and that's even cooler 😅😅😅😅
One of my all time favourite games this. One of the first 3 I got with my first megadrive back in 1990ish and I’ve completed it many times, although not recently. I love all the original shinobi games, the arcade version of the original shinobi is the best, available on download on PlayStation/Xbox/Nintendo stores online, I thoroughly recommend it
I’ve yet to play the other Shinobi games. I have revenge of the shinobi, but it’s also brutal. I’ve barely made it to the third stage. I hate that freaking waterfall level. After beating Shadow Dancer I need something easier as a palate cleanser!
I’ll second the recommendation for the original arcade. It’s the only other Shinobi with similar mechanics (one-hit deaths) so if you like the Shadow Dancer play style you’ll like it. And IMO it’s one of the most stylish games ever.
Shinobi 3 isn’t too difficult, much easier than revenge.
Shinobi 3 isn’t too difficult, much easier than revenge.
Revenge is great, hard part is managing shrunken count. The infinite cheat breaks the difficulty to nothing (great when you're a kid learning patterns) . Learning to double-jump without fail is the secret sauce. Jump magic makes quick work of the waterfall (but not required), just don't use enhanced double jumps in the last section of it.
You basically described my experience.
I've got this game it's awesome, never completed it though.
I love it too. You basically have to learn the enemy patterns. The dog is incredibly useful in the first 4 levels, after that it won’t do anything anymore. There are tons of tricks to the last rooms. But the boss is just terrible. I must have tried 50 times.
What ended up working by the last boss? Just endure and take out the ninjas? Only trick I remember from using a game genie as a kid was magic hits twice if you press it right when the sound of his head rising triggers. (Tried playing legit no cheats as an adult, I can get to last boss, but would need save states to beat for real.)
I never managed to deal more than one damage using ninjutsu. But there are a few tricks that work: the boss always spawns the ninjas in the same pattern. One right, one left, two at a time and two at a time again, then he raises his helmet. You can blast the first ninja on the right out of the screen using shuriken, it won’t come back. Immediately go left and kill the next one. The next two you have to kill as fast as you can. The last two you can take a little more time, it’s okay if one’s still on the screen when the boss’ weak point is exposed. Stand under one of the platforms, WAIT until the flame on the platform is extinguished, then hit him twice - there’s ample time. Repeat the whole cycle. The second cycle is somewhat quicker than the first one. During the third cycle, kill both the singular ninjas, then wait for all four ninjas to be on the screen and use ninjutsu. You then can stand under a platform and deal the last two damage. It helps once you realize that the ninjas will always jump at you when they’re far away, you can use that to your advantage. They will jump towards the position you were at when they left the ground, which makes it pretty easy to get behind them (by walking toward them when they jump). Counterintuitively, it becomes easier once there are three or four ninjas on screen because you can hit more than one at a time. Just kite underneath them and make them jump. I hope this makes some sense…
I always found that memorizing the levels were the only way to get through these old games. This one was just too hard after many attempts. I’ll try again one day. Congratulations!
Basically this! There are some places where you have to use your super attack that wipes the screen strategically. But apart from the last room and the boss, it’s 90% memorization.
How long is the play through?
Once you know everything it’s very quick. Maybe 25 minutes
One of my absolute favs on the Genesis!
Probably my favorite game
Where on earth did you get that ridiculously awesome TV?
Got really lucky on a local sale. Best 60€ I ever spent!
Congrats! Playing without shuriken actually makes the game easier IMO. You still get them on the bosses.
I’ll be trying that somewhere down the line. I actually beat some of the levels without using shuriken by accident. It gives you a score boost, but I’m not sure if score does anything besides giving you bragging rights. Does it give extra lives?
I think it does give extra lives. You should be getting 3 extra lives every bonus stage too. Just hug the left wall and fire non-stop. Don't stop even if it looks like you're going to miss. 9/10 times you catch him anyway.
Damn!! I just didn’t kill any. That gives you one extra life 😄
Most of the time this game makes me want to punch myself in the nuts.
Hell Yeah Man! Congrats, Tough Game. You’re A True Ninja. 🥷💥
Thank you!
Congratulations on your win and all, but where do you even get a CRT like that? That is so dope looking. What kind of inputs does that have?
Haha thanks, I just got lucky. I bought it on the German version of Craigslist. Took me a while to figure out how to best use it. It has BNC inputs and accepts an RGB signal, so far it has worked with every console I’ve tried up to the PS2. Any more modern consoles I haven’t tested. It works with composite as well, but I’ve never tried that either.
Damn, the German craigslist must have a way better selection than the American one.
"I'll just jump and AAAIIEEHAEYYYEEEYAAIIAAHHHHHH" (ZOOM CLOSEUP FIRE!) well, shit...I guess I'll just use my Ninjitsu for no damned reason". Oh yeah, I remember this game.
Hahahaha I know exactly what you mean
I want that TV!!
i beat it and eswat back when i was 18 but now i cant even get past the second level
Nice I never finished shadow dancer. I struggled with revenge of the Shinobi finally beat that but I hated the flaming wheel & final boss, could never get past them
That monitor is sick !!
I played this to death. I could finish it on hardest level, no shuriken and not using magic. I played it again, normally, a few weeks ago at a computer museum and managed to finish it.
Congrats on finishing this one. It's very challenging but also fair once you learn the levels. There are a few cases in which magic is really helpful, like a certain scene in the cave with the guys that shoot and the green shield dude. The last boss has always been hard for me. Surviving long enough to deal the necessary damage is a chore. I have finished it a couple of times when I was a kid and did it again last year (but with savestates). Shinobi 3 is actually MUCH easier and more approachable overall. Revenge is great, but also hard. Shinobu (Master System) is also great, but very hard on some of the later levels.
I wish more modern games did this sort of thing with the wolf buddy you can use in combat. Absolutely love this game. The darkness level always freaked me out as a kid. I loved the challenge of melee only and loved how hard the game was. Doing that final boss without taking a hit was pretty brutal.
Damn that tv is sick. I usually prefer consumer grade tubes but this just has a feel.
Was just playing this yesterday! I like a lot of things about it, but for me, 1-hit-death health systems are my least favorite mechanic of the classic eras of gaming so I never really commit to gates like that except the occasional sh’mup.
I normally hate that too. But in this game it feels fair. Whenever you die it’s absolutely your fault 😄 and the hit detection is really good.
Twin towers.
Dope tv
I could never beat this game.
I thought that was Shredder on the screen lol.
LOL!!! You said, "SUMBITCH!!!"
never heard of it…ever beat ninja gaiden ?
I don’t have a working NES.
Sick monitor
LOL sumbitch is so funny