Why I Respect Joe Musashi (Shinobi series)

Hi everyone I'm Jack Red, For me I always been a huge fan of Shinobi series. I am well aware it's been not great since the Genesis era. Joe Musashi is still one of my absolute favorite Sega characters of all time. I think it's time to give this man some respect. I am also aware majority of gamers prefers Ninja Gaiden over Shinobi, I get it.



Not to insult anyone right off the bat. Just going by the great Shinobi games. Joe does do more stuff you would consider a ninja would do. Like using scrolls that each have different effects. Including one that damages enemies or bosses at the cost of your own life. You get a limited amount of Shurikens.

You have to be cautious sometimes willing to take risks to survive in Shinobi games. It's actually trickier to hit some Shinobi bosses' weaknesses than that of Ninja Gaiden series. Also, Joe doesn't get upgrades to have him out for the most part. Yes, some ports of the original Shinobi did do that. Beyond those no you are all alone.

You even go to land some difficult jumps. Two Shinobi games at the end forces you to figure out how to escape the maze. This requires paying a lot of attention as well as constantly watching out for all kind of threats. Shinobi series always pushed the envelope prior to Shinobi Legions on Sega Saturn. It seems from that game on is where the series fell hard.

Shinobi also had some tricky bosses to avoid including Spider-Man himself. I don't think Ryu ever took on someone like Spider-Man before. These games were legendary as they were challenging. Yes some of them had one hit deaths while others had some complex game designs. I also liked in Shinobi 3, you can wall jump.

Yes I know, some Ninja Gaiden games do that as well but damn it doesn't look that good in comparison. Shinobi is more true to it's very title than Ninja Gaiden. Usually gaiden is a side story of something but Ninja Gaiden is it's own franchise making the usage of that word don't make sense. At least with Shinobi, you already know you're playing as a legendary ninja.

Yes there is a water level that's ripping off the turtles. I kinda felt Joe made that look more awesome than they did. Honestly, there's the right level of challenge especially in later levels. Ninja Gaiden is more meant for the hardcore gamers meaning majority of them should be more turned off by it. Instead, they actually praise it like Ninja Gaiden on NES as the perfect ninja game.

I could make arguments why The Revenge of Shinobi is a better game. Shinobi 3 to me is the perfect ninja game. Honestly, you aren't living if you haven't got to play Shinobi 3. This game will test your gaming skills in ways you can not imagine. To me, it's depressing so many prefers Ninja Gaiden when Shinobi should get more respect.