Shinobi - New Screens News

Back in the early days of the MegaDrive, long before Sonic, came Joe Musashi, a ninja and star of such classics as Shinobi and the excellent Revenge of Shinobi. Mr Musashi was like a mascot in the MegaDrive’s early days, before Sonic came and stole his thunder, Revenge of Shinobi was just one of those games you had to have. A subsequent game on the Mega-CD failed to have the same impact and it looked like the series had gone the same way as so many other Sega classics. However after a seven-year wait, thankfully Sega broke the silence the other day by announcing Shinobi, in development at Skies of Arcadia developer, Overworks, for the PS2. <br /> <br /> Regrettably Joe Musashi looks to have passed on, as the star of the game is a new ninja going by the name of Hotsuma, leader of the Oboro Ninja clan. The game takes place after a catastrophic earthquake leaves Tokyo in ruins, and a mysterious force sets out to wipe out the Oboro clan. Naturally Hotsuma takes umbrage to this and sets out to stop the destruction and find out a few answers. <br /> <br /> Unsurprisingly the game has made the move into 3D, however the gameplay looks to remain faithful to the fast-paced original. Hotsuma has access to a wide range of weapons, including such favourites as the shruikens and his trusty katana. In keeping with the predecessors, Hotsuma will also be able to use Ninja Magic; hopefully this will be as impressive as the original. In addition Hotsuma has a new ability, the ‘stealth dash’ that allows him to attack a number of enemies in quick succession by chaining his attacks together, complete with a very cool motion-blur effect. <br /> <br /> As a long-term Sega fanatic I love to see classics revived, lets just hope that the game remains true to its superb predecessor. Now Sega if we could just see a Streets of Rage sequel sometime in the future, be moocho appreciated… <br />