Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master

PlatformHack and slash/Beat 'em up

Time to beat: about 1.5 hours
Plays offline: Yes

Overview

Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, released in Japan as The Super Shinobi II, is a 1993 hack and slash platform game developed and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. It is the direct sequel to the previous The Revenge of Shinobi. Shinobi III received critical acclaim and has been ranked among the greatest Genesis games.

Neo Zeed is threatening the world once more. The evil crime syndicate, thought to have been vanquished two years earlier, has returned, headed by a man known only as the Shadow Master. Joe Musashi has felt their presence and descends from the lonely mountaintops of Japan to face his nemesis once more.

Shinobi III was originally set to be released in 1992. Several gaming magazines (including GamePro, Mean Machines, and Computer and Video Games) gave previews and even reviews of the game, showing pictures of levels, enemies, artwork, and special moves which were not seen in the final version at all. Because of general dissatisfaction with the result up to that point, Sega delayed the game for a 1993 release date while the development team worked on improving gameplay and visuals. When Shinobi III was finally released, many game features seen earlier were missing, with new ones taking their place. A beta version of the original version of the game has been leaked and is now widely available as a ROM image.

Complex rated it the third best game on the Sega Genesis, stating: "The only drawback? The last level was freaking impossible!" Retro Gamer included it among their top ten Mega Drive games. In 2023, both Nintendo Life and GameSpot ranked the game among top 15 Mega Drive/Genesis games.