The Cyber Shinobi

About

You take on the role of Joe Musashi’s grandson in this 1990 sequel to the original Shinobi. The game drops you into six distinct levels each with its own hazards and enemies. Fight through a construction site jungle and waterfall as you battle Cyber-Zeed’s forces. Gameplay mixes platforming with hand-to-hand combat letting you use a mix of punches kicks and stolen weapons to clear the way. Scrolling remains tight for the Master System with some creative level design to keep things fresh. This sequel stands out as the first in the series without an arcade version focusing purely on console play. While it doesn’t reach the same heights as its predecessor fans of the genre praise its solid mechanics and varied stages. The Cyber Shinobi holds a 72% on the Sega-16 community site with many noting its fast action and the challenge of balancing platforming with combat. It’s a missed entry for new players but a cult favorite among retro fans looking for a no-frills beat ’em up.

Storyline

Set sometime during the 21st century, the player controls the grandson of the ninja master Joe Musashi, also named Joe, who is on a mission to defeat the minions of Cyber-Zeed, a terrorist organization founded by the remnants of the Zeed organization that the original Joe Musashi destroyed. Joe must fight his way through a series of six stages in order to prevent Cyber-Zeed from launching its stolen stockpiles of plutonium around the world. The stages consists of a construction site, a harbor, a heliport, a jungle, a waterfall, and the hideout of the enemy.