Shinobi (2002 video game)

:"For the 1987 arcade game of the same name, see Shinobi (arcade game). For an overview of the series, see Shinobi series."

Infobox VG
title = Shinobi


developer = Overworks
publisher = Sega
designer = Kouichi Nomura (director)
Makoto Tsuchibayashi (lead designer).
engine =
released = vgrelease|United States of America|USA|November 12, 2002
vgrelease|Japan|JPN|December 5, 2002
vgrelease|PAL Region|PAL|May 14, 2003
genre = Action, Hack and slash
modes = Single player
ratings = ESRB: M (Mature)
ELSPA: 15+
CERO: 15
platforms = PlayStation 2
media = DVD-ROM
requirements =
input =

"Shinobi" is a video game in the Shinobi series for PlayStation 2, developed by Overworks and published by Sega. It was originally released in the US on November 12, 2002. The game harkens back to the original Shinobi games of the early 1990s, and its plot follows the exploits of a ninja called Hotsuma, the last member of the famed Oboro clan. Although the game successfully revived the Shinobi franchise, it has remained somewhat controversial due to its extreme difficulty and average visuals.

tory

Raised together within the Oboro Clan, Hotsuma and Moritsune were seldom apart during their youth. Being the younger of the two, Hotsuma looked up to Moritsune, and considered his older brother to be a superior warrior.

Eventually, the Oboro Clan commandment was revealed to the two boys after they discovered Akujiki, the evil soul stealing sword that would be used in the ritual to decide the clan's leader.

The commandment deems that the next clan leader must be determined by a duel to the death between the eldest clan heirs -- in this case, Moritsune and Hotsuma. Aware of their destiny, the brothers trained incessantly, instructed by their foster parent, Kobushi.

10 years passed as the brothers refined their techniques and honed their senses. The duel occurred beneath a full moon, and after a long exhausting fight, Hotsuma finally slew his brother, though he felt a great of guilt from it. Not long after, a massive earthquake struck Tokyo, and a mysterious Golden Palace appeared in the center of the city.

With the appearance of the palace came the arrival of the powerful sorcerer Hiruko, who summoned hellspawn to wreak havoc upon the city, and all but destroyed the Oboro clan. The city's residents became paralyzed with fear. With the Oboro Clan ravaged and Tokyo on the verge of collapse, Hotsuma placed himself at the heart of the chaos, determined to reach the mysterious Golden Palace and avenge the death of his clan. Along the way, Hotsuma is also forced to undead Oboro created by Hiruko.

Mid way into his journey, Hotsuma encounters a young shrine maiden that believes she is intended to be sacrificed by Hiruko to release machine called Yatsuro. She asks Hostuma to kill her, but feeling guilty over killing his brother and the similarity of the situation where the girl wants him to kill her, he is unable to do it. This leads her capture by Hiruko's minions. Hotsuma resques the maiden, and confronts and destroys the Yatsuro, which allows Hiruko to absorb its power and restore his youth, which had apparently been his plan with the Yatsuro the whole time.

Eventually Ageha meets Hotsuma and reveals that she released Hiruko. She also reveals to Hotsuma that death match between him and Moritsune wasn't really to decide the Oboro's leader, to give a soul to keep Akujiki sated. Ageha works with Hiruko to get him revive Moritsune, but the revive Moritsune kills her before fighting and losing to Hotsuma. Hotsuma breaks to Hiruko's Golden Palace, where Hiruko reveals that he had all along intended for Hotsuma to kill all of the hellspawn and the undead Oboro so their souls would fuse inside Akujiki, he could take the soul and use to rule the world. Hotsuma then vows to kill Hiruko and destroy Akujiki, as he has the evil sword blame for everything to happen. Hotsuma fights and kills Hiruko after intense battle, and then disappears.

Gameplay

"Shinobi" is a fast paced hack and slash game. The protagonist "Hotsuma" utilizes the legendary "Akujiki" katana to slice his enemies into oblivion, combined with a dash maneuver mapped by the X button on the Playstation 2 controller. Using the speed of the dash maneuver, the player must use Hotsuma's cursed blade, Shurikens, and Ninjutsu magic to eliminate foes.ref|Gameplay

Due to the "Akujiki"s cursed status, Hotsuma must continuously kill enemies in the vicinity to feed the blade's thirst or it will absorb the player's life bar instead. This is also combined with a brief timeframe to link combos together so a player may gain a "tate"; a set of quickly executed kills that trigger a violent cutscene. The game also incorporates platforming elements, requiring the player to stay in the air over long chasms and obstacles, using Hotsuma's air dash technique and his combo ability to link together mid-air kills. This, along with the prerequisites of the cursed blades life-devouring ability makes every level timed for the player. These gameplay elements were frowned upon by various gameplay reviews, although the sequel, "Nightshade" alleviated some of its predecessor’s difficulty.ref|Gameplay

Characters

*HotsumaThe game’s protagonist. Hotsuma is the leader and last ninja of the Oboro clan. Wielding the Akujiki, a sword cursed to take the evil souls of the slain, Hotsuma ventures into the demon-infested ruins of Tokyo and makes his way to the Golden Palace.
*AomizuchiA ninja that attacks Hotsuma, when near akujiki the wound on his neck glows and starts causing him pain. He fights just like Hotsuma but takes his time before attacking. He flees upon defeat, later it is shown that he is really Moritsune, Hotsuma’s dead brother or at least his body. Aomizuchi is actually the fourth and final Hellspawn Lord, a dragon-like oni-demon with the power over lightning, using Moritsune's body as a puppet.
*The Aragane TwinsOboro clan siblings Akagane (the female) and Shirogane (the male) form a fearsome duo, both wield kusarigamas but each uses completely different attack methods. They both know that if they are left alone they would end up hurting innocent people shown by both asking Hotsuma to kill them, they also show respect to Hotsuma by calling him master (sempei). Akagane takes a more aggressive approach and will pursue Hotsuma throughout the battle, while Shirogane is more defensive staying in one spot while spinning his weapon to create an all around shield the only times he moves is if Hotsuma gets passed his chain and hits him which in turn make him try to roll away and start swinging his chain all over again. If they both are alive after a fair amount of time they while perform a hard to avoid fireball attack together. Despite fighting together they both are defeated by Hotsuma and are given the death they asked for.
*HakurakuAn old man that can summon ninja dogs to fight for him. The old man isn’t a fighter since he summons ninja dogs to do battle and if Hotsuma is close enough or if he as has been hit he will hide in the large box he carries to teleport from one part of the arena to another. He was shown to be very reluctant when battling Hotsuma constantly shouting, “Stay away from me”, but in the end he thanks Hotsuma for killing him and allowing him to rest in peace.
*HomuraAnother member of the Oboro clan, Homura has a cocky joking attitude he specializes in fire attacks and wields a telescope like Kiseru (Japanese smoking pipe) to use them. He will take about three hits then teleport to another part of the arena, if the player is to close they well get hit by the explosion he uses before teleporting. He likes to keep his distance and attack from afar. He appears to be a bit of a pyromaniac with phase like “burn, Burn” and “ah, the smell of roasting flesh”, at the end of the fight instead of letting Hotsuma kill him, he finishes himself off by blowing himself up.
*KongouA large and powerful member of the Oboro clan. Kongou is a man with a love of a good fight going as far as to consider thanking Hiruko for allowing him to have the chance to fight Hotsuma (a fight he has wanted for sometime). He wields a shield that is as large as he is; his shield also doubles as a shuriken with retractable blades. Not only does Kongou posses great strength and a large weapon but he can also create electricity giving his all ready powerful attacks even more power. When defeated he compliments Hotsuma on his strength even jokingly saying that “it must run in the family” before succumbing to death he says that they fight was fun and that it was a good fight.
*KizamiAn unknown swordsman of great caliber. Despite being blind his has superb hearing which he use to it fullest in the corridor which he fought, the floor is flooded making even the lightest step noticeable. He can also create shockwaves in the water using his blade. When defeated he comments on akujiki’s blade and that Hotsuma might just have what is need to kill Hiruko.
*YatsuraoA giant four armed Hindu god like machine that was destroyed (this is a lie it was disabled and sealed) by the Oboro 72 years ago. Hiruko uses a young shine maiden to reawaken him to destroy Tokyo. Being so large and fighting in such a confined area Yatsurao relies on his four arms, magic and summoning minions to attack Hotsuma. Hotsuma defeats him but his soul was absorbed by Hiruko giving him youth and even more power, which Hiruko revealed to have been his plan with it all long.
*AgehaHotsuma and Moritsune’s childhood friend. After the death of Moritsune she left the clan, she was the one who broke the seal to revive Moritsune, she wanted to save just like saved her when they were children, this is an action out of love not revenge. She has the same skills as Hotsuma the only exception is that she can summon more enemies to fight Hotsuma. She flees after being defeated by Hotsuma to see if Moritsune has been revived, upon seeing him alive she allows herself to fall into his arms only to be stabbed and killed by him seconds later.
*MoritsuneHotsuma’s older brother, he and Hotsuma were made to fight to the death to see who would be the clan leader. In the end Hotsuma won but in doing so and with a heavy heart killed his own brother. He is later revived thanks to Hiruko, he kills Ageha without remorse only to be reveled that the newly resurrected Moritsune is nothing more then a puppet, a demon using Moritsune’s body. Just like Ageha he has all of Hotsuma’s skills but wields two swords instead of one and he is more powerful thanks to demon's power inside his body. After being defeated he is stabbed by akujiki, his soul that was residing within the cursed blade exorcises the demon in his body, he then takes Ageha’s soul with him into akujiki but not before telling Hotsuma to avenge the Oboro Clan. With his and Ageha’s deaths Hotsuma is in possession of all the souls of the Oboro Clan members leaving Hotsuma the sole living member of the clan.
*HirukoThe game's villain, Hiruko evil Shinto priest sealed away for hundreds of years ago due to becoming the priest for a demonic god. Ageha unsealed him with his promise of bring Moritsune back from the dead. He also brought back several Oboro clan members back to life so that they may confront Hotsuma and so that their souls would be eaten by Akujiki; his unsealing is responsible for the destruction of Tokyo. This was his reason for summoning the hellspawn, all of it so the souls would fuse in Akujiki so he could take the sword and use the fused to soul to rule the world. He makes good on his promise but only it is only a farce, which he shows no remorse but instead a sick kind of glee. When finally confronted he has a barrier that prevents him from being harmed, only after numerous attacks will Hotsuma be able to harm him. While his barrier was used he would teleport after it was hit and normally attack using elemental spells and powerful magic to attack from afar. His elemental spells consist of calling down lightening, shooting out slow moving homing fireballs, firing balls of of energy in groups of five (he claims this is Earth based), fast moving chunks of ice that freeze Hotsuma leaving vulnerable to other attacks if they hit him, and summoning netherworld spirits in the form of five long energy beams. Despite his powers, Hiruko is killed by Hotsuma and his soul is eaten by Akujiki.
*ShirakumoOne of the Four Hellspawn Lords. He appears to be a eight-eyed gaint Turantula with a tiger head. He has the power of earth and commanded legions of spider hellspawns. He was the first to be killed.
*BenisuzumeOne of the Four Hellspawns Lords. She appears to be a giant moth with the face of a woman. She has the power over fire and commands legions of fire moth hellspawns. She was the second to be defeated, but instead of being burned alive in a lava pit, she decided to blow herself up in attempts to kill Hotsuma.
*KurakudaOne of the Four Hellspawn Lords. He appears to be based on the nine-tailed fox from japanese mythology, but has the upper body of a man, the lower body of a snake with a snake's head at the end, and carries a golden structure on his back with eight fan-like tails and a giant fox head at the top. He has the power over ice, able to move very fast and leaves afterimages, and commands legions of snake. He is the third to be killed.

Secrets

Standard bonus features in "Shinobi" include a level select, access to movies from the game and additional difficulty levels to complete the game on.

A number of secrets in the game however can be unlocked by collecting the gold Oboro coins scattered throughout each stage. Collecting 30 or 40 Oboro coins for example rewards the player with the ability to play as Moritsune or Joe Musashi, the hero of the original game series. Playing as these characters produces an overall different gaming experience than with Hotsuma. Moritsune for example is stronger and quicker than his brother, but the Akujiki sword will drain his life faster. Joe Musashi on the other hand has a weaker katana attack but an unlimited supply of shuriken. Furthermore, his life will not drain as Hotsuma's or Moritsune's does because he uses a different blade than the Akujiki sword.

Finally, collecting all 50 Oboro coins in the game gains the player access to a special VR stage. Beat Hiruko allows the player to see the ending.ref|Gameplay

equels

As a sequel to "Shinobi", Sega released "Nightshade" in 2004. The story follows a female ninja named Hibana, in a plot loosely related to the events of "Shinobi". The game further improved upon the gameplay mechanics of the original, while offering an overall easier playing experience. For example checkpoints were added to each level to lighten difficulty (though the level in between the checkpoints amount to roughly the time it took to complete one level in the original Shinobi game), although it should be noted that "Nightshade" was still regarded by most reviewers as a difficult game.

Soundtrack

The music of "Shinobi" was written and composed by Fumie Kumatani, Teruhiko Nakagawa, Takayuki Maeda, Yutaka Minobe and Masaru Setsumaru. The soundtrack was released on December 5 2002 through Sten och Flod records. Full tracklisting is as follows:

Trivia

* "Shinobi" is one of three games in the Shinobi series to simply be called "Shinobi", along with the original "Shinobi" on arcade and the first "Shinobi" installment for Game Gear (although the latter was originally titled "The G.G. Shinobi" in Japan).
* Between "Shinobi" and the previous game in the series, "Shinobi Legions", there was a gap of seven years (1995-2002).
* "Shinobi" was the first game in the series to be fully rendered in 3D. Previous titles were traditional sidescrolling action games.
* Many assume Shinobi for the PlayStation 2 was one of the many unfinished projects originally intended for the Sega Dreamcast. This was not the case with Shinobi. In an interview with GamePro, designer Noriyoshi Ohba states he was too busy with other projects during the Dreamcast era, and did not consider developing a new Shinobi game until 2001. Shinobi was developed from the ground up for the Playstation 2.ref|Trivia
* As with the release of "Sonic Advance" on Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, the transition of Shinobi to a rival console marked another break in the longstanding tradition of one of Sega's mascots.
* In Japanese, Akujiki literally translates to "Evil eater".
*During the boss battle in stage 1-B, there is a sign that says "SKILL UP." The first and the last letters disintegrate, so the sign reads "KILL U," then the two "L"s disintegrate as well, so it reads "KI U."
*Heroes star Masi Oka was featured in the Shinobi commercial during its US release.
*The Akujiki katana's need for deaths closely resembles the Stormbringer sword featured in the Elric of Melniboné series by Michael Moorcock.

References

# cite web
author = neoX
url = http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/game/561199.html
title = Gameplay FAQ
publisher = GameFAQs
year = 2004
# cite web
author = neoX
url = http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/game/561199.html
title = Game Script/Story Guide
publisher = GameFAQs
year = 2004
# cite web
author = neoX
url = http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/game/561199.html
title = Gameplay FAQ
publisher = GameFAQs
year = 2004
# cite web
author = neoX
url = http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/game/561199.html
title = Gameplay FAQ
publisher = GameFAQs
year = 2004
# cite web
author = GamePro
url = http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=23740
title = Interview With Shinobi Developers
publisher = GamePro
year = 2003

External links

* [http://www.segawow.com/shinobi/ Official Japanese site of Shinobi]