Handheld gaming is more than a compromise of power and portability. Whether it’s the ability to play anywhere, multitask or hold an entire console in your hands, it’s a special experience consoles have never replicated. In a world where high resolutions and teraflops reign supreme, we take a look at a portable relic every month and reflect on what makes it memorable. Be warned, spoilers may occasionally populate these articles.
As civilization advances many aspects of society improve. Looking back a few decades ago to the ’80s and ’90s, modern conveniences like GPS, streaming services and high-speed internet simply didn’t exist. These technologies are amazing and help make modern society so comfortable. But as society advances, certain aspects of the past become lost and are only remembered in the nostalgic ramblings of the elderly. One of the hallmarks of those decades were the entertainment industry’s obsession with ninjas. We see some new games on occasion that make reference to the assassins that stalk in the shadows but in decades past you couldn’t look at games or movies without tripping over the enormous ninja infestation. Joe Musashi is one gaming’s most famous shinobi, and he made his handheld debut on The G.G. Shinobi.
Trouble is brewing in Ninja Valley when a sinister force establishes a base within Neo City. The Master of the Oboro School of Shinobi dispatches his students to investigate this occurrence, but these shinobi are never seen again after they head out to investigate. Believed to be captured, the master must send his most senior disciple, the red ninja Joe Musashi, out into Neo City to rescue his fellow Shinobi and put an end to this new threat.
The G.G. Shinobi takes on a Mega Man inspired approach to progressing through the game. There are four stages that the player can tackle in any order, with the goal in each stage to rescue one of his fellow captive shinobi. After the player rescues one of the captives they can switch between them and Musashi. Each of the shinobi are identified through a different color, and each one has a unique skill that they bring to the table.
Even though Musashi is the undisputed star pupil among his peers, he needs to rely on a little help from his friends if players wish to complete the game. After Musashi rescues his four colleagues, he enters the fifth and final level: Neo City. Neo City is a dangerous place, crawling with a few boss fights before Musashi confronts the final boss. But these thugs aren’t the only problem as the Orobo students are subjected to deadly trap rooms. Musashi is useless in escaping these rooms alive, but thankfully the unique skills possessed by the other ninjas are exactly what he needs to bypass the traps. The sinister forces in Neo City had the foresight to ninja proof their stronghold but failed to implement security measures that would actually be effective against the Orobo students.
Musashi is the red ninja. He fights with a sword that has a wide swing to take care of any head-on attack. His ninja power is to summon an earthquake which is useful to taking care of everyone on screen. The pink ninja wields bombs, can crawl on the ceiling and unleash a flash of light to stun enemies. The yellow ninja can charge projectile attacks to make them worthwhile, as otherwise they’re weak. The yellow ninja does have useful tricks like walking on water and summoning a lightning barrier so that makes up for the less-than-stellar attacks. The blue ninja wields the powerful chain sickle which can also double as a grapple to swing from peg to peg. The blue ninja’s power lets him fly around like a tornado, so this is one of the cooler ninjas. The green ninja can double jump and rain shurikens down on his enemies. His ninja art, however, dispatches on screen enemies at the expense of one of the extra lives and uses up the stored arts, so it’s hard to recommend ever using that.
In the before time, the long long ago, games were short compared to modern games. In the hands of a skilled player who’s game mastery was comparable to Musashi’s ninjutsu, The G.G. Shinobi can be completed in about twenty minutes. to extend gameplay developers would make the games challenging, forcing the player to attempt each level multiple times before they were able to complete it. The G.G. Shinobi is such a game where the brutal challenge likely forces the player many near Gear Game smashing attempts before they make it to Neo City and save Ninja Valley. But like many classic games, learning the finer points of the gameplay and the enemy layout in the level is part of the fun, and with persistence and patience players can bring honor to the Orobo School.
The G.G. Shinobi sits among countless ninja games from the 16-bit era and one of the better handheld ones. Musashi’s mission is not an easy one, but it’s a rewarding journey for those who take the time to master it. The use of different color-coded shinobi opened up new strategies which was a welcome way to bring variety to the gameplay that was otherwise standard fare for Shinobi titles. Sega ultimately got out of the console game entirely, but games like Shinobi are reminders that once upon a time they were a viable competitor in the console wars.
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