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1. General Analysis

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Guillem Alqueza Mayench edited this page Mar 5, 2023 · 3 revisions

Contents

Genre

Shinobi is an arcade game cataloged as a side-scrolling action game. It’s a 2D game that contains platforms, obstacles and also combats and fights with enemies.
In this type of arcade games we can also find linear gameplay, power-ups and a storyline as we see in Shinobi.

Similar games

In these pictures we can see some different video games that are similar to Shinobi, for different reasons like all of them are action arcade games.
Other things that we see is that the player can move on different platforms where we find the enemies to take down. Also, some of these games use weapons as we can see in Shinobi.

Bad Dudes Vs Dragon Ninja
Batman
Contra
Crude Buster
Rolling Thunder

However, Shinobi has his own saga with a lot of ninja games that follow a similar history and they have similar mechanics that gives a new experience to the followers of Shinobi saga.

SHINOBI
THE REVENGE
OF SHINOBI
SHADOW DANCER
SHADOW DANCER:
THE SECRET OF SHINOBI
THE CYBER SHINOBI
THE G.G. SHINOBI
Year: 1987
Year: 1989
Year: 1989
Year: 1990
Year: 1990
Year: 1991
THE G.G. SHINOBI II:
THE SILENT FURY
SHINOBI III: RETURN OF THE
NINJA MASTER
SHINOBI LEGIONS
SHINOBI
THE REVENGE
OF SHINOBI
NIGHTSHADE
SHINOBI 3D
Year: 1992
Year: 1993
Year: 1995
Year: 2002
Year: 2002
Year: 2003
Year: 2011

Technical profile

CPU:
  • The main CPU is a Hitachi FD1094 (it’s a Motorola 68000 clone) that works at 10 MHz.
  • The sound CPU is a NEC μPD780C-1 (it’s a Zilog Z80 clone) that works at 4 MHz.
    		•
    MCU:
  • The main MCU is an Intel i8751 that works at 8 MHz.
  • The sound MCU is an intel i8048 that works at 6 MHz.
    		•
    Sound chips:
  • The FM Sound Chip is a Yamaha YM2151 that works at 4 MHz.
  • The PCM Sound Chip is a NEC μPD7751 ADPCM Decoder that works at 6 MHz.
  • It has 3 ADPCM Sampling Channels and 8-bit Audio Bit Depth.
    		•
    GPU: It has different chipsets that allows to work correctly:
  • 1x 315‑5011 sprite line comparator.
  • 1x 315‑5012 sprite generator
  • 2x 315‑5049 tilemap chips
  • 1x 315‑5107 and 1x 315‑5108 display timers
  • 1x 315‑5143 and 1x 315‑5144 sprite chips
  • 1x 315‑5149 video mixer
    • The GPU Clock Rate Performances are 12.5874 MHz and 6.2937 MHz.
    Memory Storage:
    • It can store up to 1252 KB:
      • Main memory: 304 KB
      • Video memory: 801 KB
      • Sound memory: 163 KB
    RAM:
    • It has 147KB and includes 77 KB high speed SRAM.
    • Main RAM: 48 KB
      • Work RAM: 16 KB
      • Input and Output RAM: 16 KB
      • NVRAM: 16 KB
    • Video RAM: 97 KB
    • CPU Board: 42 KB
      • Tiles 32KB
      • Text 4 KB
      • Sprites 2 KB
      • Color 4 KB
    • Video Board: 55 KB SRAM
    • Sound RAM: 2 KB
    ROM:
    • It can store up to 1121 KB EPROM:
      • Main memory: 256 KBv
      • Video memory: 704 KB
      • Sound memory: 161 KB
    Display
  • Resolution: 320×224
  • Orientation: Horizontal
  • Colors: 4096
  • Graphical Capabilities:
      • 128 on screen sprites
      • 2 tile layers
      • 1 text layer
      • 1 sprite layer

    History of the game

    The Shinobi game was released by SEGA on november 16, 1987 in Japan. The first version of the game was released for Arcade, more exactly, it worked on the System 16, one of the most successful hardware designs developed by Sega.

    In 1987, Shinobi was one of the best arcade games in Japan and also in the United States that the game became a blockbuster hit of the industry. In 1988 and 1989 Shinobi was selected as one of the best conversion kit games in the United States, the original version was for Arcade but thanks to its success a large number of versions were created for many consoles. The game achieved a large number of sales and received very good ratings that gave rise to a saga with a large number of games for many platforms and for many countries around the world.

    This is the history of versions of the first Shinobi:

    Platform Year
    SEGA Master System 1988
    Amiga 1989
    Atari ST 1989
    Commodore 64 1989
    ZX Spectrum 1989
    MSX 1989
    Amstrad CPC 1989
    DOS 1989
    NES 1989
    TurboGrafx-16 1989
    Xbox 360 2009
    Wii 2009
    Nintendo Switch 2011
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