Shinobi seems like a series that deserves a far greater legacy and reverence among general retro gamers

Played this one for the first time a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it. Easily one of the best action platformers of its era, it can even go toe to toe with the best of the Castlevania series. An absolute classic.

Shinobi 3 is still a classic and still fun to play after all these years. I find myself going back to it probably once or twice a year, like with Ristar, Streets of Rage 2 & 3, and Contra Hard Corps.

Holy damn, Shinobi 3 was ahead of its time; the flexibility of Joe's movements and variety of ninja techniques he can do is incredible. He feels so good to play as, the stage aesthetics and the soundtrack is absolute fire. A true classic!

In my eyes Shinobi 3 is the best 16 bit game ever made on any system its complete all the way around

Back in the day, my friend owed someone some weed money, so he offered to sell me Shinobi 3, Street Fighter Champion Edition, both CIB, and a loose cart of Streets of Rage 1 for $20. Totally worth it for me. I hope it was good weed.

I think "Whirlwind" is one of the best tracks on the Megadrive. Absolutely iconic.

Streets of Rage 2 & Shinobi III are my favorite Genesis OST's

This is the best Shinobi game and ninja themed title in general. The graphics, the soundtrack, the gameplay, the atmosphere.. Pure perfection.

Easily one of the greatest games in all time. Tight controls, great graphics, kick ass soundtracks and just the perfect length.

Possibly the greatest ninja game ever crafted.

I was in a comic book shop and saw this complete in the box. Never played it before, so I pull out my phone, jumped on KZfaq and came across this video, watched two minutes and bought it. Can’t wait to sit down and play it!

Finally.. you're doing my absolute favorite Genesis game. Best gameplay graphics, and a godlike soundtrack. Rented it the weekend it came out when I was a kid. Then asked for the game for my birthday. I still have and play that cartridge. 😊

Forgive me Revenge of Shinobi fans, but THIS one is the actual best Shinobi game.

One of my favorite games from when I was a kid. A recent replay confirmed it still is. What a brilliant game.

This is a game everyone hears about, but fewer and fewer have played. Thank you for enlightening those that haven't experienced it.

Best in the series and a Top-5 (maybe even Top-3) Genesis game.

One of my all time favorite action games. This, sonic 3 and gunstar heroes made me so satisfied I bought a genesis over a SNES.

This was and still is one of the greatest games I've ever played. The music, the style, the bosses, the graphics... Love this game.

For years in the 90s I played an emulated version of what I thought was this game, but it turned out to be a reskinned Revenge instead with a changed title screen and some other wierd things, so I ignored it for a long long time until I started to see videos of the game, incredible reviews and comments so I acquired a fresh copy and was blown away. Now I wonder was this Rom I played this mysterious other version you mentioned.

Shinobi 3 is one of the best games on the Genesis, the graphics music and gameplay are all top notch.

Smack my grundle, a new upload!

Thank you for this, imo this is the pinnacle of the Sega Genesis. No other 16-bit action title can match the graphics, soundtrack and gameplay of Shinobi III. Got it when I was a kid in 95 or so and still play through it at least once a year. Expert difficulty, 0 shurikens to start always.

Thank god someone is putting In Some love for my favorite genesis game

One of my favorite games of all time

This is one of the best games on the system, an amazing game.

Wow I must've played this game a 100 times over the years since it came out in the early 90 s and i never knew you could block projectiles with your sword

I played this on Sega Channel and had my mind blown. Thanks for Sega Channel mom, it really was smarter than spending $50+ on every video game I wanted

Honestly, this is the best 16 bit game in my opinion. Perfect in every aspect. Music, controls, levels... I think the only flaw I can see is the length and the stupid falling rock level.

This is one of my top 3 on the Genesis, I've been waiting to hear you talk about this one in depth.

I was introduced to this game by the Genesis Mini, but it wasn't until I went out and bought the actual cartridge that I fell in love with it. Such a great game, truly a masterclass of arcade design.

Honestly, I didn’t realize the game was such a sales failure, that’s a real shame. Though it does explain the situation with the Shinobi franchise after. I’m still shocked the Dreamcast ever got a game. It’s still a shame that the franchise as a whole has gone dormant again for the last 11 years or so. Still hoping to see a return (hopefully in 2-D like SOR4) one of these days.

Definitely my Sega Genesis game. Playing it as a kid made me feel so badass! I love this channel man - you do great work.

before I even watch this is a magnificent classic. the horse level was weird with the "jump kick" but other than that, the music, gameplay, sound and graphics were fantastic. can't wait to see your review all the way through I haven't touched it since 1996

Best Genesis game ever. Christmas of 93 our neighbor gave us shinobi 3.Thanks Landis. Got Mortal Kombat that same year in October. 1993-1994 was awesome.

Received this game as a gift back in the day, was and still is amazing!

This game blew me away. Easily in the top ten Sega Genesis games list.

One of the best games for the Mega Drive with a great soundtrack. I really like the Inner Dark Side track and but most of the music is top tier. I always thought it was Yuzo who composed the music but it was done by other composers.

One of the few Genesis games I couldn’t put down until I beat it. Can’t believe it’s been 30 years-someone pass the Metamucil 😬! Great video as usual SLX

This game was a huge part of my childhood growing up, and your video did it the justice it deserves! You just gained a new subscriber.

Watched a friend many years ago 1 life this game, it was insane. I enjoyed the playthrough he did, beginning to end, grew to like the game myself, eventually got myself a boxed copy while I was in Texas, for $10 (even if I already had 2 Genesis compilations for PS2 and PS3 that had the game on it). I was at a Game Over retro game shop in San Antonio, the only copy that they had was over 70 miles away, in Austin. I told me ex girlfriend at the time that was too far, she said to me, "Let's go there". I was absolutely thrilled beyond belief, and I told the guy to call that shop and tell them to hang on to it for me. That same Austin shop had my boxed Valis 3, a box for Chiki Chiki Boys (for my loose cart), a loose copy of R-Type SMS, and a boxed copy of Wonder Boy SMS. Gauntlet 4 was also there, but sadly too expensive, and a loose Phantasy Star SMS as well, it too far too pricey for my blood. I believe it was all that I picked up that day, and between both shops, damned near spent $200, 50 of it just on Kyukyoku Tiger II Plus for the Saturn. I'd end up spending another 50 at the San Antonio shop through a third party, a forum member picked up Image Fight/X-Multiply PS1 for 50 as well, and I paid him $57 (shipping fee for the extra 7 bucks, no biggie) for picking it up for me. Those shops are still over there, and I follow them on Facebook, but the prices they do decide to list on Facebook, are far worse than they were a decade or so ago when I was over there.

Still conflicted if I think this soundtrack or revenge of Shinobi is the better one but regardless they’re both amazing. Shinobi 3 is a timeless masterpiece!

The only guy who can review Shinobi III twelve times and keep it mad interesting! :P

Excellent and absolutely comprehensive video! Going to check this out on my Genesis Mini 2, can’t believe I passed this one over. Revenge of Shinobi will always have a special place in my heart though.

I still play this game in my leisure time. What an amazing game.

My Aunt picked this up for me in the clearance bin of Kmart of all places not long after the original release. Great game and was the only Shinobi game I had back then. I remember the SNES vs. Genesis arguments I had in Jr. High and HS and this was always one to point out since I was team Sega back then.

You gotta respect Sega's first party. They made the Genesis shine.

Another great video SLX, Shinobi one of favorite Sega franchises of all time. Part 3 was definitely the more action packed of the 3, great music and visuals throughout.

The best ninja game of the 16-bit era. It's not even a contest! It even makes Shinobi Legions on the 32-bit Saturn look like a step backwards!

This is the game that made me fall in love with the Mega Drive some years ago (I was strictly a Super Nintendo boy back in the day). There are some stages that I like less than others, in particular the one where you jump on rocks one after the other, that one got me frustrated a lot because I couldn't always double jump in a consistent way. Otherwise, it's a brilliant and spectacular work of art

Fantastic review of a fantastic game. It's amazing it turned out so well considering its troubled release. Sure, they thought it wasn't good enough in its earlier form, but that kind of overhaul was not common. In 1993, because of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter 2, I just didn't know Shinobi 3 existed. I had an affinity for the series since the Master System, so I would have been into Shinobi 3, but I just never saw it in any magazines. Must have been bad timing on my part. In 1995 or 1996, a good friend of mine was selling some of his old games to buy new games and I had some money. I picked up quite a few good games, though I ran out of cash before I could add Super Metroid which would have been my next pick up. But that's how I learned of Shinobi 3 and I loved it immediately. It was especially fun to play it on the Nomad, though I forget if I had that first. The Nomad revitalized the Genesis for me. When I got back into retro gaming, Shinobi 3 was one of the first games I went back to. I've since played it at least once a year. If I had to pick out a negative if I was trying to be critical, and I agree it's nitpicking, it would be that the game might be too easy once you discover a few ways to exploit things. The block might be too powerful. There are so many lives around to pick up making the self-destruct magic extremely powerful and trivial in terms of consequences. And towards the end, being able to destroy large obstacles like the thrusters on the last stage takes a lot of challenge away. Of course, the upside is that all three of those can just be avoided or minimized. Blocking isn't necessary for the most part. The thrusters don't have to be destroyed on the final stage. And the destruct magic is optional. That means the game supports multiple play styes and lets players determine some of the challenge for themselves. And games like Shinobi 3 and Shatterhand on the NES are games I don't mind adding challenge to. And I could make the same point about a game like Super Mario World, which is excellent.

This is honestly my favorite Genesis game. Great gameplay and amazing soundtrack!

Shinobi 3 is an absolute masterpiece, hands down one of the best games ever made for the Genesis, if there was ever a game i could call perfect its this one, top notch game design in every conceivable way, the only possible complaint i have is one of the things you gave it credit for, i hated the riding stages tbh and wish they had just created more side scrolling action stages instead, but nothing takes away from how awesome this game is. Great review as always SLX.

Top 5 Sega Genesis games of all time as far as i'm concerned. Also, this is coming from someone who owned a Sega Genesis for 32 years and played Shinobi III for the very first time just a few years ago. That's how much of a lasting impression this game has. Another great review!

This is one of the best Genesis games easily. It's not a game I've ever beaten, although I did make it to the maze stage years ago, but what I have played of it is basically flawless. I can't think of a single thing wrong with Shinobi III.

"It's a masterpiece, plain and simple!" You closed with a golden key.

That parallax scrolling 🤤🤯

I still have my copy of this game and my original model 1 Sega Genesis. I'm currently playing Jedi Survivor on PC and I can never help but think that it really is a modern version of Shinobi III, Revenge of Shinobi and Shadow Dancer. Games like Shinobi III were the blueprint and made action platformers one of my favorite genres of video games. Thanks for the review! I really like your editing style!

One of my favorite Genesis games. Thanks for your review of it, Sega Lord X !

Another banger from SLX. Installing Sega Classics on Steam as I type this. Praying one day you'll cover the PS2 Shinobi in depth. My favourite by far.

Great review! This game is in my top 10 of all time across all platforms, and my “go to” game whenever trying out any new platform that runs a Mega Drive emulator. And even though I’ve completed it multiple times, I always forget to block… and your video showed Joe blocking attacks I didn’t think he could! I completely agree the soundtrack is something you can listen to separately… I have it on my mobile phone ready for that. Masayuki Nagao was also composer for Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. In the UK, Mega (a magazine I otherwise respected) gave it only 79%, complaining that the game was too easy. While it certainly can be if you rack up some extra lives and then overuse that exploding magic, or use the infinite shurikens cheat… that still doesn’t negate the sheer atmosphere and fun this game packs. I would encourage fans to check out the rom hack that gives you full 6 button controls. And I’m going to check out that early beta version myself.

Shinobi III is a gem. Definitely my favorite sega game, and seems to be underrated by many.

This has always been my number 1 16-bit game of all time. It's about as perfect a side scrolling action game as there ever was

Shinobi III is a masterpiece, indeed. Superb gameplay, graphics and the music is as good as the tunes from Revenge Of Shinobi, wich were made by Yuzo Koshiro. One of the best 16-Bit action games of all-time!

thanks sega lord x for another great video. i couldnt even make it to the end before i pulled out my copy of shinobi III and started playing. made sure i dropped a like first thou lol

i was one of the children caught up in the mortal kombat hype, i wish we wouldve had sega lord x to show us the way back then!

The six button hack to have full controls like manual sword goes a long way. And honestly, some prefer the second game, but this is the one I grew up with and prefer by far. Also the running sword slash has I-frames during the cut itself, so if you have good timing you can even do major damage to things like the first boss while passing right through him.

Purchased FLAC album of Shinobi III on Bandcamp last year, well worth the price!

Shinobi 3 was my introduction to this franchise. It stands and one of my top 10 Genesis games of all time! I always played this game with the unlimited shurikens cheat enabled. lol

I've waited for your review for so long ... For me this game, that is already amazing, gets twice as much fun if you force yourself to NOT use ninjutsus or power ups (especially against the bosses)

Knew Whirlwind had to come up in the music. Don't get me wrong, 100% that the music is absolutely fantastic, but Whirlwind? That tune is one of the best on the system. Adored it from the moment I heard it back in the day and still turn up the volume to it to this day! Great review SLX 👍

It wasn't just Mortal Kombat that caused Shinobi 3 to underperform. It was also because it was released the same month as Jungle Strike, one month after Shining Force was a Suprise hit, and one month before the release of the Jurassic park game. The summer of 1993 was just a really busy time for the Genesis. It's the same reason Rocket Knight didn't sell well.

Plain and simple: One of the best games of all times, a masterpiece, I still play it, and enjoy it from beginning to end

I have to admit, this is one of only a few 16 bit games where my skills are compromised because I spend too much time staring at the gorgeous backgrounds.

I remember in 94 seeing this at a pawn shop for 10.00. I bought it never knowing what I was going into. This game became one of my favorites. This and a few others were the games I bragged about to my co workers on what a genesis could do

I had such awesome memories playing Shinobi games on my model 1 Sega Genesis during my childhood in the 80's & 90's.

This game brings about good and fond memories from my youth. I must've spent hundreds of hours playing this again and again. It is a legend.

you always deliver. high quality videos always

This is one of those beautiful scores I made at a local flea market like over a decade ago for $10 CIB. Such a beautiful looking and sounding game. Agree with everything you said, Mel. Hope you're having a great weekend!

Fantastic review SLX. This game is definitely within the Top 3 Mega Drive games (IMO). I was quite late to the party with this one, but I have played it numerous times in the last 5 years. It's one of the few MD games I like to pick up, stress free playthrough until completion.

If I remember correctly Shinobi 3 was one of those rare occasions where Sega had finished making the game but held it for over a year to fully polish it before they released it. A practice I wish Sega would of done with alot of their properties instead of rushing unfinished games

Top 5 MD game for me. The control is almost perfect, the speed and action never gets old, it truly feels like a follow up, an evolution. I know most people love RoS because it has a different feel and approach to action along Yuzo Koshiro's music, and I love it too, but for me Shinobi III it's the perfection of the formula. Not saying that nobody should play the other Shinobi games, all of them feel and play different and that's great, but this one is the result of all the great ideas from them.

A Genesis game I wish I grew up with along with Gunstar Heroes and Contra Hard Corps

Getting my Tectoy branded 8bitdo M30 tomorrow from the mail, can't wait to play this again.

Great review! I still need to play this one as I've constantly heard that it is one of the best Sega Genesis action titles! I love these types of games, so I definitely need to play it. I think it is actually on Switch Sega Genesis Online as well as other Genesis Collections. It is criminal there hasn't been a modern follow-up to the Shinobi series. I'd love to see a developer make an official Shinobi 4 with the same love and care that was given to other Sega franchises like Streets of Rage 4 or Sonic Mania. I hardly hear anyone ever mention Toki on the Genesis. That was childhood favorite of mine! I hope Sega Lord X does a quick review of it at some point! It isn't the best action game by a long shot, but it can be a short and sweet adventure! 😊

I still play this today. It's in my top 10 best games. Played it in 1993 as well.

ABSOLUTELY LOVE this channel!

This was my favorite game to play on the Sega Genesis Collection on the PSP back when I got it in 2010.

Great episode, you represented Sega well here. Shinobi is awesome!

First sega genesis game i ever beat. Never knew there was a block function 😮

That last boss fight looks like Zordon from the Power Rangers freaking out in the background.

In regard of the "fog" effect and the cascades, the Megadrive could'nt do translucency, or what is called "alpha-blending". However, there was a trick. On a real CRTs, those "half-drawed" layers would blurry on a CRT over composite, making the illusion of being translucent. However, this effect is lost today on emulators and FPGA recreations. The same effect was used on the cascades of Green Hill of Sonic 1, and the lights of the bar of Street of Rage 2.

ahhh nostalgia this is the ultimate sega game ever made i love it forever till the end of time, amazing gameplay soundtrack and graphics, i've mastered this game over all this years everytime i got bored from ps5 xbox switch or pc i'll just play this masterpiece, i wish one day they remake it 🥲

I remember playing ''Toki Going Ape Shit'' the very first time on the Mega Drive thinking to myself ''there's something about this game that reminds me of Shinobi III'' I think it was the second level where you had to keep ascending up the mountain and I later found out that it was the same developers across the two games, also all Megasoft's games use the same drum kit. They tend to use that Moonwalker SMPS drum set. I too have always felt that the Mega Drive could have pulled out one more Shinobi title before the lifespan ran out, there was still time in 1994 or 1995, I mean it teases the player at the end by saying ''To Be Continued'' but just like Street Fighter's Asassin's Fist movie, there was never to be made a direct sequel. Also in 1993 the SNES was slowly starting to win the 16-bit race as one of the things that was letting down the Mega Drive at that point was the poor western driver put in nearly every western game known as GEMS. Shinobi III was one of those games you could show off to all your mates and say it had a bangin' soundtrack that showed just what you could do with FM synthesis. FM synthesis was designed to sound real and by god does this music sound real. Definitely the best Shinobi game period, not only on the system but also in general. My favourite and for a 1 Megabyte/8 Megabit cartridge it gives the player a good hour of gameplay. Would love to see your review take on the Master System version of Shadow Dancer and also the game ''Jewel Master'' on the Mega Drive.

Great game i go back to again and again. The repertoire of different moves you have, the dash, sword slash, kicks, double jump, and wall jump give you so many options and make the action fast, varied, and technical. What i'd really like to see is a shinobi game that combines the moves of shinobi iii with the dog companion of shadow dancer.

I love the point gaming has gotten to. Shinobi 3 has been around for decades but I've never played it. Now, because of videos like this providing visibility, I'm genuinely excited about playing a game from 1993.

I've been crushing this game sense it was first released. Never realized how useful the sword could be.

I always sing the “Sega” intro ❤

I was kind of chuckling at your pronunciation of karyu. Ka is fire and ryu is dragon in Japanese. So, literally fire dragon, which is what the spell is. You said car-ryu, which makes me think of a dragon made out of cars. Which, honestly, sounds pretty badass. Now I want to see a spell that summons a car dragon.

For any fans of Shinobi 3, check out Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider. Its an indie game that is heavily influenced by Shinobi 3 but adds some modern stuff like abilities and some extra moves. Its pixel graphics, very well done, and a ton of fun! I highly recommend it. (Developer: JoyMasher, Published by The Arcade Crew)