The GG Shinobi

From Sega Retro

n/a

GGShinobi Title.png

The GG Shinobi
System(s): Sega Game Gear, Palm OS, Virtual Console
Publisher: Sega
Developer:
Genre: Action[2][3][4]

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Game Gear
JP
¥3,8003,800 G-3302
Sega Game Gear
US
$39.9539.95[6] 2402
Sega Game Gear
EU
2402
Sega Game Gear
UK
£24.9924.99[8][9] 2402
Sega Game Gear
BR
012110
Palm OS
US
$19.95 ?



Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console
JP
¥286 (300)286 (300)[11]
CERO: B
Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console
US
$3.993.99[12]
ESRB: Everyone
Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console
EU
€4.004.00[14]
PEGI: 12+
Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console
DE
€4.004.00[14]
USK: 12
Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console
UK
£3.603.60[14]
PEGI: 12+
Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console
AU
OFLC: Parental Guidance (PG)

The GG Shinobi (The GG忍), also referred to simply as Shinobi on Western game covers, is an entry to the Shinobi series. Released exclusively on the Sega Game Gear in 1991, it sees the player rescue differently coloured Shinobi characters, each playable with their own special skills.

Story

Terror and destruction have made their way to Ninja Valley. The Master of the Oboro school of shinobi sends his best students to investigate the suburban areas. They return with news of a powerful dark force that has established a base within Neo City.

The Master knows that only a warrior trained in the arts of ninjutsu can stand against this menace. One by one his greatest pupils enter Neo City to locate and destroy the source of the evil. Ninja Valley has lost contact with each of them. All are believed to be captured.

Now Joe Musashi, the Red Shinobi, must carry out this dire mission. As the oldest and strongest of his ninja disciples, Musashi must use his special skills in the art of ninjutsu to free his fellow shinobi. With their combined strength, they can destroy the City of Fear.

Gameplay

GG Shinobi, Pause Menu.png

Pause menu

The GG Shinobi is a hack-and-slash action game with mechanics similar to The Revenge of Shinobi but with the addition of a character-switching system. The player starts the game as the Red Ninja, whose goal is to rescue four kidnapped allies who are being held captive in different rounds. The first four rounds can be played in any order; the final round is unlocked after the others have been completed. Each ninja character has a unique weapon, ninjutsu, and ability.

The ninja can be moved around with Left or Right and can crouch with Down. He can move while crouching with Down-left and Down-right. He can enter doorways with Up. He can jump with 2 and jump off a platform with Down+2. The 1 button strikes with the ninja's primary weapon. The  START  button invokes up a menu that allows the player to change the currently played ninja or use the current ninja's ninjutsu ability by selecting 忍術. The player can use ninjutsu abilities a finite amount of times; the player starts with no uses available but can gain opportunities by finding the Ninjutsu item throughout the game. The number of uses of ninjutsu is retained between rounds but not if the player loses a life.

The ninjas share a life gauge, which is diminished each time a ninja takes damage from an enemy weapon. It can be replenished by finding a Heart item. Each round (except the last) contains a Power-Up item that permanently augments the player's life gauge. Touching an enemy but not a weapon knocks the ninja back without doing damage. If a ninja loses the entire life gauge, the player loses a life. If the player runs out of lives, the game ends, but it can be continued.

Ninjas

The Red Ninja is initially available, but the others must be unlocked by completing rounds.

GG Shinobi, Characters.png
Red Ninja
  • Main Weapon: Short-ranged, 180-degree sword slash towards the front.
  • Special Technique: None.
  • Ninjutsu: Earthquake. Damages all enemies on the screen and destroys cracked boulders.
GG Shinobi, Characters.png
Blue Ninja
  • Main Weapon: Manriki-kusari. Blade with a long chain. Powerful and medium range.
  • Special Technique: Swinging from grappling points by hitting them with the end of his weapon.
  • Ninjutsu: Tatsumaki. Turns into a whirlwind and flies around the screen. Can be controlled. Use it to reach high places. Also damages enemies it touches while flying.
GG Shinobi, Characters.png
Yellow Ninja
  • Main Weapon: Chi blasts. Medium-ranged weak projectiles fired from hands. Holding the attack button allow firing a more powerful blast.
  • Special Technique: Walking over water.
  • Ninjutsu: Ikazuchi. Creates a lightning barrier that protects the user from damage until it takes enough damage or disappears.
GG Shinobi, Characters.png
Pink Ninja
  • Main Weapon: Short-ranged but powerful bombs.
  • Special Technique: Walking on ceilings by jumping and holding 2 on the ceiling. Release 2 to drop off the ceiling. The ninja cannot attack while on a ceiling.
  • Ninjutsu: Flash. Creates a blinding light that stuns the enemies and illuminates dark areas.
GG Shinobi, Characters.png
Green Ninja
  • Main Weapons: Shurikens, long range but weak power.
  • Special Technique: Double jump by jumping and pressing 2 again at the height of the jump. Pressing 1 during the double jump fires 5 shurikens towards the ground, similar to the special attack in Revenge of Shinobi and Shinobi III.
  • Ninjutsu: Mijin. Creates a powerful blast that will kill all enemies on the screen and cause heavy damage to bosses. Costs one life.

Items

Items are revealed by breaking open item boxes and then can be collected by moving onto them.

GG Shinobi, Items.png
Heart
Replenishes two points on the player's life gauge.
GG Shinobi, Items.png
Ninjutsu
Gives the player another opportunity to use a ninja's ninjutsu ability.
GG Shinobi, Items.png
Power-Up
Permanently increases the player's life gauge by two points. There is one hidden in each of the first four rounds.
GG Shinobi, Items.png
1-Up
Gives the player an extra life.
GG Shinobi, Items.png
Bomb
Explodes and damages the player if in range.

Rounds

The first four rounds are available immediately and can be played in any order. Each of them unlocks a different ninja as a playable character once completed, and Neo City is unlocked once they have all been completed. Some of the rounds contain obstacles and hazards that are trivialized by a ninja's abilities, so there is an element of strategy in selecting the optimal order in which to play the rounds. Additionally, each of the initial four rounds contains a Power-Up item, which permanently extends the player's life gauge by two points, and some of them can only be accessed by certain ninjas.

GG Shinobi, Stages, Highway 1.png

GG Shinobi, Stages, Highway 2.png

GG Shinobi, Stages, Highway Boss.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Highway 1.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Highway 2.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Highway Boss.png

Highway
Maps: 1️⃣ | 2️⃣ 
Unlocks the Pink Ninja upon completion.

GG Shinobi, Stages, Harbor 1.png

GG Shinobi, Stages, Harbor 2.png

GG Shinobi, Stages, Harbor 3.png

GG Shinobi, Stages, Harbor Boss.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Harbor 1.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Harbor 2.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Harbor 3.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Harbor Boss.png

Harbor
Maps: 1️⃣ | 2️⃣ | 3️⃣ 
Unlocks the Yellow Ninja upon completion.

GG Shinobi, Stages, Valley 1.png

GG Shinobi, Stages, Valley 2.png

GG Shinobi, Stages, Valley Boss.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Valley 1.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Valley 2.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Valley Boss.png

Valley
Maps: 1️⃣ | 2️⃣ 
Unlocks the Blue Ninja upon completion.

GG Shinobi, Stages, Woodland 1.png

GG Shinobi, Stages, Woodland 2.png

GG Shinobi, Stages, Woodland Boss.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Woodland 1.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Woodland 2.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Woodland Boss.png

Woodland
Maps: 1️⃣ | 2️⃣ | 3️⃣ 
Unlocks the Green Ninja upon completion.

GG Shinobi, Stages, Neo City 1.png

GG Shinobi, Stages, Neo City 2.png

GG Shinobi, Stages, Neo City 3.png

GG Shinobi, Stages, Neo City 4.png

GG Shinobi, Stages, Final Boss 1.png

GG Shinobi, Stages, Final Boss 2.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Neo City 1.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Neo City 2.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Neo City 3.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Neo City 4.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Final Boss 1.png

  • GG Shinobi, Stages, Final Boss 2.png

Neo City
Maps: 1️⃣ | 2️⃣ | 3️⃣ 
Unlocked once the other four rounds are completed. A series of trap rooms, each requiring the skills of a particular ninja character in order to pass it. Almost all rooms have two exits which lead to further distinct trap rooms. The player encounters the bosses of the previous rounds, eventually finishing with the final one.

History

Legacy

The GG Shinobi was followed by Shinobi II: The Silent Fury (The GG Shinobi II in Japan), another exclusive Game Gear game.

The game was re-released for Palm OS in 2003 and for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console service in 2012. It was included as one of the four games pre-installed on the red model Game Gear Micro in 2020.

Production credits

Source:
In-game credits
GG Shinobi GG credits.pdf
[17]


One of these aliases is Yukio Futatsugi.

Magazine articles

Main article: The GG Shinobi/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in (JP) #1991-05: "May 1991" (1991-04-08)
also published in:
  • (JP) #16: "May 1991" (1991-04-08)[18]
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in (GR) #96: "Fevrouários 1993" (1993-xx-xx)
Logo-pdf.svg

Artwork

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
(UK)
70
[19]
(BR)
92
[20]
(DE)
83
[21]
(JP) NTSC-J
63
[22]
(FR)
91
[23]
(UK) PAL
84
[24]
(UK)
94
[25]
(UK)
92
[26]
(CZ)
88
[27]
(UK)
90
[28]
(US) NTSC-U
96
[6]
(DE)
73
[29]
(UK)
78
[30]
(JP) NTSC-J
80
[31]
(ES)
92
[32]
(FR)
97
[33]
(ES)
72
[34]
(UK)
90
[35]
(UK) PAL
91
[36]
(DE)
83
[37]
(UK)
82
[38]
(UK)
73
[39]
(UK) PAL
100
[40]
(UK)
79
[41]
(UK) PAL
93
[42]
(UK) PAL
84
[43]
(JP) NTSC-J
76
[44]
(GR) PAL
92
[45]
(DE)
84
[46]
(UK)
90
[47]
Sega Game Gear
85
Based on
30 reviews

The GG Shinobi

Game Gear, JP
GGShinobi GG JP Box Back.jpgNospine-small.pngGGShinobi GG JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
GGShinobi GG JP Cart.jpg
Cart
Game Gear, US
GGShinobi GG US Box Back.jpgNospine.pngGGShinobi GG US Box Front.jpg
Cover
GGShinobi GG US Cart.jpg
Cart
Shinobi GG US Manual.pdf
Manual
Game Gear, EU
GGShinobi GG EU Box Back.jpgShinobi GG EU BoxSpine.jpgGGShinobi GG EU Box Front.jpg
Cover
GGShinobi GG US Cart.jpg
Cart
Shinobi GG EU Manual.jpg
Manual
Game Gear, BR
Shinobi GG BR Box.jpg
Cover
Ggshinobi gg br cart.jpg
Cart
Shinobi gg br manual.pdf
Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Game Gear
CRC32 83926bd1
MD5 21d2e4e7c508e6abbb12bb96c7aac868
SHA-1 c5e1c2329f94f0804140792a3e3d5be2ac0d5d0d
256kB Cartridge (JP)
Sega Game Gear
CRC32 30f1c984
MD5 8fa7438dec1403f2e9d7b1ca60b29f1a
SHA-1 2e7303f82d885cb84fa557e211954808c8ebe779
256kB Cartridge (World) Revision A
Sega Game Gear
CRC32 b62d934a
MD5 a0c373a38ec4271ac42ec99afa2a6be3
SHA-1 9ad7313da97ef00463800199ab9e4e6f39fbcb0d
256kB 3DS Virtual Console (World) Revision A VirtualConsole GGShinobi 3DS World Icon.png

External links

  • Sega of Japan 3DS VC catalogue pages: Game Gear
  • Nintendo catalogue pages: JP, US, UK, AU

References

  1. https://www.mtwo.co.jp/development/retrogame-2/#tab-4
  2. File:GGShinobi GG EU Box Back.jpg
  3. File:GGShinobi GG JP Box Front.jpg
  4. 4.0 4.1 https://sega.jp/history/hard/gamegear/software.html (Wayback Machine: 2018-12-07 04:57)
  5. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "June 1991" (US; 1991-xx-xx), page 27
  6. 6.0 6.1 GamePro, "September 1991" (US; 1991-xx-xx), page 46
  7. 7.0 7.1 File:DailyMirror_UK_1991-06-29_08.png
  8. Computer & Video Games, "July 1991" (UK; 1991-06-15), page 97
  9. Sega Power, "July 1991" (UK; 1991-06-06), page 20
  10. http://www.sega.com/palm/purchase/buy_select_shinobi.jhtml (Wayback Machine: 2003-04-17 04:47)
  11. 11.0 11.1 http://vc.sega.jp/3ds/ggshinobi/ (Wayback Machine: 2017-10-29 06:58)
  12. 12.0 12.1 http://www.nintendo.com:80/games/detail/us4h9rLO3WTM2ZjsLYfadJ_OielVrsMW (Wayback Machine: 2012-03-09 02:17)
  13. http://www.nintendo.fr/Jeux/Console-virtuelle-Nintendo-3DS-/Shinobi--275825.html (archive.today)
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 http://www.nintendolife.com/games/gamegear/shinobi (Wayback Machine: 2017-07-04 15:13)
  15. https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Virtual-Console-Nintendo-3DS-/Shinobi--275825.html (archive.today)
  16. https://www.nintendo.de/Spiele/Virtual-Console-Nintendo-3DS-/Shinobi--275825.html (archive.today)
  17. File:GG Shinobi GG credits.pdf
  18. Mega Drive Fan, "May 1991" (JP; 1991-04-08), page 140
  19. ACE, "August 1991" (UK; 1991-07-08), page 73
  20. Ação Games, "Setembro 1991" (BR; 1991-09-xx), page 53
  21. Aktueller Software Markt, "August/September 1991" (DE; 1991-07-26), page 122
  22. Beep! MegaDrive, "May 1991" (JP; 1991-04-08), page 28
  23. Consoles +, "Tilt Hors-Serie" (FR; 1991-07-xx), page 117
  24. Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 149
  25. Computer & Video Games, "July 1991" (UK; 1991-06-15), page 102
  26. Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 169
  27. Excalibur, "" (CZ; 1993-05-10), page 14
  28. Game Mania, "May 1993" (UK; 1993-xx-xx), page 70
  29. Gamers, "Februar/März 1992" (DE; 1992-xx-xx), page 35
  30. Games-X, "14th-20th June 1991" (UK; 1991-06-14), page 35
  31. Hippon Super, "May 1991" (JP; 1991-04-04), page 43
  32. Hobby Consolas, "Octubre 1991" (ES; 1991-xx-xx), page 56
  33. Joystick, "Juin 1991" (FR; 1991-0x-xx), page 124
  34. Micromanía (segunda época), "Diciembre 1991" (ES; 1991-1x-xx), page 80
  35. Mean Machines, "July 1991" (UK; 1991-06-29), page 58
  36. Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 143
  37. Power Play, "8/91" (DE; 1991-07-1x), page 122
  38. Raze, "September 1991" (UK; 1991-07-25), page 44
  39. Sega Power, "September 1991" (UK; 1991-08-01), page 12
  40. Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 61
  41. Sega Pro, "April 1992" (UK; 1992-03-19), page 28
  42. Sega Pro, "November 1992" (UK; 1992-10-08), page 27
  43. Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 74
  44. Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 88
  45. User, "Mártios 1992" (GR; 1992-0x-xx), page 86
  46. Video Games, "3/91" (DE; 1991-09-06), page 80
  47. Zero, "August 1991" (UK; 1991-0x-xx), page 71


The GG Shinobi

GGShinobi Title.png

Main page | Comparisons | Maps | Hidden content | Magazine articles | Reception


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Games in the Shinobi series
Arcade
Shinobi (1987) | Shadow Dancer (1989)
Sega Master System
Shinobi (1988) | The Cyber Shinobi (1990) | Shadow Dancer (1991)
Amiga
Atari ST
Amstrad CPC
Commodore 64
ZX Spectrum
IBM PC compatibles
MSX
Shinobi (1989)
Sega Mega Drive
The Revenge of Shinobi (1989) | Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi (1990) | Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (1993)
Sega Game Gear
The GG Shinobi (1991) | The GG Shinobi II: The Silent Fury (1992)
Sega Saturn
Shinobi Legions (1995)
Game Boy Advance
The Revenge of Shinobi (2002)
Sony PlayStation 2
Shinobi (2002) | Nightshade (2003)
Nintendo 3DS
Shinobi 3D (2011) | 3D Shinobi III (2013)
Nintendo Switch
Sega Ages Shinobi (2019)
Shinobi related media
Music
(1989) | (2002) | (2009) | (2012) | (2014) | (2015) | (2016) | (2022)
Book
(1994) | (1995) | (2002) | (2002) | (2002) | (2003) | (2003) | (2004)