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shinobi: MAME ROM Information.

History:

Shinobi (c) 1987 Sega.

A scrolling platform beat-em-up in which the player takes on the role of Joe Musashi, a Shinobi Ninja, who must fight his way through 5 tough missions - each made up of between 3 to 5 stages - in his quest to rescue the kidnapped Ninja children of the Iga clan; now hostages of an evil Ninja syndicate called "Zeed". To complete a mission, the player must rescue all of the kidnapped children on each level, with the number of hostages remaining displayed on a meter in the bottom left corner of the screen.

The Shinobi Ninja begins each level armed with either 'shuriken' throwing stars or a gun for long-range attacks; and a Samurai sword for close-range combat. In addition, the Ninja also has one 'Magic Attack' per level; a smart bomb which kills or damages all on-screen enemies. A points bonus is awarded whenever a level is completed without the Magic Attack being used. An end-of-level guardian awaits the player at the end of each mission, and each takes several hits before it is killed. Once a boss is defeated, the player is taken to a bonus stage in which a large number of Ninjas will try to 'jump' from the back of the screen to the front to attack the player. A bonus life is awarded if the player manages to kill all of the Ninjas without being attacked.

Shinobi was a huge success for Sega, and deservedly so. Its perfectly realized blend of platform and fighting action and is as fine an exponent of the 'easy to get into, difficult to master' gameplay ethic as video games have seen.

- TECHNICAL -

Sega System 16B hardware

Game ID : 317-0049

Main CPU : 68000 (@ 10 Mhz)

Sound CPU : Z80 (@ 5 Mhz)

Sound Chips : YM2151 (@ 4 Mhz), UPD7759 (@ 640 Khz)

Players : 2

Control : 8-way joystick

Buttons : 3 (ATTACK, JUMP, MAGIC)

- TRIVIA -

Released in November 1987 in Japan.

Shinobi was one of the many names given to the ninja in feudal Japan. Its literal translation is 'stealer-in'; a reference to what Ninjas specialized in above all else. By employing any number of tricks such as stealth walking and staying upwind of any guard animals, the Shinobi went undetected about his mission. On a more devious level, the Shinobi was also a master of disguise, and would often 'steal in' to village communities disguised as a local, or into enemy palaces disguised as a wandering priest.

Marilyn Monroe's face appears on several posters in the Mission 1 second stage.

A Shinobi cabinet can be seen in the Nickelodeon show All That (from 1997 to 2000). however it used a fictional marquee which was made for the show.

Official products:

Shinobi (Sega Original board)

Bootleg versions:

Shinobi (Beta)

Shinobi (Datsu)

Shinobi (Star)

- UPDATES -

FD1094 317-0049 :

* Runs on System 16B hardware.

FD1094 317-0050 :

* Runs on System 16A hardware.

- SCORING -

Scoring in this game is very easy. Each enemy is worth 100 points with the exception of the Purple Guard and the Sword Throwing Guard which are worth 500 points. The bosses are 5000 points apiece. NOTE : The Purple Guards and Sword Throwing Guards are the ones that guard the hostages.

In addition to getting points from killing enemies, you can also score points for time left on the clock after you complete a level. You get 30 points per second of remaining time.

You can also receive special bonuses at the end of each level for certain actions :

1) If you don't use your ninja magic, you get a 5000 point bonus.

2) If you only use your Ninja-to sword (no Shurikens or gunfire), you get a 20000 point bonus.

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

* Unless you are continuing, each game begins at 'Mission 1' and will have everything you need to complete each mission. Each level must be completed within 3 minutes, and all hostages must be rescued before you can exit the level. If you are killed, all hostages rescued prior to your death will still be recorded as rescued. In addition to melee attacks, you will also be able to use a specific Ninja Magic attack once per level. These magical attacks kill everything that is on the screen but you will be awarded a point bonus if you manage to complete a level WITHOUT using your Ninja Magic. The three Ninja Magic attacks are :

1) Multiple-Attack Magic : Allows you to gain lightning-fast speed to attack up to 12 times at once.

2) Tornado Magic : Brings about a magical tornado to blow your enemies away.

3) Lightning Magic : Causes the air to crackle with electricity and destroys your enemies.

* Some general gameplay guidelines :

1) Joe is strictly a one-hit, one-kill character, so you must avoid all enemy attacks or risk losing a life.

2) As you become more practiced at moving around, you won't have to rely on your distance weapons (throwing stars etc.) and can use your ninja sword for close-up kills; the advantage of this is that you can gain the 20000 point bonus. This also applies to the use of Ninja Magic.

3) Many of the enemies in the later missions will swarm Joe and attack in numbers, it's vitally important to learn to attack-and-jump as quickly as possible otherwise you will be quickly overrun.

4) Your main goal is, of course, to rescue all the hostages to exit the level; and although three minute time limit initially seems quite generous, should you delay too long with the enemies, the time will quickly run out.

5) It's important to become good at the Challenge Levels, since this is the only way to gain extra lives. The Challenge levels will require you to take out around thirty ninjas who are trying to get to your position. There is no real hard and fast strategy other then take them down before they reach the second platform. Challenge Levels occur at the end of every mission.

6) Ninja Magic is a great thing. You must remember, though, that you can only use it once per level. This means you should only use it when you are totally surrounded by enemies and have no other means of escape.

7) All bosses take eight hits to defeat. Of course, you will have to hit them in the right place for that hit to register.

* Stop Gunners : In levels with Bazooka-toting enemies (Rounds 3-2), push one of them against a wall about ten times (always pushing on his direction, never stopping), you'll see then that all Bazooka men and Gun men are no longer able to use their weapons against you.

* Extra lives from hostages : In game are special hostage, you can get 1UP instead points from them. These hostages are : 2nd hostage on stage 2-2, 1st hostage on 2-3, 2nd hostage on 3-1, 5th hostage on 3-2. What you must do to get 1UP instead points? When you get hostage you must have 3 identical digits at end of your score (don't count last digit which is always 0). Example : 70000, 100000, 109990, 68880, 141110. 1UP icon will appear instead points icon over hostage.

- SERIES -

1. Shinobi (1987)

2. Shadow Dancer - Kage no Mai (1989)

3. The Revenge of Shinobi (1989, Sega Mega Drive)

4. The Cyber Shinobi - Shinobi Part 2 (1990, Sega Master System)

5. GC Shinobi (1991, Sega Game Gear)

6. GG Shinobi II - The Silent Fury (1992, Sega Game Gear)

7. Shinobi III - Return of the Ninja Master (1993, Sega Mega Drive)

8. Shinobi Legions (1995, Sega Saturn)

9. Shinobi (2002, Sony PlayStation 2)

10. Nightshade (2004, Sony PlayStation 2)

- STAFF -

Designed by : Noriyoshi Ohba

Staff : Sugachan 26, Wagamama Kenchi, Topi, Gyofunori, Hanachan, Super Haggar, Fanta Jijii, Yamiagari, Shinjuku Otoko

- PORTS -

* Consoles :

Sega Master System (1988)

NEC PC-Engine (1989)

Nintendo Famicom (1989)

Sony PlayStation 3 (2009, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection) [as an unlockable]

Nintendo Wii (2009) [As a downloadable Virtual Console Arcade Game]

* Computers :

Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1989)

Commodore C64 (1989)

Atari ST (1989)

Commodore Amiga (1989)

Amstrad CPC (1989) [64 ko Cassette version]

Amstrad CPC (1989) [128 Ko Disk version]

PC [MS-DOS, 5.25''] (1989)

* Others :

Tiger Handheld LCD Game (1988)

- SOURCES -

Game's rom.

Machine's picture.

F.A.Q. Kevin Butler A.K.A. War Doc

MAME Info:

0.33b3 [Mirko Buffoni]

Artwork available

WIP:

- 0.145u4: Added rom board # into to clone Shinobi (set 2, System 16B, FD1094 317-0049) [Brian Troha].

- 0.138u2: Stefan Lindberg and Dumping Union added PCB locations to clone Shinobi (set 2/3).

- 16th November 2008: Guru - I recently picked up a pile of junk for spares and repairs from a local friend. It turned out there was quite a bit of interesting stuff in this lot. As far as I can make out, I got Shinobi Sega System 16A PCB.

- 0.124u3: Brian Troha added clone Shinobi (set 5, System 16B, unprotected). Arzeno Fabrice added correct rom dump for clone Shinobi (set 4). Changed description of parent 'Shinobi (set 5, System 16A, unprotected)' to 'Shinobi (set 6, System 16A, unprotected)' and clone 'Shinobi (set 4, System 16B, unprotected)' to 'Shinobi (set 4, System 16B, MC-8123B 317-0054)'.

- 0.119u3: David Haywood added clones Shinobi (Beta bootleg), (Datsu bootleg) and (Star bootleg, System 16A). Removed Shinobi (bootleg).

- 6th May 2007: Mr. Do - Another fine vectoring job by Jcroach for the bezel and the instruction cards for Shinobi, thanks to the BYOAC/CAG artwork.

- 0.113u3: Nicola Salmoria added proper MC8123 decryption code and MC-8123B 317-0054.key to clone Shinobi (set 3).

- 0.112u4: Added new cpu2 rom ($0) to clone Shinobi (set 3). This rom is an encrypted version of epr11287.a7 from Shinobi (set 2). Changed description of clone 'Shinobi (set 3, System 16B, unprotected)' to 'Shinobi (set 3, System 16B, MC-8123B 317-0054)'.

- 23rd February 2007: Corrado Tomaselli dumped Shinobi (set 3, System 16B, MC-8123B 317-0054). This PCB is identical to set 3, only sound rom is different.

- 12th November 2006: Mr. Do - Thanks to Tormod for the Instruction Card for Shinobi.

- 0.101u3: Fixed cpu2 roms addresses in clone (set 4, System 16B, unprotected).

- 31st March 2005: Corrado Tomaselli dumped Shinobi (Datsu bootleg).

- 0.92: Changed clone 'Shinobi (set 3, System 16A, unprotected)' to parent 'Shinobi (set 5, System 16A, unprotected)' and clones '(set 1, System 16B, unprotected)' to '(set 3, System 16B, unprotected)', '(set 3, System 16B, FD1094 317-0049)' to '(set 2, System 16B, FD1094 317-0049)' and '(set 2, System 16A, FD1094 317-0050)' to '(set 1, System 16A, FD1094 317-0050)'. Renamed (shinobi) to (shinobi3), (shinobaa) to (shinobi), (shinobia) to (shinobi1), (shinobib) to (shinobi2) and (shinobic) to (shinobi4).

- 0.91u2: Fixed cpu2 rom address ($20000).

- 0.89u6: MC8193 update [Nicola Salmoria]. Expanded the decryption tables, they change when bit 15 of the address is set. The table for 317-0054 (Shinobi) is incomplete. Still not enough to decrypt the program.

- 0.89u5: Aaron Giles added clone Shinobi (set 4, System 16B, unprotected).

- 0.89u4: Gerald and Thierry added clone Shinobi (set 3, System 16A, unprotected).

- 0.89u1: Thierry Lescot added 317-0050.key to Shinobi (set 2).

- 25th November 2004: Thierry Lescot - Dumped the cpus from Where's Wally?, Bay Route (set 2), Alien Storm (317-0148) and Shinobi (set 2).

- 0.88u7: Changed description to 'Shinobi (set 1, System 16B, unprotected)' and clone '(set 2)' to '(set 2, System 16A, FD1094 317-0050)'. Changed Z80 CPU2 clock speed to 5MHz palettesize to 6144 colors.

- 0.88u4: Chris Hardy added 317-0049.key to clone (set 3). Changed description of clone 'Shinobi (set 3)' to 'Shinobi (set 3, 317-0049)'.

- 10th November 2004: Chris Hardy - Dumped the 317-0049 cpu from Shinobi (set 3) which now works.

- 1st January 2003: Bryan McPhail fixed Shinobi from crashing at the first boss.

- 0.36b15: Added clone Shinobi (set 3).

- 0.36b3: Changed description to 'Shinobi (set 1)' and clone '(set 1)' to '(set 2)'.

- 0.36b2: Andrew Prime added clone Shinobi (set 1). Changed parent description to 'Shinobi (set 2)' and clone '(Bootleg)' to '(bootleg)'.

- 0.36b1: Andrew Prime added clone Shinobi (Bootleg).

- 0.35b2: uPD7759 support in Shinobi [Howie Cohen].

- 0.33b3: Mirko Buffoni added Shinobi (Sega 1987).

LEVELS: 20 (5 missions of 4 levels each)

Other Emulators:

* Calice

* FB Alpha

* System 16

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Romset: 1025 kb / 18 files / 434.7 zip

MAME XML Output:

<description>Shinobi (set 6, System 16A, unprotected)</description>

</input>

</dipswitch>

</dipswitch>

</dipswitch>

</dipswitch>

</dipswitch>

</dipswitch>

</dipswitch>

</dipswitch>

</game>

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