"'Shadows'
He is stronger than steel and moves faster than a whirlwhind.
Sometimes he hides in mud. Other times he transforms his shape like an ever changing cloud
Although his fighting spirit burns like fire, his mind is as calm as still water.
'Violation of the commandments'
Should Shinobi fail before completing the mission, he will disappear before the dawn and vanish forever.
—From the 'Secret Manual of Oboro Ninjitsu'"
He is stronger than steel and moves faster than a whirlwhind.
Sometimes he hides in mud. Other times he transforms his shape like an ever changing cloud
Although his fighting spirit burns like fire, his mind is as calm as still water.
'Violation of the commandments'
Should Shinobi fail before completing the mission, he will disappear before the dawn and vanish forever.
—From the 'Secret Manual of Oboro Ninjitsu'"
— Intro
The sequel to The Revenge of Shinobi, known as The Super Shinobi II in Japan.
Twice, Joe Musashi had seemingly destroyed the worldwide crime organization Neo Zeed, but once again, two years after the events of the second game, Neo Zeed has risen again, now led by the mysterious Shadow Master. Sensing their presence, Joe descends from his isolated mountaintop home and once again enters the battle, perhaps to finally drive his blade through the heart of the forces of darkness once and for all. note
This game provides examples of:
- Actionized Sequel: Joe now can run around and dive kick enemies. This makes the game much faster paced than the previous one.
- Airborne Aircraft Carrier: In the final mission, fittingly titled "The Final Confrontation", Joe boards Neo Zeed's flying fortress and has to navigate past its automated defenses in order to reach the final duel with the Shadow Master.
- Battle Aura: The final battle with the Shadow Master starts off on equal footing as he uses shuriken and a katana against Joe. Then when he takes enough damage, he calls down a beam of energy to power himself up with a corona of fire — at which point he starts firing energy bolts from his palms, hurls a huge Energy Ball, counters Joe's dive kick with a Shoryuken and sometimes unleashes his own Ninjitsu technique to spray the entire chamber with energy bolts.
- Bullfight Boss: The first stage boss inverts the typical sequence of this boss type. The player first needs to approach it, then attack when it makes its opening, then it does its charge maneuver when it's hit.
- Composite Character: In the Japanese version of Shinobi III, the penultimate boss is Byakushishi ("White Lion"), who is supposed to be the Ninja Master's younger brother, while Western releases makes him the titular Ninja Master instead.
- Conspicuous Electric Obstacle: In stage 7, "The Final Confrontation", Shinobi invades Neo Zeed's aerial fortress. Inside, he has to navigate through a set of labyrinthine passageways. Some sections create more difficulty since in some parts a solid floor is replaced by an electrified obstacle.
- Crosshair Aware: In the Womb Level section of Round 3, the grotesque Hydra will surface in the background and a computerized targeting reticle will slowly drift towards Joe. Let it get too close and it locks on to him before the Hydra unleashes its laser breath. Blocking the Hydra's line of sight to Joe will temporarily disable the targeting system as the Hydra submerges and waits for him to be visible again.
- Dash Attack: Joe can perform a dashing slice mid-run. It's his most powerful standard attack and grants him a generous amount of invincibility frames if timed right.
- Degraded Boss: The Shadow Dancer (Boss of Stage 2 in Revenge) returns in as Stage 2's Mini-Boss.
- Diving Kick: One of Joe's moves, which causes him to bounce off of enemies upon making contact. His Cool Horse, Idaten, can also perform this while riding him in Round 2-1.
- Double Jump: Only works at the apex of a full-length jump, and not a vertical jump. It's shown by a spin, and is also required for the Flechette Storm.
- Evil Counterpart: The Shadow Master is this to Joe, especially since he was cloned from the Musashi bloodline.
- Flechette Storm:
- As in the previous game, Joe can perform one of these mid-Double Jump at the cost of 8 shuriken, spraying his projectiles out in a wide arc in front of him.
- The Ninja Master gains a flechette spray attack launched with a flick of his kabuki wig.
- The Shadow Master can do this in two ways, by throwing three shuriken at once several times in a row, or by jumping in midair and raining down eight shuriken in an arc the same way Joe can.
- Guide Dang It!: There's a functioning guard mechanic that can outright No-Sell many projectiles and attacks, even trivializing some sections. The manual simply lists it as a defensive pose in a corner of the page like an awkward hang-on from the last that is easy to overlook, and doesn't bother to indicate just how effective it really is. As mentioned here, guarding is performed simply by holding down the attack button.
- Japanese Ranguage: "Mandara", the theme for the bosses of Rounds 1 and 6, is likely meant to be the Sanskrit word mandala.
- Kite Riding: The horse ride sequence has enemies disembark in the background, run forward, then engage.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Yep, the fifth stage boss is Mechagodzilla.
- Market-Based Title: Shinobi III is titled The Super Shinobi II in Japan, establishing its status as a sequel to Revenge.
- Meaningful Background Event: Rounds 2 and 3 each provide a preview of the corresponding boss in the background.
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Nintendo Hard: Most of the game isn't too difficult to really push you, though make no mistake, it will kick your butt if you're not ready. Then Round 5 hits and the game stops holding its punches as more dangerous challenges ensue. Round 7 ultimately throws everything it has at you, between various threats, nasty platforming challenges, and one hell of a Final Boss. - Post-Defeat Explosion Chain: Some of the bosses in the game, after being defeated, vanish after a sequence of little explosions. Examples include the first stage boss (a four-armed shogun), and the fourth stage boss (an aerial shooting machine that sinks in the water).
- Prehensile Hair: The Ninja Master, Final Boss of The Revenge of Shinobi, retains the use of his kabuki hair as a weapon and, when he returns here as the penultimate boss, he takes this Up To Eleven, now being able to shoot a Flechette Storm from it.
- Recurring Riff: In addition to a reprise in Round 5-1, "Idaten" (the theme for the horseback riding sequence in Round 2-1) is remixed into "Inner Darkside" — a more low-key and ambient drum and bass track — for Round 3-1. Considering what comes next, the change in feel and instrumentation give players a hint as to what they'll soon be up against.
- Rise to the Challenge: The elevator in Round 2-3, which is also an Auto-Scrolling Level. Falling off the bottom of the screen is death, and the ninja also has to jump off the elevator in order to navigate around barriers.
- The Ruins I Caused: The ending, where Joe looks at the remains of Neo Zeed's aerial base from a cliff after it crashes into the ground.
- Rule of Cool:
- Riding on horseback at the beginning of Round 2. On which said horse (Idaten) can do a Diving Kick... awesome.
- Ninjas on surfboards in Round 4-1? Yes, please.
- Sequel Number Snarl: Despite the "III" in the title (and Return of the Ninja Master coincidentally being the third Shinobi game released for the Sega Genesis), this is the ninth overall game in the series. note The Japanese release is a little better about this, since the game is instead billed as a direct follow-up to The Super Shinobi (which in turn ignored Shadow Dancer).
- Spoiler Title: The Ninja Master, the Final Boss of The Revenge of Shinobi, indeed returns, albeit as the penultimate boss.
- Stepping Stones in the Sky: Round 6 is set entirely on a series of falling rocks in a chasm.
- To Be Continued: We are told this after the credits, but Joe's story isn't continued at all in the other games. note
- Womb Level: The second half of Round 3. Note that the Round's name is "Body Weapon", suggesting the Hydra might be a Transhuman Abomination, or at least some kind of humanoid bioweapon engineered by Neo Zeed.
