The G.G. Shinobi, along with it's sequel are undoubtedly the systems best games and one of the best 8 bit action side-scrollers made. It takes what made the original Master System game, fixes practically all issues and expands upon it by adding more options.
Firstly, you can choose your level starting point, although the levels themselves are limited, 1-4, and then a final stage. As you progress through the levels, you unlock various colored Ninja's (think Power Rangers) with different abilities that open up the further you go.
The red ninja, uses a bog standard melee weapon,The Pink ninja throws bombs with no melee, but can climb upside down like Spider man to totally avoid danger. The blue ninja can use a grappling hook to reach unreachable place. The Yellow Ninja can walk on water like Jesus. Each has a special power as well, and the levels can be replayed and explored. The final level acts as a culmination, requiring switching on the fly between all Ninjas and abilities to progress.
The controls are tight, the bosses provide reasonable but fair challenge and much like the original Master System it has varied enemies that can be handled with ease with abit of thought.
The levels themselves, though only really 5 of them, are varied, multiplayered , with the final level being fairly long and quite challenging. It's a fairly short game, but still significantly longer than Shadow Dancer which clocked in at around a pathetic 20-40 minutes.
That's generally the only major flaw that comes to mind, it's short with bosses rehashed at the end to artificially inflate play time. Everything else is spot on visuals, audio and gameplay - everything you could possibly want from an action side scrolling game.
For myself, I prefer G.G. Shinobi The Silent Fury over this, ever slightly. But both of these titles are better than any Master System Shinobi, especially Shadow Dancer and Cyber Shinobi. Though portable these can quite happily sit next to the fantastic Genesis versions as the cream of the crop.
