Story Breakdown: The Shinobi Series

One of the best parts of a video game is the ending, but who has the time to go back and play through every game? Let me introduce you to Game Over: The Early Years, the weekly show where we dive into classic games and spoil both their stories and endings. From the biggest hits to obscure classics, we're taking a look at some of the best and most memorable conclusions in video game history.

So far in this series we've talked about ninja gaidens, ninja spirits, futuristic ninjas, pizza-loving ninjas and ninjas with long shadows, but the one ninja we haven't talked about is none other than Joe Musashi from Shinobi. This was Sega's leading ninja in the 1980s and 90s, and yet this is the first time we've even muttered his name in a Game Over episode. That ends in 2020, because it's finally time to look at Shinobi's entire 8- and 16-bit library. Turn back now if you don't want to know what happens next, because today we're going to spoil the stories and endings for Shinobi, Revenge of Shinobi, two different Shadow Dancer games, Return of the Ninja Master and even The Cyber Shinobi. This is Game Over: The Early Years.


Still want more endings? Then I recommend you discover 23 Endings: The Early Years, the holiday series that ran during the 2017 holiday season. We cover Ninja Gaiden, Street Fighter II, Super Mario Bros. 2, Ghostbusters, Golden Axe, Metroid, Double Dragon, Flashback, Final Fight and many more!

And while you're just clicking on stuff at random, I suggest you head over to the Defunct Games YouTube page and subscribe to the channel. We're posting new episodes of Game Over: The Early Years every Monday, along with brand new game reviews throughout the week.