Anniversary Sega's Shinobi III Is 30 Years Old

This is my favorite of the Shinobi games personally. I didn't really play this series back in the day for whatever reason, and when I did rediscover them a while later, this is the one that really stood out to me. It holds up really well.

I find those release dates odd as the European version actually has improvements over the Japanese version if you play them both the JP version kinda feels unfinished in many ways I would have thought there would have been a massive gap between releases as Europe was always an afterthought in those days great game tho and it still looks nice today the level with the horse is amazing the galloping sound and the music is outstanding

This is one of the very few games I will run through over and over to the point of doing dumb things like trying to never throw a shuriken. It's got the best feeling controls and most diverse moveset of all the Shinobi titles (before and after its release, in my book) and I think that's why it's just so pick-up-and-playable.

Being a huge fan of Revenge, this was such a relief after playing Shadow Dancer on the Genesis. Shinobi 3 felt much more like a sequel to that game - though it didn't surpass it in my opinion.

Decades later, I actually have come to love Shadow Dancer more as well - but all 3 games are top tier in my book.

One of my favorite games of the era and, really, ever. I have played it at least once a year since I got back into retro games. I actually totally missed Shinobi 3 when it came out. It was probably just overshadowed by all the hype for Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat. So it came out at an unfortunate time as far as standing out. I just didn't know it existed. I think it was mid 1995 when a friend of mine was selling off old games to pay for Saturn games. I had some spending money and picked out a bunch of them for both Genesis and SNES. I ran out of money when I got to Super Metroid, unfortunately. But Shinobi 3 was literally my first pick, and it did not disappoint. I was shocked how fun it was and how much variety there was with the moveset, and I was already a fan of the Shinobi games, though Revenge I had not yet gotten to play at that point. It was one of those moments where I said to myself, why didn't I find this earlier.

@ShawnS I'm the same way with the game, and Shadow Dancer as well. Also, Shatterhand is another one where the game just feels so great and I've beaten that one with every variation I can think of.

Amazing game, timeless 16bit gaming. Full of replayability, something modern games lack completely mostly!!

This game has the only Surf Ninja i choose to acknowledge.

I've always wondered: if Shinobi III is the third game, then which one doesn't count? Shadow Dancer, presumably, since "Shinobi" only appears in the subtitle? Or Shinobi (1), since it was only on the 8-bit systems?

The Japanese numbering makes more sense to me, since it separates the Shinobi series into two games of each style: Shinobi and Shadow Dancer have the slightly slower pace, with lots of ledge hopping and hostage rescuing. And then Super Shinobi I and especially II amp things up with more moves, crazier enemies and situations, etc.

I rented this game soooo many times as a kid. Well, my parents rented it for me.... I was too young at the time.
Along with Sonic 3 & K, I play this game at least once a year. It is so well done!

Still my favorite genesis game.