When did Shinobi release?

Shinobi was first released on November 16, 1987.

Shinobi

Nov 16, 1987Hack and slash/Beat 'em upAdventureArcadeArcadeCommodore C64/128/MAXZX SpectrumAtari ST/STETurboGrafx-16/PC Engine

Shinobi — frequently asked questions

What platforms is Shinobi on?: Shinobi was released on Arcade, Commodore C64/128/MAX, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST/STE, TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine, DOS, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Sega Master System/Mark III, IBM PC, PC Engine, Nintendo Entertainment System.
When did Shinobi release?: Shinobi was first released on November 16, 1987.

About Shinobi

The five missions in the game are each three or four stages long. Several hostages are being held in each stage; Joe must rescue all of them before he is allowed to finish the stage. The last stage in each mission has no hostages, but instead features a powerful boss character whom Joe must defeat. After completing each of the first four missions the player is taken to a bonus stage, where he can earn an extra life if he is able to kill all of the ninjas leaping towards him. Completing the fifth mission ends the game. Also, once the fifth mission begins, continues are no longer allowed; the player has to finish the game with however many lives he has left at that point. If the player earns a place on the high score board, the number of credits it took him to get that score is displayed along with his score. Joe's standard weapons are an unlimited supply of shuriken, along with punches and kicks when attacking at close range. One hostage per stage gives him a power-up. When powered-up, his throwing stars are replaced by a gun that fires large, explosive bullets, and his close-range attack becomes a katana slash. Joe can also perform "ninja magic," which may be used only once per stage and kills (or damages, in the case of bosses) all enemies on the screen. The game also allows the enemies to hide behind boxes or use shields to block Musashi's shurikens.[4] Joe can be killed with one hit, provided he is hit by a projectile or melee attack, but if he does not find himself in those situations, the player can touch regular enemies and just be pushed back without being damaged. Since most enemies appear in the same place on each level, it is possible to master the game by memorizing their locations and devising patterns to defeat them. At the end of each stage, the player receives score bonuses based on performance. Completing the stage without using ninja magic or without using any throwing stars or bullets earns the player a point bonus. The player has three minutes to complete each stage; remaining time at the end of the stage is also converted to bonus points and added to the player's score.

Summary via IGDB.

Game details

Platforms: Arcade, Commodore C64/128/MAX, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST/STE, TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine, DOS, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Sega Master System/Mark III, IBM PC, PC Engine, Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Team Shinobi
Publisher: Asmik Corporation
Game modes: Single player, Multiplayer
Themes: Action
Series: Shinobi

Details via IGDB.

Reception

IGDB rating

63/100

from 51 ratings

Every version compared

Prices, contemporary reception and the studio credited for each release

Platform	Year	Loose	Complete	Sealed	Period reviews	Fake risk
Sega Master System	1988	$15	$35	$500	6 reviews	Low (look-alike)

Also released on: Arcade · Commodore C64/128/MAX · ZX Spectrum · Atari ST/STE · TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine · DOS · Amiga · Amstrad CPC · MSX · Sega Master System/Mark III · IBM PC · PC Engine · Nintendo Entertainment System. We haven’t priced or authenticated those versions yet.

Collector value & authenticity

Sega Master System · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-10-28

Loose

$15

Complete

$35

Sealed

$500

few sales

Other releases and variants

Release	Loose	Complete	Sealed
European (PAL) release	$9	$31	—
Japanese release	$31	$90	—

How often it sells

Loose: about once a week
Complete: about 2 times a week
Sealed: about once a year

Prices marked “few sales” rest on about one recorded sale a year, so treat them as a rough guide: the next copy could sell well above or below. Expect to wait for one to come up.

Sales frequency from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, as of 2026-10-28.

Price over time

Loose
Complete

A loose copy sold for about $4.33 in Jul 2009, $21 five years ago, and $15.47 as of Oct 2026.

Show as table

Month	Loose	Complete
Jan 2010	$3.21	—
Jan 2011	$3.75	—
Jan 2012	$6.37	—
Jan 2013	$5.78	—
Jan 2014	$5.92	$14.00
Jan 2015	$7.00	$18.99
Jan 2016	$8.99	$15.70
Jan 2017	$11.95	$15.50
Jan 2018	$11.04	$16.48
Jan 2019	$14.85	$18.88
Jan 2020	$16.91	$25
Jan 2021	$17.40	$21
Jan 2022	$23	$33
Jan 2023	$14.96	$30
Jan 2024	$18.71	$28
Jan 2025	$18.00	$24
Jan 2026	$14.00	$30
Oct 2026	$15.47	$35

Monthly price estimates from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, sampled quarterly, through Oct 2026.

Release record

Territory	Date	Product number
North America	September 1988	—
Europe / PAL	November 1988	—
Japan	19 June 1988	G-1353

Source: Product numbers: MAME's Master System software list and the No-Intro serial records in the libretro database, published only where both agree on the same cartridge dump; Japanese numbers also checked against Sega Japan's software list. Board and ROM numbers: MAME's software list

Region: NA+EU+JP
Released: 1988
Authenticity: Low

Modern re-releases, such as Sega Ages and Virtual Console, are not tracked hereLow look-alike risk

Sega Master System prices, all games & how to spot a fake

Sega's own conversion of its ninja arcade hit, a well-known name at a fair price.

Shinobi started as a 1987 Sega arcade game in which the ninja Joe Musashi stops the Zeed terrorist organization from kidnapping students of his clan. Sega converted it to the Master System itself. It reached Japan on 19 June 1988, North America in September 1988 and Europe in November 1988.

What the press said at the time

Mean Machines Sega Issue 3	December 1992	OVERALL 87%
Sega Pro Issue 20	June 1993	79%
Computer and Video Games		8/10 / 87%
Dragon		4/5
Computer Entertainer		8/8
Sega Power		5/5

“Sega Shinobi is a great conversion of a decent coin¬ op, with literally hours of beat 'em up action jammed in. It has great graphics and jam-hot playa¬ bility, and since there's hardly any decent Sega beat 'em ups available, there's no excuse not to add this one to your collection.”
— Mean Machines Sega, December 1992

“There’s nothing too spectacular about this beat-’em-up. There are oniy five simplistic levels with stranded kids and that shouid easily be a doddle for most players.”
— Sega Pro, June 1993

Undated scores are from the review table in the game's Wikipedia article, limited to reviews of the Sega Master System version.

How the Sega Master System version differs

The Master System game replaces the arcade's one-hit kills with a health gauge.

Rescuing hostages is optional here, but it provides weapon upgrades and restores or expands the health gauge.

Rescuing certain hostages is required to reach the bonus stages, which now come after the regular stages instead of each boss fight. The bonus rounds provide the ninjutsu skills.

Also on other platforms

Arcade · Commodore 64 · Amiga · Amstrad CPC · Atari ST · ZX Spectrum · IBM PC · PC Engine · NES · MSX

PC Engine	Asmik (publisher)
Amiga	The Sales Curve
Commodore 64	The Sales Curve
IBM PC	Micromosaics Inc.

PC Engine. The PC Engine version came out only in Japan, from Asmik, on December 8, 1989. It is close to the arcade game but lacks the close-range attacks and power-ups.

How the other versions reviewed

Arcade	Computer and Video Games	Positive
NES	Electronic Gaming Monthly	5/10, 5/10, 4/10, 4/10
Arcade	Sinclair User	8/10
Arcade	Commodore User	8/10

These are the other versions’ scores, not this one’s. Ports of this era were frequently built by different studios, so they do not transfer.

Before you buy

Three releases exist: US, European and Japanese. The European cart costs less than the US one, loose, with a smaller gap complete. The Japanese cart costs more than twice as much, and it is a different, smaller shape that does not fit a Western console without an adapter. The US cart sits about in the middle of the US-released carts on price, and the look-alike risk is low. Check the manual is there on a complete copy.