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Shinobi III is such a solid, highly-polished game that it never occurred to me that it could be polished even further. Then Jon Najar's hack happened.

The highlight of this hack for me is the no-shuriken mode that's tied to the new six-button support. For those not in the know, the kunai toss is Joe Musashi's default attack, but he swings his blade when in close quarters, which is a bit disorienting until you get a sense of what is melee range.

Separating the two and allowing freestyle hack-and-slash gives you tighter control over your attacks, and makes combat feel so much more fluid. Slashing, blocking, and mowing down enemies with your blade feels exhilarating, and it feels so vastly different from how things were before that it's like playing with an entirely new character. That and the expanded number of button configurations in the Options menu means that there's a control scheme for everyone.

The other slew of improvements are a welcome change as well, though they aren't as pronounced. The unlocked character editor is a nice feature but it's not terribly captivating. The shuriken settings are nice to have as well, and allow you to customize the game to your liking. Being able to reduce the number of kunai for a burst attack is nice if you're playing conservatively, but littering the screen with a wasteful swarm of throwing knives is too satisfying to not do. The spelling corrections are a nice way to round off the polish too.

This is a great hack, and it's one that does so much for a game that's already very good, while taking nothing away. The tighter controls and customization features are so good that I don't see myself going back to the base game.

Best Hack of Shinobi 3! If anyone re-released this game I would want something like this! Extremely well done hack. I highly recommend this if you like this game!

You can also use the slash move to destroy most projectiles which is something you really cannot take into account normally but with this you can.

The only thing I would want modified would be if you could hold any of the attack buttons and then it would block like normal. Since holding the attack button does nothing anyway. Instead of having to move a finger it would be on the same position.

Just uploaded a run on this to Youtube on Expert. Breathed new life into a game I love. Thanks!

This is basically the sort of mod or patch you'd expect if classic games were consistently updated like newer games are. It takes the game that perfected the classic Shinobi formula and perfects the game itself! Most importantly for me, it makes a particular wall clipping method much more accessible and practical for speed runners and score junkies alike.

I have witnessed a wall clip in speed runs that I was unfortunately unable to figure out for myself. This irked me because it was specifically useful for bypassing the infamous bomb box that requires a shuriken or a jutsu to open for destroying a barrier, thus ruining the possibility of a perfect score for Round 5. Below I shall explain the simplified clip method for people like me who are running this game over and over again to perfect an enjoyable state of flow, as well as those who just want to speed run or get those elusive Round 5 bonuses.

At the end of Round 5, there is a space just to the right of the barrier that you must normally destroy in order to reach the exit. The area to the right looks empty, but it is actually a wall that you can spring off of. You must spring off of it, then quickly perform a melee attack, ensuring that you switch from holding right for the spring jump to holding left while you are doing the attack. This should pass you through the tiny bit of ceiling above you, pushing you through the boundary on the right and into the area that triggers the transition to the next board.

Normally you'd either have to use an advanced and far less reliable clipping method (which I still have no clue how to actually do) or you'd have to throw away all your shurikens, going against the point of a speed run or a perfect score run. That's why, in my opinion, any Shinobi III runner should prefer the upgraded version of the game that this patch presents. :D