One of the best run-and-jump fighters I’ve ever played is Sega’s 1987 coin-op release, Shinobi. Several of us here at Touch Arcade spent hours in the local arcade together way back when, shoveling quarter after quarter into that Shinobi cabinet. We grabbed various home versions of the game, but none lived up to the excellent arcade experience. Happily, a number of sequels followed that targeted consoles specifically, and they provided some great ninja slashing action. The best of the lot in the eyes of many, myself included, is Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master. It was originally released for the Genesis / Mega Drive back in 1993, and tonight Sega has released the game, wrapped in their iOS Genesis emulator we’ve seen before, through the App Store [link].
In Shinobi III, you’re back in the role of ninja warrior Joe Musashi as he fights to defeat the evil organization Neo Zeed, which is bent on world domination. You move through seven rounds of carnage, laying waste to scads of other ninjas with your shinobigatana, shurikens, and four magical ninjutsu techniques. You must brave a variety of hostile environments, including forests, caves, cities, laboratories, and factories. You even ride a horse. And surf! It’s a harrowing affair, but the game is actually a bit more forgiving than the first in the series, employing a life meter that allows for accumulated damage as opposed to one hit kills, as did Revenge of Shinobi which preceded it. It’s a great game — a bit short on play time, but full of action.
…on the Genesis (and Wii Virtual Console), that is. Sadly, as has been the case with numerous straight arcade / console conversion from Sega and others in the past, much of the great experience of the original has been lost in translation to the iPhone. There is nothing to complain about as far as performance from the emulator — it seems Sega has been steadily improving it, and things run smoothly and at full speed for all intents and purposes on an iPhone 4 test device. The issue is with the controls, their arrangement and inflexibility.
Like other Sega iOS releases running in their emulator, there is both a full screen and a windowed view. The fullscreen mode, with its larger image, is the most desirable play mode, I would say, but it suffers from the fixed arrangement of the onscreen D-pad and three action buttons; very often a thumb on either completely obscures your character, making gameplay highly awkward. This can be avoided by using the windowed view which renders the game at it’s native resolution (fullscreen is a scale-up, not the other way around) with D-pad and buttons below, but on a screen with a pixel density as high as any iPhone or iPod touch device, it’s a strain to behold. It’s possible that an option to reposition the touch points would help matters but, frankly, I can’t imagine an arrangement that would be truly acceptable. As is, the gameplay will leave you longing for your old Genesis.
See a gameplay video of the original console version.
And so, again we have a truly excellent console title that falls sadly short of the mark in making its way to the iPhone. Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master is likely an App Store purchase that only the true Shinobi devotee could make with satisfaction.
Maybe Sony could sell some snap-in accessory for the iPod/iPhone and Apple could add a Playstation section to the App store with some kind of kick-back to Sony.
Never gonna happen... but a gammer can dream.
A gammer can dream, but apparently a gammer can't spell. ;)
there's some rumors that Sony wants to crush Apple in the "gamming" matter, i think it could, but it that's not true, i don't see why that couldn't happen...
Why frame it as a competition? Millions of iOS owners will refuse to stump up cash for an NGP or an Android device, so why not make a cut on software sales to those people?
Nice! I want that accessory, hopefully it will add the 10 missing buttons!
The PlayStation Suite is just a software framework (like Unity3D).
Apple doesn't need to give Sony kickback or anything.
It is used to get more people to develop for their PlayStation Platform.
Also if you have enough PlayStation Platform games on your phone, you might opt to get a PSP 2.
Of course with a large enough library of games developed on the PlayStation Suite, it would make sense to make special accessories for them as well.
If they make a store-like app with multiple games as in-app purchases, I think it could work. Apple would still have to certify each in-app purchase, so there wouldn't be a problem, I think.
This is good news, though. Regardless of how it all pans out.
I could see this happening. Sony seems like it's doing something similar to what Amazon is doing with the Kindle app. Going for exposure and hopefully luring users from other devices to the richer PSP environment. As far as controls go, this Engadget article seems to indicate that if there are no physical buttons, then they can be emulated on the touchscreen.
http://www.engadget.com/201...
There's really no point in doing this. The PlayStation Suite is full of PS1 games, which were created with physical buttons in mind. There's no way that the games will be any fun because of this. The only devices that would be capable of play these games well would be the NGP or the Xperia Play.
It doesn't look like we're going to see Sony influencing Apple design anytime soon, and that might be the sticking point for Sony bringing games to iOS. Still, the more the companies play nice with each other, the better it is for gamers and for everyone's pocketbooks. Thanks for the great writeup Brad.
Goodness. How do you make such high end hardware and end up with such hideous OS ?
Apple fan boi much?
There's nothing hideous about Sony's OS.
Well, dual-stick type games would play pretty well. Platformers... no so much. Still, I'm sure there's some games that would translate well. I'll vote yes. :)
Wish Apple would just make a controller accessory and be done with it. It would cause a flood of Japanese developers to fully embrace the platform. Many already seem to be in love with it. Or at least release a standard specification and a license path that is more focused with a lower barrier to entry for accessory specialists.
While I'm dreaming make the new devices 3D in order to bury the 3DS and force Nintendo to make games for iOS devices. ^_^
But a controller isn't really practical. If it's bluetooth, you'll be holding the controller, but what will be holding your iPhone? If it's something that actually attaches to the phone it's likely to be awkard from a weight distribution standpoint, and probably won't work when the next iPhone is released, let alone with both iPhone and iPod touch.
Seems like a reasonable solution could be engineered. 3rd parties have made reasonable attempts. Plus, a new accessory for each phone revision (or modularity) isn't out of the question. I don't expect it from Apple, but there is a considerable pie out there to take a few slices from if Apple wants it.
All in all this is a huge display of the merging between different areas of the handheld gaming field. With Sony taking this stance on the potential of smartphones, we should see the other larger studios finally take the leap and put out some premium titles. In that case, if games are coming out for PSS on Android, it would not be a long shot to have simultaneous iOS release dates.
I don't see why Touch Arcade is so excited about this. How does this really benefit an iOS gamer? Do I really want PS1 games on my iPhone? Please don't follow Sega's flood of non playable games route.
New NGP games would be nice since they are touch screen from the ground up. Would an iPhone 4 be able to run it? At least the iPhone 5 will be out for some time before the NGP comes out which should give developers time to port over.
We're excited about it because there are a ton of fantastic PSone games they could potentially bring over that would work great, even with mediocre controls. Most RPG's and turn based games work fine even with the worst virtual control implementation. If they released Final Fantasy 7 or Final Fantasy Tactics they'd basically dominate the RPG charts on the App Store for eternity.
In the age of convergence I would rather have one device in my pocket that can do multiple things rather than just bring a dedicated handheld gaming machine with me like I did 5 years ago. For gaming on the go I'm more than happy with my phone and for gaming at home I would rather just stick to my consoles (and pc) and spend more money on those for a better experience.
The NGP looks like a really impressive device, but I predict the mass consumer won't buy into another 200+ dollar handheld with 40-50 dollar games no matter how much more impressive the software will be compared to iOS games.
300 Spartans holding off an army, Kijib getting suspended from TouchArcade. Both unlikely events that no one saw coming.
I really can't see this coming mainly because Apple will want to control everything about it. Unless Sony are happy putting the games through the App Store review process then I can't see it happening. While it would be a good idea for Apple to get involved so people see less of an incentive to buy the NGP, I see more chance of Kijib returning to be honest.
Why not make the only iPhone button a D-Pad? It could have exactly the same shape, just tilting from side to side. Then they could add two touch-sensitive buttons (à la PS3) on the upper side of the device. Win?
Not a bad start, anyway. :) You can't mess with the non-gamers, and this is a good idea to attempt it. Bigger iPhone button, I guess... buttons would need ridges or something to prevent drift. I don't think Apple would go it, personally, but it's much closer to acceptable than most suggestions I've seen.
Pass. Still not interested in wrestling with a PS game with touchscreen controls...
If Apple hates buttons so much, could a second touch screen on the back be a viable solution for a better gaming experience?
Anyone remember how in MGS4, Snake has a working, fully branded iPod?
Who cares... I'm getting the NGP!!!
Anyone know if this means FF7 for iOS if it happens? I'm not saying I don't care if not, but I definitely care a lot less.
If Sony brought the PlayStation Suite to iOS, it truly would change everything, especially for Sony. Eventually, I do expect Apple to team up with either Nintendo or Sony. The only question is will it be Link on your iPad or the Helghast. Wouldn't it be cool if it were both.
Unless Sony is going to optimize each game for the iPhone, a lot of users are missing out
it wouldn't be a pleasant experience to play these PS1 games on a touchscreen. I can't see how it could be done. These games were meant for physical buttons and dual analog sticks. the controls are too complex to be ported to just touch controls. On top of that, the iphone's screen size is much too small for them.
Completely pointless. Even carefully ported, controller-customized titles like Driver are *barely* playable on a touchscreen. Generic, emulator stuff will play like ass.
I just watched the Engadget Show.. The PS solution looks clunky, the new machine will be great, but their 'platform' on other people's hardware .. nah
And in related news, Apple just rejected sony's eBook reader coz of some dumb reasons. Guess there isnt much point in hoping this will show up for iOS anytime soon
http://www.macrumors.com/20...
Interesting timing for Apple to do this... I wonder if the recent Sony + Android team-up was a catalyst for this decision?
They rejected it because it had in-app purchases through Sony's service. That's always been against the rules. The Nook and Kindle apps are in the app store as you may notice. Sony just needs to make the purchases either through the app store, or they could do like Amazon and B&N do with their reader apps.
will never ever happen
http://www.nytimes.com/2011...
I love the hypocrisy here.
Argument against someone defending hardcore gaming hardware: "LOL U DNT NEED BUTTONZ"
Argument against Sony bringing PSS to iOS: "LOL U NEED BUTTONZ"