If you were born in the early to mid-eighties, there’s a high probability that you will know Sega’s Shinobi series of classic video games. The franchise kicked off with the release of the original arcade game in 1987 and was quickly ported to a multitude of home computer and console formats. Later, Sega would build on the success of Shinobi with popular home exclusives for the Game Gear and Mega Drive. The series has been a little bit quiet recently, but you can still get your fix of ninja-themed gaming action thanks to Print Studios and their Shinobi Spirit online slot! The 26-pay line machine certainly looks to have taken at least some inspiration from the classics and offers a huge jackpot of 20,000x alongside a 96.26% RTP.
There’s a whole bunch of special features packed into the reels of Shinobi Spirit, starting with the instant-pay bamboo shoot symbols’; when these are slashed by the shinobi, between 1x and 1,000x, the total bet will be added to your balance. Better yet, make it to the shinobi bonus by landing three or more scatter symbols, and you can double the value of each shoot multiple times – you’ll just need to land a shinobi on reel five to collect them! There are four more ‘event’ symbols on the bonus reels, which activate when slashed by the shinobi, as well as a golden shinobi who has six lives rather than the standard three. If you’re struggling to catch the scatters naturally, a scatter boost feature is available in addition to a bonus buy facility.
I’m a sucker for these kinds of old video game-inspired slot machines – even if the colour palette used in this one is a little bit green and garish for my taste! Check it out for yourself with our free demo slot of Shinobi Spirit – available to play below.
| Provider | Print Studios |
| Reels | 5 |
| Rows | 4 |
| Paylines | 26 |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.10 - 20 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 20,000x |
| Bonus Buy | Yes |
| RTP | 96.26% |
| Our Rating | 7.8 |
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Shinobi Spirit Demo Slot
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Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
I’ve previously looked at a handful of ninja-themed slots, such as Ronin’s Honour and Bushido Princess Megaways, but they always reminded me much more of Ninja Gaiden and similar properties rather than the Sega games that I spent much more time playing when I was younger. It would be nice to see an official Sega-themed slot at some point, but if we ever did get one, I expect it would probably be based around Sonic rather than a less well-known franchise such as Shinobi.
The most valuable regular symbol is the Dragon Orb, worth 100x the total bet for a full payline of five of a kind. Another high-paying symbol is the Bamboo Chutes, as those have a standard return of up to 20x the bet for all five symbols that are paid, even when they are not slashed by the shinobi. Next, a complete line of Lanterns will get you 8x your bet back in winnings, whilst five Barrels are worth 5x. There are more low-paying symbols represented by signs of various colours, the most generous of which are the Red Signs, with returns of 2.5x the bet. The remaining signs are Purple(2x), Blue (1.5x), and Green (1x), and there’s also a payout of up to 100x the bet attached to the scatter symbols as well.
The minimum/maximum betting limits have been set at €0.10 and €20.00 per spin, respectively, but this is another game with extremely restricted wager options between those values. If you’re betting small, you’ll probably be fine, but the gaps start getting huge once you exceed €2.00 per spin.
Base Game & Modifiers
The base game of Shinobi Spirit utilises an extended reel layout with five columns of four rows each, so it’s a good thing that Print has included 26 paylines on which to score a win. The bamboo shoots can appear in stacks, whilst the rest of the symbols only land in solo configurations; this means that you are much more likely to hit a large number of bamboo lines simultaneously than any other symbol. Fortunately, the bamboo shoots are one of the game’s most valuable symbols as well as being used for the game’s instant-prize feature!
Bamboo Power
Landing the shinobi on reel five simultaneously as one or more bamboo prize symbols on the same row will award their advertised prize values. Each bamboo prize symbol can be worth up to 1,000x the total bet, and it’s possible to hit up to four at once.
Shinobi Spirit Slot Bonus Features
Bonus scatter symbols are present on all five reels, but you’ll only need three to trigger the bonus round. A three-scatter trigger only awards the Shinobi Bonus, whilst four or five scatters will award you either 20x or 100x your total bet as well.
Shinobi Bonus
At the start of the feature, you’ll have three lives added to your starting counter. Every spin that goes by uses one life, but it’s also possible to collect lives when the shinobi slashes a new symbol that lands on the reels up to a maximum of three. There’s one exception to this – the golden shinobi has six lives instead of three, and when he slashes a bamboo prize symbol, its value will be transferred to all other remaining bamboo prize symbols.
There are four special powers that can be harnessed in this part of the game – the green cube symbol will add its value to all remaining bamboo prize symbols, whilst the mask causes a ninja frenzy that causes the shinobi to slash out wildly in every direction. The shuriken causes the shinobi to slash in the best new direction perpendicular to this current direction, whilst the serpent causes the shinobi to slash symbols twice.
Bonus Buy
Pressing the ‘feature bet’ button located to the right of the reels will open a new menu with two options:
- Bonus Bet: Adds 50% to the price of each spin in return for boosted odds of triggering the bonus round. The RTP when using this option increases by around 0.4%
- Bonus Buy: Allows you to skip directly to the bonus round at a cost of 100x the current stake. Adds around 0.9% to the game’s RTP.
Pros
- It’s always nice to be reminded of a classic arcade game!
- The attractive maximum jackpot of 20,000x the total bet.
- The bonus round is great fun and should keep you interested for some time.
Cons
- Wow, does this game look ugly on my display – I found myself adjusting the setting to try and tone down the game's fluorescent green hue!
- The extended playfield and solo symbol configurations combine to deliver a larger than average number of dead spins.
- The base game would have benefitted from a modifier or two to keep things fresh between bonus rounds.
Shinobi Spirit Slot Review Final Thoughts
I haven’t been playing any video games recently, but spinning this slot has inspired me to pick up the controller once again and take Joe Musashi on another romp to defeat the masked ninja! How about a shadow dancer themed slot next time, Print?
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