After a troubled development, SEGA released the final version of Shinobi III in 1993. The game came on a 8-MEG cartridge, which was twice the size of The Revenge of Shinobi or Shadow Dancer. The extra memory allowed the levels to become far larger than anything seen before, along with more complicated hazards and bigger, fantastic bosses.

One complaint about The Revenge of Shinobi was how Joe did not move that fast. In Shinobi III, Joe can now run, making the game far quicker paced. He also has several new moves and abilities, giving players more options for combat than ever before. The difficulty was also increased -not so noticeable in the early rounds, but towards the end of the game there are sections thrown at you which are far harder than anything seen in any previous Shinobi game, especially in round 7.

Delaying Shinobi III paid off for SEGA, as the finished version is one of the best games for the Genesis. Thanks to PrimeOp for the large Joe sprite above.