The third Genesis Shinobi game was on track to be released early on in 1993. Shinobi III was going to be the "true" sequel to The Revenge of Shinobi, playing much like that game rather than Shadow Dancer. Shinobi III was completed, and sent out to magazines to review. But the feedback SEGA got wasn't quite as good as they'd hoped -whilst most reviewers liked it, there was a general agreement that it wasn't as good as The Revenge of Shinobi, and wasn't the great sequel they'd been waiting for.

Rather than release the game as it was, SEGA decided to put Shinobi III back into development, and several months later, the revised version of the game was finally released. But what happened to the original version? As magazines and videos show, the original version was quite different to the final version, featuring completely different levels along with different enemies and bosses. Things in the original version which are not in the final game include an airship level, the Hakuriu ninjitsu and a boss who uses a gatling gun.

Whilst a very early prototype is available to the public, the original version of Shinobi III currently isn't. Hopefully, one day, the ROM of this version will be made available.