Was there a Super Shinobi III in the works?

[Goemon]

I just finished Super Shinobi II today. I never finished it back in day but having recently finished Shinobi on the 3DS I wanted to go back and play it again.

Anyway the end finishes on a 'To be continued...' screen, which surprised me.

Was there a Super Shinobi III in the works? Anyone remember anything being mentioned at any point?

None of the post Shinobi games follow on the story of Joe Musashi and NeoZeed or follow the 'super' namesake. I also wouldn't have thought they would add a 'to be continued' based on them just making another Shinobi game, I would expect a direct follow on.

[QualityChimp]

By "The Super Shinobi II", I presume you mean "Shinobi III" in the West?

I don't think there was a Super Shinobi III/Shinobi IV planned, but the final version had some changes from the beta version:

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/shinobi/shinobi3.htm

When Shinobi III was originally previewed in magazines, it featured screenshots of areas and enemies that were totally different from the final release. While initially intended to be published in 1992, it didn't actually come out until 1993, so it seems like Sega changed quite a bit during the meantime.

Two beta ROMs have leaked onto the internet showing many of the elements that were changed. The first beta is almost completely different, showing off a huge number of stages that are completely different. It is only barely playable, is full of glitches and bosses that don't attack right, so it serves more to show off what was changed.

New areas include a night-time stage in a Japanese castle, a canyon, and a refinery. There are several different generic enemy base/factory areas, which received some complaints in an early review, so it makes sense that Sega would've ditched them in favor of some of the cooler levels found in the final game. Totally new enemies include a mid-boss with a gigantic machine gun, a muscular dude with an extending arm and some kind of mutated tigers.

There's also a fifth ninjitsu power called Hakuiru, which controls the power of ice and freezes everything on the screen, thereby making all attacks analogous to the ninjas in the Game Gear games. There's also a somersault move that was taken out of the final version. Also included are improved ninjitsu spells which activate when you have a POW icon. There's also a strange puzzle game in the options screen.

The second beta ROM is much closer to the final game, but includes several subtle changes, including different boss patterns, different sprites for some enemies (including enemies in the surfing level which appear to be riding Return of the Jedi-style speeders), and a variation on the labyrinth level, where you're played in a room with several doors, and need to complete all rooms before fighting the boss, removing the maze elements. You can read more about the beta ROMs here.

By the time TSSII came out, Sega were starting to think about games for the upcoming Saturn, so the next game is Shin Shinobi Den/Shinobi Legions.
I can't see any mention to a Mega Drive Super Shinobi III on websites about unreleased games:

http://www.unseen64.net/?s=shinobi

[Goemon]

Yea, was Shinobi III. Great game!!
I've seen the betas, this also made me think they had another version as there was a lot they didn't use.

I've never played Shin Shinobi Den, does it feel like a sequel to this game?

[JazzFunk]

Um....sadly no. It almost feels like a Western dev took over, it's by no means a terrible game, it's maybe not the best comparison but try playing The Secret Of Evermore after playing The Secret Of Mana, same type of thang goin' on. It went for a *very* horrid digitised look, totally lacking in finesse compared to the earlier games, and it all feels a bit 'Batman Forever', the graphics don't quite gel together and often feel like cardboard cutouts, decreases the immersion. Main prob with it: it just doesn't *feel* right, a major misstep for me. Quite a playable game still but Shinobi 3/SS2 is waaaaaaaay better in ALL departments. Just wished they'd ditched the horse/boat levels out of that game and put the omitted stages back in. Bloody stupid horse level, cacky padding, bah.

[Team Andromeda]

Just wished they'd ditched the horse/boat levels out of that game and put the omitted stages back in. Bloody stupid horse level, cacky padding, bah.

I think big changes were made after Mean Machines and CVG planned reviews said the game was too easy and too short and so SEGA took it back to the work shop and added new stuff (one of which was the Horse level)

I've never played Shin Shinobi Den, does it feel like a sequel to this game

It's not too bad and plays ok, just for a 2D Saturn game it looks and sounds so basic - when it should haven been one of the games to show off the 2D might of the machine imo. The flyer one got with launch Japanese Saturn shoiwng off the planned Saturn games showed off Shin Shinobi Den with vastly different levels and bosses ect and it looked pretty good , wish we got that version instead

[Asura]

Wasn't Shinobi X the sequel to this?

I've never actually played it.

[S3M]

Story here is if in doubt check out Hardcore Gaming 101 first,they do a full run down on the whole series here:

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/shinobi/shinobi.htm