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94-613: Shinrei Jusatsushi Tarōmaru ( Japanese : 心霊呪殺師 太郎丸 ) is a side-scrolling action game developed and published by the Japanese division of Time Warner Interactive for the Sega Saturn . Players take on the role of psychic ninjas battling an assortment of demons in Feudal Japan to rescue a kidnapped girl. The game was released in Japan in 1997 amid Time Warner Interactive's closure, resulting in

188-408: A 7.33 out of 10, saying that it looked better than it played. They thought the auto lock-on function and scarcity of recovery items made it slightly difficult, but found that persistence in mastering the gameplay led to seeing how diligently the game was designed. In retrospective coverage, Shinrei Jusatsushi Tarōmaru has continued to achieve critical praise. Tom Massey ( Eurogamer) called it one of

282-624: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down

376-589: A city and defeat the terrorist group responsible for planting them. In Japan it is known as The Super Shinobi . The debut of the ninja on the Mega Drive/Genesis console, The Revenge of Shinobi was widely praised at the time of its release and long one of the most popular games on the Mega Drive/Genesis and is regarded as the best entry in the series by many. Its soundtrack was written by composer Yuzo Koshiro . The Mega Drive/Genesis version of Shadow Dancer , titled Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi and

470-538: A complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )

564-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )

658-509: A female lead, Nightshade is a continuation of 2002's Shinobi with differences to the gameplay. In Japan, the game is known as Kunoichi , the Japanese term to denote the female equivalent of Shinobi . Shinobi 3D was developed by Griptonite Games for the Nintendo 3DS . The game returned to the side-scrolling nature of earlier games and was released in November 2011. It is the twelfth title in

752-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as

846-530: A hidden character, as well as Moritsune himself (who appears in the game's storyline as an enemy named Aomizuchi). In a break with tradition, Nightshade ( Kunoichi in Japan) featured a female ninja named Hibana. Hotsuma appears as a hidden character, though it requires a completed Shinobi PS2 game save on the memory card to unlock him. Joe Musashi returns as he did in the PS2 Shinobi by completing 88 missions in

940-479: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it

1034-634: A low print run. It is considered by gaming journalists as one of the rarest, most valuable, and most sought-after Saturn games. Critics have generally praised the game for its layered 2D and 3D visual effects, inventive level design, and impressive boss battles. Some compared it positively to the Shinobi and Castlevania series. Shinrei Jusatsushi Tarōmaru is a 2.5D side-scrolling action game that takes place in Feudal Japan . The player can choose to play as one of two ninja, Tarōmaru or Enkai, who are hired as bounty hunters to defeat powerful demons and save

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1128-510: A powerful crime organization. The game starts with the player just controlling the red ninja and then freeing more and more of his compatriots as he progresses through each level. The soundtrack was once again composed by Yuzo Koshiro. The Silent Fury (also The G.G. Shinobi II ) is a direct sequel to the original The G.G. Shinobi game on Game Gear, and features much of the same gameplay mechanics as its predecessor. Both The G.G. Shinobi and The Silent Fury were Game Gear exclusive games. It

1222-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),

1316-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate

1410-417: A stolen maiden. The characters fight their enemies with psychic powers and play nearly identically outside of minor differences in their attack ranges. Enemies are targeted automatically with a reticle that hovers across the screen. The player can fire bursts of energy or charge up their energy for a more destructive attack which can hit multiple enemies. The characters can normally jump, slide, and dash across

1504-624: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of

1598-554: Is a brief discussion of each release. For a more detailed examination of each game, click on the corresponding link in the timetable. Shinobi , the first game in the series, was released in 1987 for the arcades and ran on Sega's System 16 arcade hardware. Sega released a home conversion for the Master System , followed by licensed ports for the IBM PC , Amiga , Atari ST , Commodore 64 , Amstrad CPC , ZX Spectrum and MSX , as well as

1692-408: Is a different game from the arcade original. The backstory differs between regional releases, giving the unnamed protagonist from the arcade version an identity - the Japanese version establishes him as Hayate, the estranged son of Joe Musashi; while the manuals for the English language versions claims that he is Joe Musashi himself. Although the basic gameplay is similar to the arcade version, little of

1786-512: Is a two player cooperative mode. Shinrei Jusatsushi Tarōmaru was developed by Time Warner Interactive 's Japanese studios for the Sega Saturn . A PlayStation version was planned but was never released. Hiroshi Iuchi , known for his work with Treasure , did some of the art design. Characters were designed by Kenichi Nemoto. The game was demonstrated at the Tokyo Toy Show in June 1996. The game

1880-445: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,

1974-519: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing

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2068-643: Is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics , a pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has

2162-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number

2256-684: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider

2350-462: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto

2444-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to

2538-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through

2632-500: Is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered the language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and

2726-722: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey

2820-415: Is most commonly associated with that of Joe Musashi, the protagonist of the original arcade game and many of its sequels. His name is a combination of both an archetypical Western first name and Japanese last name, Musashi likely being derived from the legendary Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi . In the manual of The Revenge of Shinobi , Musashi's backstory is told as that of a weak boy who first entered

2914-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of

Shinrei Jusatsushi Tarōmaru - Misplaced Pages Continue

3008-489: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and

3102-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and

3196-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have

3290-494: Is usually divided into two or three scenes, and the final scene is a battle against a powerful boss character. Standard Shinobi stages include bamboo forests, dojos, docksides, and industrial complexes filled with biological monstrosities. The following is a timeline of releases in the Shinobi series. Listed are the name of each game, the corresponding release date and the consoles for which they were developed/ported. Further below

3384-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns

3478-505: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in

3572-673: The PC Engine (via Asmik ) in Japan, and an unlicensed port by Tengen for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America. Shinobi introduced several novelties to traditional platform mechanics, such as sophisticated enemy AI and multiple layers in each level. Shadow Dancer is the 1989 arcade sequel to the original Shinobi . It runs on Sega's System 18 arcade hardware. The plot follows an unnamed ninja and his canine companion who must disarm various bombs spread across

3666-504: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than

3760-716: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of

3854-794: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to

Shinrei Jusatsushi Tarōmaru - Misplaced Pages Continue

3948-518: The dojo of the Oboro clan at a young age and gradually, through tireless practice and meditation, worked himself up to become the most skilled and respected ninja of his clan. His peaceful existence in the mountains of Japan is shattered when the ninja crime syndicate Zeed rises to power and attempts to revert Japan into the Sengoku period of civil war when the ninja thrived. After being defeated by Musashi in

4042-518: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),

4136-482: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,

4230-542: The Ninja Master , Musashi comes out of retirement one last time and destroys them for good. In the arcade version of Shadow Dancer , Joe Musashi is replaced by a nameless new ninja and his canine companion as the game's protagonists. The ninja and his dog must disarm various time bombs spread across an unnamed metropolis that were planted by a terrorist group. The game was remade for the Mega Drive/Genesis under

4324-724: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently

4418-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand

4512-602: The Saturn's appeal to serious game enthusiasts. Retro Gamer regretted how its scarcity will mean many players will ultimately never have the opportunity to play it. After its preview at the Tokyo Toy Show, Electronic Gaming Monthly reported that it was one of the sleeper hits there, and they were disappointed to hear there were no localization plans. They compared it to the Castlevania series, and wrote: "It plays unbelievably well...We will be watching this title very closely in

4606-545: The actual game content — from levels to character art — is the same. The Cyber Shinobi was a Master System exclusive title, released as a follow-up to the Master System port of the original Shinobi . The Cyber Shinobi is notorious for being one of the worst games in the series. Since it is mentioned in the manual that the hero's grandfather defeated Neo Zeed, the Joe Musashi-character in this game appears to be

4700-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which

4794-435: The best games of the 32-bit era . He also compared it to works by Treasure and praised its inventive, strategic gameplay and "dwarfing" boss battles. Retro Gamer included it on their list of essential Sega Saturn imports, commending the "insanely over-the-top" action and creative level design. They noted that the game borrows elements from the Shinobi series and Alisia Dragoon (1992). James Watkins from 1UP.com compared

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4888-564: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there

4982-598: The final game. Shinobi Legions was the only Shinobi game developed for Sega Saturn , and the last sidescrolling title in the series until The Revenge of Shinobi on the Game Boy Advance . The gameplay is similar to that of Shinobi III but with many tweaks. The plot represented a break with the traditional storyline of the previous games, as it focuses on an entirely new character named Sho. Shinobi Legions uses live-action cutsequences between each round and digitized live actors in game sequences. Shinobi debuted in

5076-423: The first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese

5170-399: The game to Shinobi and Castlevania , and highlighted the boss fights, and tight, intuitive controls. Multiple critics also praised different aspects of the visuals. Watkins commended the blend of 2D sprites layered atop 3D backgrounds, Retro Gamer did the same for the animation, and Kurt Kalata of Hardcore Gaming 101 believed that the special effects were high quality, although he thought

5264-459: The game, Alex Kidd has to rescue his girlfriend, a native of Shinobi World, from an evil ninja named Hanzo. A good ninja fuses into him and gives him his powers. Often related to the series is the handheld The Revenge of Shinobi game for Game Boy Advance, however, this game shares only the name and basic premise (ninja action) with other Shinobi titles. A comic book series based on the game, written by Alan McKenzie and illustrated by Jon Haward,

5358-458: The game. The protagonist of the 3DS Shinobi 3D is Jiro Musashi, Joe's father. The main weapons of Shinobi are the shuriken (or throwing knives), but over the course of the series the emphasis gradually shifted to a ninjato . One of the most important moves in the games is Shinobi's somersault, performed by tapping the jump-button a second time at the height of a jump. The somersault is used to leap onto high-places, perform trick jumps and use

5452-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had

5546-591: The grandson of the original Joe Musashi. The debut of Shinobi on the Game Gear system was titled Shinobi , though in Japan it was known as The GG Shinobi ( The Game Gear Shinobi ) and the game still carries this name internally in all regions. Its gameplay is largely reminiscent of The Revenge of Shinobi . In a take on the Japanese Super Sentai series, Shinobi revolves around the quest of five coloured ninjas (red, pink, blue, yellow and green) to bring down

5640-632: The hedgehog shuriken attack to wipe out several opponents at once. The ability to run was introduced in Shinobi III . Another staple of the series are the four magical ninjitsu attacks Shinobi can use to kill their foes, or improve their own abilities. The four ninjitsu techniques are: Ikazuchi, Fushin, Kariu and Mijin. Another common feature of the early Shinobi games is the enemy AI , where enemies could duck behind boxes to reload their weapons after firing at Musashi, or hide behind boxes or shields to block Musashi's shurikens . Each level in Shinobi

5734-453: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system

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5828-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of

5922-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,

6016-485: The next few months." Next Generation and Edge , writing in a shared editorial, compared it positively to the Shinobi series and praised the dark but impressive 3D environments. Post release, GameFan compared the game favorably to Mystic Defender (1989). They found the gameplay to be surprisingly deep and intense, and praised the level design and boss battles. The 3D backgrounds and special effects were also highlighted. Sega Saturn Magazine in Japan gave it

6110-595: The only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as the Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little

6204-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by

6298-522: The original Shinobi , Zeed reforms three years later as Neo Zeed and attacks the Oboro clan directly. With his master assassinated and his girlfriend Naoko kidnapped by the enemy, Musashi swears revenge, and in the ensuing battles through a series of locations in Japan and America, as chronicled in The Revenge of Shinobi , all but annihilates Neo Zeed. When Neo Zeed returns in Shinobi III: Return of

6392-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with

6486-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,

6580-427: The player has to start the level all over again. Although this reboot of the franchise was generally well received by critics and fans alike, some of the bigger complaints waged against the game were for its average graphics, somewhat repetitive gameplay, and (as noted earlier) steep difficulty. Joe Musashi can be unlocked as a playable character after finishing the game. The first game of the Shinobi series to feature

6674-477: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as

6768-408: The rarest Sega Saturn games and most desired by collectors , raising its value to hundreds of dollars. 1UP.com called it the single rarest Saturn game, Nintendo Life called it the most sought-after game for the system, and Eurogamer wrote that it has long been the most prized possession for Saturn collectors. According to USgamer , it is games like Shinrei Jusatsushi Tarōmaru that drive

6862-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning

6956-478: The series since the 1987 original arcade games. A new Shinobi game featuring hand-drawn 2D animation was announced during The Game Awards presentation on December 7, 2023. No developer, platforms or release date were announced at the time. In 1990, Sega released Alex Kidd in Shinobi World on Master System , a spoof of the original Shinobi game in which Alex Kidd takes the position of Joe Musashi. In

7050-465: The series, the lead archetype returns in Shinobi for PlayStation 2 as Hotsuma, another member of the Oboro clan. In a similar theme to Shinobi Legions , the game starts with Hotsuma slaying his elder brother Moritsune during a full moon Oboro ritual. The main plot revolves around Hotsuma's battle to defeat a powerful sorcerer called Hiruko and put an end to anarchy in Tokyo . The game features Joe Musashi as

7144-421: The stages, but they cannot move when firing. In addition to the main attack, the player can also hypnotize certain types of enemies into fighting alongside them, as well as throw up a protective sphere which quickly pushes back enemies and absorbs projectiles. The bosses make up a significant portion of the gameplay and include an assortment of supernatural beasts and demons including large spiders and frogs. There

7238-797: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this

7332-476: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This

7426-500: The textures and sprites were blotchy. Kalata concluded: "...it's an excellent ode to 16-bit side scrollers, and a great portal into an alternate future where gaming didn't completely sell out to 3D." Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] ) is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan ,

7520-476: The title Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi , with the protagonist's identity differing between regions. The Japanese version identifies him as Joe Musashi's estranged son Hayate ( 疾風 ) , while the English language manual identifies him as Joe Musashi himself coming out of retirement. In the Master System game The Cyber Shinobi , Zeed has resurfaced once more, this time under the name of Cyber Zeed. A grandson of Joe Musashi must prevent them from threatening

7614-613: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Shinobi (series) The main character of Shinobi (the original Japanese word for " ninja ")

7708-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,

7802-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of

7896-472: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It

7990-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending

8084-409: The world again. Shinobi Legions presents a different plotline. The shinobi is Sho, the youngest of two brothers raised by a lone ninja master. The elder brother becomes corrupted and abducts the master's daughter in search of the ultimate ninjitsu technique, and Sho has to prevent him from destroying the world. Neither Joe Musashi nor the Oboro clan are mentioned. Following a seven-year hiatus in

8178-451: The world of 3D gaming with Shinobi , only for PlayStation 2. It is the third game in the series to simply be called Shinobi . The story introduces a new member of Oboro clan called Hotsuma. Shinobi ' s gameplay is based upon a combo system called the tate-system, which produces a very fast and smooth style of play. However, even more so than other Shinobi titles, Shinobi is also noted for its extreme difficulty. Whenever Hotsuma dies,

8272-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or

8366-535: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular

8460-718: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,

8554-465: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )

8648-569: Was published in the UK publication Sonic the Comic between 1993 and 1995, with four stories printed during its run. Welsh rock band Lostprophets referenced the game in the title of their debut single " Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja " on their debut album The Fake Sound of Progress in 2000. In 2014, Sega and Hakuhodo DY formed the production company Stories International for feature film and TV projects based on their Shinobi games. In April 2016, Marc Platt

8742-508: Was released on January 17, 1997, exclusively in Japan. Time Warner Interactive reportedly only produced 7,500 copies because they closed the business shortly after the game's release, This figure is disputed; Edge reported it as 5,000 copies, and GameFan and Sega Saturn Magazine reported 50,000 copies. Previously during development, in March 1996, the company was purchased by WMS Industries . Its low print run resulted in it becoming one of

8836-588: Was scored by Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima. Known as The Super Shinobi II in Japan, Shinobi III is regarded by many as the high point of the series . It introduced a much smoother, faster style of gameplay while keeping the series' familiar trademarks firmly intact. The game marked Musashi's last appearance in a Shinobi game until Shinobi was released in 2002 for the PlayStation 2. At least two known beta versions of Shinobi III are currently in circulation, featuring almost completely different levels from

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