SEGA Is Bringing A 'Shinobi' Movie To The Big Screen

Ninjas have long been a part of many a video game franchise, but the original (and best in my opinion) was Shinobi, which not only ate up a ton of quarters at the arcade but caused a lot of butt burn on the SEGA Master System console.  The game was basic as Hell, since all you really did in the side-scroller was throw ninja stars and smoke bombs and generic goons. But it was fun, and hopefully that can be translated to the big screen.

SEGA is teaming up with producer Marc Platt (Drive) to develop a Shinobi feature film. Clearly just in the conceptual stages, there are no writers or director attached at this point.  In the original 1987 game you played Joe Musashi, a ninja sent to rescue the kidnapped children of his clan. Musashi's backstory was fleshed out to reveal that he was once a weak boy who joined the clan and worked diligently to become their most skilled warrior. Later games revealed more, while others, such as Shadow Dancer, ditched Musashi altogether. So it's hard to figure where the movie might go.

We'll see where this goes. SEGA has a tendency to strike these deals and then have nothing actually happen. Remember that awesome live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie? You don't because it never happened.