"shinobi iii" was originally set to be released in 1992. several gaming magazines (including "gamepro", "mean machines sega" and "computer & video games") gave previews and even reviews of the game, showing pictures of levels, enemies, artwork and special moves which were not seen in the final version at all. because of being unsatisfied with the result, sega had put the game back into development to heavily improve it and delayed its release until 1993. when "shinobi iii" was finally released, many game features seen earlier were missing, with new ones taking their place. a beta-version of the original version of the game has been leaked and is now widely available as a rom image.