"shinobi iii: return of the ninja master" received critical acclaim. "megatech" magazine praised the game's new attacks and moves, but criticised that it was "not as hard as "the revenge of shinobi"." "mega" said that "beyond the tricky bosses, this is far too easy." an ign review by levi buchanan called it "a legit genesis great, one of the better action games for the 16-bit console of yesteryear," even if the iphone version was deemed just "okay".