Free Step Dodge

so you have the first game which tells a simple story, good ninjas vs bad ninjas and they discover that they're not too different the end. but then you have the second game,which isn't a sequel, but is a retelling of the story from the first game but from the bad guys point of view, SA2 style. Which sounds fine and both stories hit the same major story beats...

but there's alot of shit that makes no sense in the context of the info we learn from the first game (Yomi and Ikgaura being friends, Hibari's betrayal, etc) so already it's a question which first game is the real first game. then you have SK2, the third game, which is a sequel to the first game, but even it re-tells the ending of the two first games in it's own way so there's more confusion thrown in.

then you have shinvoi versus, which is the forth game, but it's a sequel to the first game, so it just straight up ignores SK2 and (at the time) was described as a "what if" scenario. but then you have estival versus and all these other spinoffs which spawned from shinovi versus, so they have their own timeline going on while the main timeline is just dangling in the wind

and then somehow, someway, we end up with an SK that touts it'self as the seventh game in the series, despite there being only two numbered games in the entire franchise (1 and 2), and retroactively this makes all the "what if" scenario games canon, even that peach beach splash game, shit makes my brain hurt X_X

But is it more confusing than Kingdom Hearts and DOA plotz tho.

Don't forget about Kagura being an omniscient being who can transform from a candy to a fully grown woman with super OP Ninja Arts, is from a different timeline and is somehow also the best friend of the Mikagura Sisters. Or Ryouki who keeps coming back to earth as an angel despite only supposed to being revived in the Shinobi Festival....

The 3ds games are set in a different timeline from the playstation games. Deep crimson (SK2) is the direct follow up to the story of Burst, specifically the hanzo ending.

The playstation games follow a different timeline starting with Shinovi versus which also follows the Hanzo ending of burst and estival versus follows the hanzo ending of shinovi versus which then goes to PBS then the shinobi master anime.

Oh and Jasmine always appearing despite sapping the lifeforce of Sayuri because they wanted a MILF character.