Copy a Json from another game , rename the JSON to the same as your folder name for shinobi and open the JSON up and rename the game name with the folder name you used for shinobi.
Thanks. It turns out some .json files have other info associated with them (like audio offsets). I do not have the ability to run the python script to build .json files for the core. I ended up finding a basic .json that would work. I think I used 2020bb. Cheers and thanks for the assurances.