The Revenge of Shinobi, published in Japan as The Super Shinobi is a video game developed and published by Sega in 1989. It was the first Shinobi game developed for the Mega Drive.

The game is a sequel to Shinobi, a 1987 arcade game, and boasts an acclaimed soundtrack by the famous video game music composer Yūzō Koshiro. The game was included in the compilations: Mega Games 2, Genesis 6 Pak, Sega Classics Arcade Collection (for Sega CD), and Sega Smash Pack (for the PC and Dreamcast). It was re-released for the Wii Virtual Console in 2009.

The introductory game screen features famous martial arts actor Sonny Chiba dressed as Hattori Hanzō from the popular Kage No Gundan TV series.

Versions

Batman in The Revenge of Shinobi

Because of copyright issues regarding certain boss characters (many of which were based on cultural icons) there were at least four versions of the game in Japan and North America, with the later two also appearing in Europe.

• Software revision 1.00 (1989): Bosses clearly resembling Godzilla, Spider-Man, The Terminator and Batman are present. Both Spider-Man and Batman are actually fake representations of themselves conducted by someone able to morph into his shape when enough damage is inflicted.
• Software revision 1.01 (1989): Batman is replaced by anime character Devilman. Godzilla, and Spider-Man remain unmodified, the latter still morphing into the bat-like creature when defeated. Enemy soldiers with flamethrowers are also changed to bald men with headbands away from their original likeness to Rambo.
• Software revision 1.02 (1990): The fake Spider-Man is now redesigned into the licensed character from Marvel Comics, acknowledged by a copyright notice (Sega already had the license to the character for another game they were developing at the time, The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin). Since he is now the real Spider-Man, he doesn't morph into a bat-like shape and actually leaves the battle when enough damage is inflicted, with Devilman entering to replace him. Godzilla still remain intact.
• Software revision 1.03 (1990): Godzilla is replaced by a skeletal dinosaur. Everything else remains intact from the previous revision, including the licensed use of Spider-Man. This version was used in the Genesis 6-Pak cartridge.

Since the licensed use of the boss Spider-Man was for a limited period of time, the game was subsequently prevented from being re-released in recent years on compilations and digital download services. The 2009 release for the Virtual Console features a new specific software revision (1.04) that omits the Marvel copyright notice and replaces Spider-Man with a pink palette swap of the character that still behaves the same as the licensed Spider-Man.