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The Revenge of Shinobi
The Revenge of Shinobi

The Revenge of Shinobi is Sega Mega Drive and Genesis game from 1989 and 1990.

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Revenge of Shinobi - They stole my girl, stole my honor, killed my boys. That's it, it's on!

  • Jun 8, 2011
  • by
Rating:
+5
Joe Musashi returns to learn that his clan was attacked and his fiance was kidnapped. The organization he defeated years ago called the Zeed have now returned. The outfit has renamed themselves Neo Zeed, and they're seeking revenge against him. Joe arms himself and sets out to save his fiance and destroy the Neo Zeed for good this time. -summary

Released in 1989, The Revenge of Shinobi is the sequel to Shinobi which was released two years earlier. The title is one of the earlier games for the Sega Genesis that was released among the original launch titles. The game blew me away immediately then, as it featured the most difficult game play for the system, and boasted the absolute best music score I have ever heard from a game at the time. The Sega Genesis was well known for its amazing sound, and this was one of those games that took full advantage of that feature. Fast forward some 20 plus years, and I think the game still holds up very well although dated in some areas.

Game play:

The Revenge of Shinobi is a side scrolling 2D platformer, that follows Joe through 8 stages as he battles other ninjas, heavily armed soldiers, cyborgs, tough bosses, and a difficult final battle. The game completely abandons the dual stage format from the previous game, which required Joe to jump straight up or down to gain access to lower and higher floors. It's more free roaming now, and Joe can get to those other platforms without completely focusing on those other areas. There are also portions of the game where Joe has to leap from the background into the foreground, to avoid being damaged by the environment or to get behind gates.

The enemies are tough and some of them are packing some good hardware such as ninja stars, nunchuks, rifles, flame throwers, and some even fight empty handed. Joe is armed with a certain amount of shurikens and close up strikes. When he receives a power up, the shurikens become much stronger and he can now use his sword at close range. He can perform a double jump that results in a flip to cover more ground, and from here he can launch a batch of shurikens in different directions. However, his most powerful weapon is the ninja magic, which has up to four abilities; he can use it to form a shield, create pillars of fire, increase his jumping ability, and explode into pieces reforming himself and replenishing his health bar.

The difficulty in the game is mainly found in the stage set ups. This is one hard platformer with several instant death jumps. Timing and memory are very important here, and the enemies along with the boss battles don't really make life that much easier. And speaking of boss battles, I'm not exactly sure anymore, but I believeThe Revenge of Shinobi is the first of its type where the damsel in distress can die in battle. During the fight with the final boss, the girl is locked in a cage with the roof slowly descending. If the player doesn't kill the boss in a certain amount of time, then Joe's fiance dies a horrible death, and the ending is a little different.

One thing about this game the player will notice is the increase in difficulty. The stages become very hard and challenging as you progress, with plenty of obstacles like jumping on rows of moving logs to get from one point to another. There are also plenty of obstacles to make your journey very difficult, like speeding cars in highways that do a good deal of damage, and well placed enemies. After stage five I believe, and stage seven in particular, I remember breathing a sigh of relief after getting pass them. I still find the first part of stage seven difficult, with those well timed jumps that must be perfectly timed at their peak. This is one game that can try a players patience.


Controls:

The controls are very responsive and there's no learning curve at all, since there's only 4 buttons to work with; shoot, jump, ninja magic, and the start button to access the different ninja magic at the pause screen. Double jumps are easy to perform by pressing the jump button twice, but timing and practice is necessary for the harder stages. Level 7 stands out the most in this area with those tough jumps. In this area, Revenge of Shinobi is definitely one of those pick up and play games.

Graphics/Music/Sound:

The graphics may appear to be dated, with some stiff animation, weak, and limited movements. But it was excellent for its time and showed that the Genesis wasn't all bluff and no stuff. The bosses are big; ranging from giant samurais, to over-sized military trucks with a nuke on the back of it. The backgrounds are pretty good, with logs treading water when coming down streams. On other occasions, it can be pretty bland with reused sprites for cars, and just pure blackness like in the train station stage, that features beams just hanging in suspended animation.

The soundtrack is incredible which is made up of synthesized Japanese rock and pop scores. They really do a great job capturing the slow paced mood for those patient stages, and the high tempo for the faster paced ones. This game features some of the most memorable BGM's I can think of. Sound effects aren't too shabby either, with a "ching" sound when shurikens hit other metal objects, and the sound of crackling electricity when the shield is taking damage.

Replay:

Along with the done to death story even by this time, replay is the only other issue. The game is hard enough as it is, increasing the difficulty for a bigger challenge is about all you can get in this area. If you're feeling that brave then go on ahead.

The Revenge of Shinobi may feel dated by today's standards to many, but it doesn't take away that it's still a very solid platformer. The game is challenging, and is further proof that games were harder then. Highly recommended to that retro gamer who might have missed it.


Pros:
-Incredible soundtrack
-Boss battles
-Abilities
-Responsive controls
-Visuals

Cons:
-Can be way too difficult

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May 08, 2012
They finally released this one on Steam, and bought it on your recommendation. I'll play it over the weekend when I wrap up all the things I need to get done for college.
May 08, 2012
I'll like to see your write up on it when you get done. It does have moments where it can be hard. Then again, Shinobi has always been hard for the most part.
May 08, 2012
I'm up for a hard game, since so many modern games don't have a high difficulty curve.
 
June 08, 2011
Great review once more, isn't this on that Sonic set you reviewed for PS3.
June 08, 2011
Nah man, it's not. Part III is on the set, and I can't understand why they left this off for the 2nd time.
 
June 08, 2011
Total nostalgia!! sweet!!
June 08, 2011
I have more where that came from. Just wait.
June 08, 2011
more!! more!!
 
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More The Revenge of Shinobi reviews
review by . August 26, 2009
The Revenge of Shinobi
"       Sorry folks, I don't have access to the script, my Wife earsed it. So here is the blurp used on the Game Knights channel.       The Revenge of Shinobi review! Kwing is back for another video review of another retro classic game, now on the Wii's virtual console! What does Kwing think of Revenge of Shinobi or Shinobi 2? Watch the review to find out. Game Knights entertainment is associated with Gottgame.com. All footage and music used with …
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About this game

Wiki

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 ...
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Games, Video Games, Action, Adventure, Wii, Gaming, Sega Genesis, Sega, Sega Genesis Games, Retro, The Revenge Of Shinobi
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