The best ninja game of all time, 'The Revenge Of Shinobi' was a follow up to the arcade game 'Shinobi', which later was released for the Sega Master System and along with 'Golden Axe' and 'Streets Of Rage' was one of the first games I ever played for the Sega Mega Drive in the 1990's ( which I owned, along with the two aforementioned games on a compilation game entitled 'Mega Games 2', which was the second in a set of three ).
'The Revenge Of Shinobi' follows the resurrection of the Zeed crime organisation from the first game and establishing themselves as the more powerful Neo Zeed and who plan to exact revenge against ninja Joe Musashi ( who helped destroy the organisation previously ) by murdering his master and kidnapping his bride Naoko. Angered, Joe decides to travel the world to avenge the death of his master by destroying Zeed and his clan and rescuing Naoko before she is killed too.
Despite the very dated graphics, 'The Revenge Of Shinobi' is the finest game Sega ever devised and remarkably manages to avoid being gory and bloodthirsty. Once your opponent is defeated, they simply vanish in a cloud of flames. Musashi's weapon of choice is shuriken swords, though in certain situations he is able to use his special ninjitsu moves to ward off enemies. Ninjutsu of Ikazuchi grants him the power of invincibility, Ninjutsu of Karyu drowns the assailant in flames, Ninjutsu of Fushin gives Joe a higher jumping ability whilst Ninjutsu of Mijin sees Musashi causing himself to combust from inside in order to destroy an enemy. NOTE: This move must only be used in desperate circumstances as it removes a life from the player.
Throughout the eight stages, at the end you must defeat a boss character, which as each level progresses, becomes more and more difficult. Some of the bosses were blatant lifts from other games and movies. One level had a creature not dissimilar in style to 'Godzilla', in another there was an obvious 'Spiderman' boss who slows you down by drowning you in webs and in another there was a cross combination of both 'The Terminator' and 'The Incredible Hulk'. How the game managed to avoid lawsuits for plagiarism is indeed a mystery.
It took four years for a sequel to arrive ( not including a version made for the Sega Game Gear in 1991 ) entitled 'Shinobi III - The Return Of The Ninja Master' ( which was entitled 'The Super Shinobi II' in Japan ). Though it featured better graphics, the gameplay itself was poor. In 1995, we were given 'Shinobi Legions' for the Sega Saturn, which was more successful but not successful enough. A few other versions have came and went over the years but none of them have, and never will, come anywhere near close to eclipsing this version in terms of quality.
'The Revenge Of Shinobi' follows the resurrection of the Zeed crime organisation from the first game and establishing themselves as the more powerful Neo Zeed and who plan to exact revenge against ninja Joe Musashi ( who helped destroy the organisation previously ) by murdering his master and kidnapping his bride Naoko. Angered, Joe decides to travel the world to avenge the death of his master by destroying Zeed and his clan and rescuing Naoko before she is killed too.
Despite the very dated graphics, 'The Revenge Of Shinobi' is the finest game Sega ever devised and remarkably manages to avoid being gory and bloodthirsty. Once your opponent is defeated, they simply vanish in a cloud of flames. Musashi's weapon of choice is shuriken swords, though in certain situations he is able to use his special ninjitsu moves to ward off enemies. Ninjutsu of Ikazuchi grants him the power of invincibility, Ninjutsu of Karyu drowns the assailant in flames, Ninjutsu of Fushin gives Joe a higher jumping ability whilst Ninjutsu of Mijin sees Musashi causing himself to combust from inside in order to destroy an enemy. NOTE: This move must only be used in desperate circumstances as it removes a life from the player.
Throughout the eight stages, at the end you must defeat a boss character, which as each level progresses, becomes more and more difficult. Some of the bosses were blatant lifts from other games and movies. One level had a creature not dissimilar in style to 'Godzilla', in another there was an obvious 'Spiderman' boss who slows you down by drowning you in webs and in another there was a cross combination of both 'The Terminator' and 'The Incredible Hulk'. How the game managed to avoid lawsuits for plagiarism is indeed a mystery.
It took four years for a sequel to arrive ( not including a version made for the Sega Game Gear in 1991 ) entitled 'Shinobi III - The Return Of The Ninja Master' ( which was entitled 'The Super Shinobi II' in Japan ). Though it featured better graphics, the gameplay itself was poor. In 1995, we were given 'Shinobi Legions' for the Sega Saturn, which was more successful but not successful enough. A few other versions have came and went over the years but none of them have, and never will, come anywhere near close to eclipsing this version in terms of quality.