The Revenge of Shinobi

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 a ton of 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 believe The Revenge of Shinobi is the first of its type where the damsel in distress can die in battle and I'll leave it at that.

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.

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 oversized 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.

Overall:

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.

Overall Rating: 10/10

Pros: Incredible soundtrack, boss battles, abilities, responsive controls, visuals

Cons: Can be way too difficult