Genesis REVIEWS: The Revenge of Shinobi

Before reviewing this game, the only other Shinobi game I played was Shadow Dancer, a game released after The Revenge of Shinobi and criticized for being inferior to it.

Now, I join those who criticize Shadow Dancer, because The Revenge of Shinobi is a good game that should have had a better sequel.

48: The Revenge of Shinobi:-

Year: 1989.
Genre: Action.
Publisher: Sega.
Developer: Sega.  

"It seemed as if the world had returned to peace"

In the old days of Action games, there was little plot needed to introduce the levels you had to go through. In The Revenge of Shinobi's case, it's a rudimentary story about an evil organization taking over and giving justification to the "revenge" in the game's title.

Through that basic premise, which also includes a damsel in distress just to check all the boxes, Joe Musashi must go through 8 stages to finish the game. Each stage is divided into two sections and a boss fight, and players are encouraged to finish the game in one setting because there are no saves or passwords.

You actually fight THE Godzilla

This actually isn't a big deal in Revenge of Shinobi, because the gameplay is good, and there are some ways to customize the difficulty of the game.

Other than the three difficulty levels, which change both enemy placement and player health, there is also an option for infinite Shurikens. As Shinobi's main mode of attack, the infinite Shuriken option should make the game more beatable for beginner players.

Still, Revenge of Shinobi would have benefited from more 16-bit era advancements, such as passwords and a little more story to the game.


"The world was once again swallowed by darkness"

Basically, what makes the limitations of an Action game, from story to lack of content, palatable is its Action gameplay. While Revenge of Shinobi is certainly not brilliant in that regard, it is good enough to be an enjoyment in everything other than its boss fights.

In Shinobi, your main mode of attack is your Shurikens, which you can throw from a distance to hit your enemies. Once close enough, you can use your melee attack. To counter that, most enemies can shoot at you or simply guard against your attacks. Some goons will try to jump around to avoid your projectiles, while others will simply stand still absorbing your punishment, and other goons lob grenades in your general direction.

Apparently, that massive Jersey gridlock wasn't Chris Christie's fault after all

Where it gets exciting is in how you must think to defeat your enemies instead of simply mashing the attack button. In standard conditions, your ammo is limited, so you must think before you throw. This means waiting for an enemy's guard to drop, or simply trying to jump in for the melee kill.

Except that there are many types of enemies and varied stages. This makes each level play slightly different, with some requiring you to jump into the background, for instance, while others have you deal with enemies while dodging incoming obstacles.

Along with your standard Shuriken attack, you can double jump and throw eight shurikens in a semi-circle arc. This is good in dealing with multiple enemies at once. If stuck, you can use one of four Ninjatsu spells that can help you navigate the level or simply clear the screen of all enemies.

A nun, a ninja, and an Asian walked into a bar...

Once it comes to boss battles, you might want to use those spells because, with the exception of two or three battles, these are mostly a chore. Sometimes, the pattern is just too easy to notice, and from there it is a simple battle against a sponge. In others, avoiding attacks is exceedingly difficult in most circumstances, and it begins to boil down to luck and/or spells.

Generally, a level is fun until the boss at the end.


"Those who possess the power of stealth"

Revenge of Shinobi set the standard for Action games in the 16-bit era. If a game could not learn from it, and have as detailed sprites and good background graphics, that game would probably be forgotten in the Action scene, where those details mattered.

Starting from the main character himself. Joe looks crisp enough, but as with all the sprites in the game, these are mostly low-resolution sprites, which look good enough. However, when they animate, the flaws due to that low resolution start becoming less noticeable. For instance, when crouch walking, Joe's legs both move instead of the mirror image trick used in some games to conserve space.

Similarly, enemy sprites are varied, well-designed, and they animate well.

You are out of Shurikens, so here is where all that track and field training becomes useful

Of course, this is all noticeable due to the pretty good and varied background work in each stage. The game starts strong with its first level, with that crescent moon in the background, and then starts fading in the latter levels. Yet, it goes back to end strong, in a last level with one of the best ocean waves and movement I have seen so far on the Genesis.

Lending to the very good graphics is a good soundtrack as well. While I didn't find any of the game's tunes to be particularly memorable, the soundtrack in its entirety is fine. In fact, the reason I couldn't remember much of the tracks is that there are actually a good number of them, and the stages are not long enough for any to properly stick in my mind.


In Conclusion:

The Revenge of Shinobi probably set the standards for the Action genre in its day. In both its gameplay, and its presentation, the game was surely an achievement by Sega.

Even though the game doesn't inspire that reaction in these modern times, it is still solid as an Action game despite being over 25 years old.

  

Final: 7/10

  

Pros:

• Invites mastery.
• Healthy challenge.
• Fun gameplay. 
• Great graphics and soundtrack. 

Cons:

• Very limited story.
• Boring bosses. 

Tips:

1. Conserve your Shurikens, don't waste them on enemies that guard.
2. Do not rush forward; check first to see enemies before they see you.
3. The fourth Ninjatsu skill attacks the bosses, gives you back a spell, and costs you one life. Use it against difficult bosses if you have lives to spare.
4. Look around the stages for more Shurikens and power up.
5. When using a power-up, you can guard against some attacks by moving forward.
6. You are most vulnerable when you jump, so make sure things are clear.

Series:

For those reading one of my Genesis review blogs for the first time, here is the basic concept:

I already reviewed a bunch of SNES games, so, naturally, I am going to review the games of its prime competition. Does the SEGA Genesis stand a chance against the legendary SNES library?

My review series is based on the top 100 list of Retro Sanctuary

Originally, I posted most of my content on a football forum called "Goallegacy," which was the first online community I had ever joined. I found it to be the best place for a football fan (the REAL football, not handegg) to hang out on the internet, but the forum is not as active as it was years ago.

 

Next Game:

The Revenge of Shinobi is certainly better than Shadow Dancer, and this makes me curious about the next Shinobi game. Still, while this was a good game, it was nothing special. In fact, I have yet to play anything special in the Genesis beyond the first Sonic game.

Next game in the list, at #47, might change that. Vectorman is a unique-looking game, using 3D polygons instead of the standard 2D art. This means it might not have aged as well as other 16-bit games.

Stay Tuned.

 

For Previous Genesis Game Reviews:

The List

This blog was originally posted in Destructoid Community Blogs on June 29th, 2017. The blog was slightly edited to conform to my new review format.