Sega Mega Drive: Revenge of the Shinobi

Year: 1989
Genre: Platform
Players: 1
Our Rating: 9/10

Mini Review

The Revenge of the Shinobi is one of the truly great 16-Bit Sega retro games. It’s a game that surfaces time and time again in re-releases and retro compilations. It’s with good cause too. The aim of the game is to defeat the super crime organisation “Neo Zeed”, a crime organisation more powerful than the world has ever seen. As a stealth ninja you must use a variety of techniques to survive the game. The basics are that you can kick or throw shurikens (small throwing stars). The shurikens usually run out fairly quickly so you will have to collect more that can be found in various boxes laying around each level.

In additions to these regular attacks you will also have a selection of four special attacks, Ninjitsu:

Ninjutsu of Ikazuchi (the art of thunder)
Ninjutsu of Karyu (the art of fire)
Ninjutsu of Fushin (the art of floating)
Ninjutsu of Mijin (the art of pulverizing)

The special techniques will come in great use during the game. The Ninjitsu of Fushin in particular will be needed on the waterfall level to successfully negotiate long jumps between platforms. As is the style with platform games the Revenge of the Shinobi includes boss fights at the end of each level. The game has a really creative selection including giant samurai, Spidermen look-alikes and junk heap brawlers. This is a game that will keep you coming back for more and more. The quality of the animation, level design and sound effects all add up to a significantly impressive retro game.