The Revenge of Shinobi
The Revenge of Shinobi, published in Japan as The Super Shinobi (ザ・スーパー・忍?) is a video game developed and published by Sega in 1989. It was the first Shinobi game developed for the Sega Mega Drive, and was later released on the coin-operated version of that console, the Mega-Tech.
The game is a sequel to Shinobi, a 1987 arcade game, and features a soundtrack by video game music composer Yuzo Koshiro. The game was included in the compilations: Mega Games 2, Mega Drive 6 Pak, Sega Classics Arcade Collection (for Mega-CD), and Sega Smash Pack (for the PC and Dreamcast). It was re-released for the Wii Virtual Console in 2009.
Story
Taking place three years after the first game, the criminal organization Zeed from the original game has since reformed and have renamed themselves "Neo Zeed." Neo Zeed decide to have their revenge on the Oboro Ninja clan and Joe Musashi by killing his master and kidnapping Joe's bride, Naoko. Joe, having reached the clan too late, manages to learn about Neo Zeed's plot by his dying master. Joe decides to travel the world to gain his revenge on Neo Zeed as well as try to save his bride before it's too late.
Gameplay
The game is a traditional side-scrolling platform game. The player controls Joe Musashi and must complete eight districts before the final confrontation with the head of Neo Zeed. Each district consists of three scenes, the last of which is a battle against a unique boss-character.
The D-pad moves Musashi around while the A, B and C buttons are used to perform a ninjitsu technique, attack and jump respectively. A key move in The Revenge of Shinobi is the somersault, which maximizes Musashi's jumping height and enables him to throw eight shuriken at once in mid-air. Additionally, some stages consist of multiple layers, such as the first scene of the Military Base and the freeway in Area Code 818. Switching between layer (outdoor/indoor, or on-the-highway/next-to-it) is also done with the somersault move.
Ninjutsu techniques
Although his standard ability of moves and attacks, Musashi has the ability to do four special ninjutsu techniques. Only one can be made in each level, unless a Ninjitsu item was picked up, or the ninjutsu of Mijin was used to reset your life total. The four techniques employed by Joe are as follows:
- Ninjutsu of Ikazuchi (the art of thunder): surround Musashi with a protecion shield of lightning energy that sustains damage for four consecutive hits.
- Ninjutsu of Karyu (the art of fire): produce four dragon-shaped columns of flames that move across the place and damage all enemies in their way.
- Ninjutsu of Fushin (the art of floating): Improves Musashi's alacrity by heightening his jumping capability.
- Ninjutsu of Mijin (the art of pulverizing): The most powerful Ninjutsu technique in the game. Musashi explodes, damaging all enemies on screen at the cost of one life. Minjin will, like Karyu, destroy all weaker enemies on screen, but with this Ninjitsu, Musashi's power against boss enemies is much greater.
Bonuses
A variety of bonus crates can be found in each level, some hidden in the scenery. These include simple power-ups such as extra shuriken or health packs, as well as special items to gain lives or extra ninpo attacks. Besides power-ups, some crates may contain time bombs: explosives that detonate when their fuse runs out or if Musashi comes too close (though he can walk out of the blast radius if the player is quick enough).
The game is divided into four difficulties. As difficulty increases, more enemies appear per stage; on Hardest, Musashi takes twice as much damage and the amount of starting lives decreases from 10 to 1. From the options menu, the player can also choose the amount of starting shuriken from 0 to 90 (though a technique does exist that allows infinite shuriken).
Stages
- Ibaraki Province, Japan
- This bamboo forest in the Ibaraki Prefecture is where the game begins. Through these ancient ruins Musashi must make his way to The House of Confusion. At the end of this district, he is confronted by the mighty samurai Blue Lobster.
- Tokyo
- Musashi begins this stage near a rocky canyon. Winged ninja swoop down from the sky to attack Joe. Once he makes it past the waterfalls, the district moves on to the darkened roof tops of Tokyo, and eventually into a blinding disco where Shinobi must battle with the Shadow Dancer.
- The Military Base U.S.
- This military complex of Neo Zeed is heavily guarded by armed soldiers. Musashi will encounter light infantry as well as flame throwers and attack dogs. The second scene takes Musashi on board an air carrier. If he touches one of the air locks, he dies. The aircraft is controlled by a powerful supercomputer that houses a human brain.
- Detroit
- Detroit is one big junkyard, heaps upon heaps of cars, running through conveyor belts and into a melting furnace. A tough Terminator-like android guards this wreckage.
- Area code 818
- Area code 818 takes Musashi past skyscrapers and freeways. The final battle is fought on top of an armoured vehicle carrying a gigantic ballistic missile.
- Chinatown
- After a showdown with the kung-fu gangs of Chinatown, Musashi hops on board a speeding train. Eventually he finds himself in the clutches of characters resembling Spider-Man and Batman. Devilman for the 1.01 version of the game instead of Batman. In the PAL Mega Drive manual, the boss is described as a single, morphable character known as the Web-Bat.
- New York
- Ninja and machine gunners guard the breakwater of New York City's dockside. Leaping from boat to boat, Joe infiltrates Neo Zeed's container ship and comes face to face with a Godzilla-like T-Rex, known as the Ancient Dinosaur (referred to as a brontosaurus in the PAL Mega Drive manual).
- Neo Zeed Marine Stronghold
- Here is where Musashi faces his final enemy, the Boss, who is the leader of Neo Zeed. The beautiful Naoko is trapped somewhere beneath the cellar maze of this stronghold, and Joe must terminate the Boss quickly before the cell trap kills Naoko. There are two endings to the game, depending on whether Joe defeats the Boss in time to save Naoko.
Versions
Because of copyright issues regarding certain enemy 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): Enemy characters resembling Rambo, The Terminator, Spider-Man, Batman, and Godzilla are present. Both Spider-Man and Batman are actually fake representations of the characters conducted by a shapeshifter who alters his appearance after sustaining a certain amount of damage. Additionally, Joe Musashi's face on the title sequence resembled that of actor Sonny Chiba dressed as his character Hattori Hanzō from the Japanese TV series Kage no Gundan (Shadow Warriors).
- Software revision 1.01 (1989): Batman is replaced by a winged Devilman-like creature. Godzilla and Spider-Man remain unmodified, the latter now morphs into the Devil when defeated. The "Gunner" enemy soldiers with flamethrowers are also changed to bald men with headbands, altering their original likeness to Rambo (although Sega had the license to the character for their Rambo III console games, they did not use it for this game).
- Software revision 1.02 (1990): The fake Spider-Man is now redesigned into the licensed character from Marvel Comics, acknowledged by a copyright notice (Sega already had the license to the character for their game The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin). Since he is now the real Spider-Man, he doesn't morph into the Devil and actually leaves the battle when enough damage is inflicted, with the winged Devil entering to replace him. Godzilla still remain intact.
- Software revision 1.03 (1990): Godzilla is replaced by a skeletal dinosaur. Everything else remains intact from the previous revision, including the licensed use of Spider-Man. This version was used in the Genesis 6-Pak cartridge.
- Software revision 1.04 (2009): Since the licensed use of the boss Spider-Man was for a limited period of time, the game was subsequently prevented from being re-released years later. The 2009 release for the Virtual Console features a new specific software revision (1.04) that omits the Marvel copyright notice and replaces Spider-Man with a pink palette swap of the character that still behaves the same as the licensed Spider-Man.[3] Joe Musashi's design in the title screen was also altered to remove his likeness to Sonny Chiba.
Sega Smash Pack
A version of the game in the Sega compilation Sega Smash Pack (for the PC) contained buggy boss battles for The Military Base and New York stages, as well as Neo Zeed Marine Stronghold. The buggy levels self-complete, leading one to believe that the Smash Pack version is actually a development version of the game.
Music Score
Reception
The game received 5 out of 5 stars in Dragon; the final boss battle was criticised, however, for being too difficult.[4]
Legacy
A suite of music from the game was performed live by an orchestra at the Fourth Symphonic Game Music Concert in 2006 at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, Germany. The arrangement was done by original composer Yuzo Koshiro himself. Music from The Revenge of Shinobi was also performed at two concerts of PLAY! A Video Game Symphony in Stockholm, Sweden in 2007. It was also played during the encore as the most voted song when PLAY! A Video Game Symphony was performing in Singapore (June 2007).
References
External links
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| Arcade series |
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| The Super Shinobi series |
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| The G.G. Shinobi series |
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| PS2 series |
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| Other titles |
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| Characters |
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