Revenge of Shinobi review - Sega Megadrive
Become the hardest Ninja imaginable - swing your katana, throw your shuriken, use your magic, and generally beat seven types of doo-doo out of the fiendish foes determined to stop your progress. What the Mean Machines staff thought
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This has to be one of the most outstanding games on the Megadrive - or any console, come to that. The graphics are exquisite, the music superb, and the gameplay out of this world! I was suitably wowed by this game, and you will be too: there aren't many games around that are a match for this, which really pushes the Megadrive to its limit. I can assure you that you will be ecstatic with this if you buy it - it's what you bought a Megadrive for in the first place!
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Retrospective comments
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Jazza and Matt were spot on with their review of Revenge of Shinobi. As a die hard Shinobi arcade fan I was delighted to get this on Japanese import as soon as I could get my hands on it. Once I got used to the fact Shinobi Joe was now dressed in white, had to use his shurikens more wisely and had gained a energy bar I actually liked this game as much as the coin-op classic. |
Have your say about this review
Rich - 15 Mar 2008, 11:21 GMT
I was annihilated by this game when I got this.
It remained a mainstay in my filthy cart-hole til the end.
Simply one of the most perfect gaming experiences I've had.
The music from this game was the soundtrack to my teens.
I loved Shinobi on the Arcade and the Mastersystem, and being a fan of MS Shinobi, the selectable diffrent magics and the power meter thing were already familiar things. So I was drooling at the prospect of a Megadrive sequel. Saving up for it was a bitch being a skint teen back then I saw the review in CVG or Mean Machines and that was it. Decision made.
And thank god.
Within the first attempts I was immediately addicted to this epic, 16-bit powerhouse journey of shuriken dispatchery, and before long, that black-clad Ninja on the title screen would be the first thing I'd see in the morning. The graphics and sound were so good, that even if you weren't playing it, it'd be on the attract mode just like a screen saver...! Thats how much I loved this game. The very design of it just had so much raw, honest soul and I felt that the Shadow Dancer and Shinobi III games lacked it somehow. Sure theres no dog gimmick, or a random horseriding segment, but I came for the old school Shinobi action.
And this game gave us that in spades.
Still an absolute joy to behold.
Lady Michiru - 15 Jul 2008, 00:50 GMT
Joe Musashi was the coolest Ninja of the 16-bit era.
The infinite shuriken trick made it a little easier though.
Richard - 19 Sep 2008, 23:14 GMT
wasent the Terminator in it as well? (The junk yard level)...great game though - it had nuns jumping out @ya
Tris Wicks - 05 Nov 2008, 02:35 GMT
I hear these days Joe Musashi works in Derby as a recruitment officer for sainsburys. I much prefer him in the awesome REVENGE OF SHINOBI
Richy Girth - 14 Jan 2009, 01:17 GMT
Yes I should imagine that he is excellent on the fish counter, but wouldn't his insistance on giving you dead ninja when you ask for salmon annoy eventually?
firebrand - 26 Jan 2009, 02:44 GMT
While Revenge of Shinobi was a great game, I still think the sequel (Return of the Ninja Master) was superior in terms of graphics, music and gameplay. I never understood why so many people were more inclined towards ROS than RotNM.
Richy Girth - 08 Feb 2009, 16:54 GMT
Its a strange term to find myself using, but I think "Soul" is the reason that ROS/SS will always be my favorite.
Golden Axe 2 may have been surperior to Golden Axe technically, for example, but Golden Axe had the heart and soulllllllll, baby... :p
Dan - 12 Feb 2009, 11:12 GMT
ROS Vs ROtNM? - "It's kind of like Star Trek: The Next Generation ... It is in many ways superior, but will never be as recognized as the original."
The game itself is a total classic, Rich's "filthy cart-hole" wasn't the only one constantly ravaged by the throbbing powerhouse that was ROS. It was my 1st MD game and the only one never to leave my collection, the 2nd I saw that opening sequence I was blown away, and the game surpased the expectations set by it.
Remember mapping out that freaky door level? Who'd ever done owt like that in a platform BEU before? Amaizing levels all with "soul" and style, same with the bosses, music to thrive and thrive to, a million other things that gave the game it's magic......enough said, one of the best games ever.
VersasoVantare - 27 Feb 2009, 20:06 GMT
I personally feel that the Revenge of Shinobi had better level design and more interesting settings than Shinobi III.
Old platformers are a bit like 2D obstacle courses, and the obstacles Revenge put in front of you were a bit more challenging and interesting than those of its sequel.
Shinobi 3's a good game too, though for me the fun there is more in getting to use such a versatile, powerful protagonist. Joe's new moves were dead handy and a joy to use. I'd suspect it's a game that's probably better suited to speed runs than Revenge is.
Stayrsaigh - 22 Mar 2009, 01:57 GMT
I must say that I thought Shinobi III was one of the finest games ever to be made and I did think it was better than ROS, but lets not forget the foundations on which that was layed!
There would be no Shinobi III if it were not for Revenge Of Shinobi! It set the yardstick of excellence on what all Shinobi games henceforth would be held accountable to, and that's no mean feat considering it had to follow the arcade game!!!
Shinobi III was the student that surpassed the master, but the master taught it all it knows!!!
mitzibishi - 22 Jul 2009, 02:49 GMT
got this mag, albiet with the cover hanging off. remember drooling at the shinobi, golden axe gfx on the megadrive, had a spectrum at the time, got a megadrive swiftly after release. best mag at the time along with C+VG
mouphi - 27 Jul 2009, 14:02 GMT
mitzibishi, your life mirrors mine. I too had a speccy, but after playing on a couple of mate's Amigas, I decided it was time to upgrade. However, a classmate had brought in a "glossy" mag*, and after perusing the various screenhots, including E-SWAT and Altered Beast, I knew I had some severe parent-begging on my hands. There was something magical about the screenshots; it basically looked like arcade screenshots! Initially derided by those same Amigoids, I can stil remember their shock when first seeing the glorious MD in action. I remember one saying they'd get Golden Axe on the Amiga, and show me how much better it would be. It was a tragic, jerky mess!
Of course the Megadrive didn't always win - F22 Interceptor wasn't a patch on the Amiga flight-sim offerings - but I definitely felt I made the right choice overall.
*Can't remember the name, but it came out around the same time as MM#1 (maybe slightly before?). Maybe it was a C&VG console-only special edition?
Greg - 06 Oct 2009, 01:47 GMT
I disagree with the person who said Shinobi 3 was better, but maybe I'm biased.....
This was the first Mega Drive game I set eyes on. I still remember the feeling I got when the opening sequence began to play and to this day, as a 32 year old man, I still get a faint trace of that excitment when I play this game.
But it's not just the nostelgia that draws me in, ROS is excellent and has aged remarkably well graphically and musically. It's challenge level, replayability and depth are all first class. It's games like this that make me want to play MD games over and over again, comapred to the latest generation of consoles that will turn out one excellent game amaongst fifteen rubbish ones.
DJ Flatliner - 10 Jun 2011, 14:55 GMT
Caned my measly student to buy a megadrive back in the day - loved this game, the music alone was outstanding never mind the sublime and subtle gameplay. The maze level still brings me out in cold sweats.
Shinobi III was a different beast so you cant really compare.
The only other platformer that I can think of that blew me away like ROS was Strider...what a game!
