Developer: SEGA of Japan
Publisher: SEGA of America
Released: 1989
Completed: February 23, 2020
I have no shame in admitting that while I love video games, I am far from an expert at them. I've always been a casual player, in the sense that I usually won't crank the difficulty up or spend hours, days, even weeks or months to "git gud." I don't mind a challenging game, as long as the challenge is fair.
The Revenge of Shinobi nails that delicate balance between challenging and "OK, this is just stupid." It requires precise platforming, some memorization, and ninja-like reflexes to best its bosses, but it's all very doable and made easier by the game's generous nature. Sure, for an extra challenge you can limit the amount of shurikens (which are actually kunai, but whatever) our hero Joe Musashi can hold, but if you just want to go through the game spraying stars everywhere, just go to the options menu. Yes, you'll still die a lot, but there are at least two places in the game where you can farm extra lives to your heart's content. There are even multiple endings to incentivize skillful play, but they don't hinge upon what options you pick like so many games of the era do.
The Revenge of Shinobi is, obviously, a sequel to SEGA's arcade smash Shinobi, built exclusively for the Genesis. The 16-bit hardware does wonders for the presentation, featuring excellent layered backgrounds, large sprites, though the animation is a little simplistic, and a soundtrack by none other than Yuzo Koshiro (of Streets of Rage fame). In fact, you may notice some of the sound effects in Revenge of Shinobi were reused in Streets of Rage.
As far as sequels go, Revenge is a great blueprint. Gone are the hostages that need rescuing so the game can focus more on its death-defying platforming and ninja combat. Joe still has access to several forms of ninja magic that grant him defensive or offensive buffs, and in one case sacrifices a life to severely damage all enemies. Sadly, the arcade original's bonus stages where you'd chuck shuriken at hordes of enemies in first person did not make the transition, but the game makes up for it with its excellent level design.
Also unlike the arcade ancestor, Joe has a health bar this time around. This goes a long way to keeping the game fair, and indeed plays into the strategy of using ninja magic at times. If you're about to bite it anyway, why not use that spell that sacrifices your life and take some enemy ninjas with you? Instant death is still abundant in the form of pits, which is where the memorization comes in, but the beauty of this game is that it's so well made, you can theoretically beat it with pure skill instead of trial and error deaths. It's not easy, mind you, but it's possible.
As a result, deaths rarely feel unfair. There are a few blind jumps, but you're given enough control over your character that you can steer him towards a safe landing. The critical double-jump move can be a little finicky at times, which will likely be the biggest source of frustration for most players, but there's nothing along the lines of Ninja Gaiden's infamously cheap enemy placement.
For collectors, it's worth noting there are multiple revisions of the cartridge with some interesting differences. Unfortunately, it's nigh impossible to tell which revision you've got until you reach that stage in the game. You see, back in the 80s, nobody paid much attention to things like intellectual property rights. Consequently, Spider-Man, Batman, Godzilla, Rambo, and The Terminator all make appearances in the earliest revision of the game. Their graphics were later changed to be less infringing, but the original versions are still out in the wild. My copy appears to be 1.01, where Batman was changed to a winged devil and Rambo's hair was removed to look less like Sly Stallone, but Spidey and Godzilla remain intact.
However you play it, The Revenge of Shinobi is a damn fine ninja game that does what any good sequel should do. It improves upon the predecessor (though I admit I miss the bonus stages), and doesn't tarnish the original's reputation. It's challenging, but also forgiving if you have no qualms about spending a little time to rack up extra lives, and it's so good it may actually be worth your time to "git gud."
The Revenge of Shinobi was completed on a real Genesis with the infinite shuriken cheat.