Format: Cartridge
Genre: Action platformer
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega

The game's opening moonlit temples and distressing, inky-blue city alleys set the tone early: dark, ambient, and shiver-inducing. Superbly drawn junk yards, disco halls, and even the interior of an airplane, with its doors flying open and shut, provide the backdrop for large, well-animated sprites, starting with the protagonist himself, whose frames strongly convey ninja swagger. If there is a knock it's that, being a very early Mega Drive release, this particular Shinobi chapter doesn't push the hardware like later entries.

Still undoubtedly just learning the ropes of the Genesis' YM2612 sound chip, Yuzo Koshiro still manages to deliver what has gone on to be a totally iconic soundtrack. What makes it so great is that it outrageously up-ends tropes-- a dance song for a factory stage?-- while somehow nailing each level's atmosphere. The game's sword, explosion, and shuriken noises are all spot-on as well, with some digital sample use sprinkled in for good measure.

This game is mostly a left-to-right affair, but there are some stages with enough verticality to require frequent use of the too-strict double jump frame window. Running out of shurikens is a constant risk, because absent the airborne move set from later games-- like the downward kick-- only shuriken-eating spin throws can hit baddies below the player. The stages are fun to play and satisfying to master, although they are a smidgen too memorization-oriented due to enemies which frequently shoot the player while still off-screen.

Coming two months after the Genesis' North American launch, The Revenge of Shinobi was a phenomenal take on the arcade formula, with superb and highly moody visuals, and with an otherworldy soundtrack. It still holds up as a rewarding game though its ultra hard difficulty, combined with the lacking refinements which spoiled fans of later entries in the series, make it less palatable today.