The Sega Mega Drive / Genesis classic Revenge of Shinobi is getting a fan-made "remake" on the 32-bit Sega Saturn.
Coded by Pigsy (the same person who is bringing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to the Mega Drive) using Johannes Fetz's JoEngine, this update will boast more background layers, improved colours, better animation, a CD-quality soundtrack and "more open" level design.
Originally released in Japan as The Super Shinobi in 1989, the game is a sequel to the 1987 arcade release Shinobi. A dazzling showcase of the Mega Drive's power, it also boasts an incredible soundtrack from Yuzo Koshiro.
The game would be followed by the arcade title Shadow Dancer (the Mega Drive version of which is a totally unique game) and Shinobi III (known in Japan as The Super Shinobi II).
The Saturn got its own entry in the Shinobi series, called Shin Shinobi Den / Shinobi X / Shinobi Legions. However, it was critically panned at the time of release, and Sega had so little faith in it that it passed on publishing it in North America, leaving Vic Tokai to handle its distribution instead.
Sega is in the process of rebooting the series alongside several other classic titles.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 10
Never been a fan of Shinobi, the difficulty spikes hard and early.
But this is still excellent news, it wil hopefully showcase the abilities of the Saturn
I love the Shinobi series (including X/Legions). Interested to hear how they've done the soundtrack, as Yuzo Koshiro's original is an all time classic.
wow - easily one of my all time favorite games! Great news - just don't mess with the soundtrack though!
As long as the double jump actually works properly this time I’m all in! Also hope to see one or two original levels since that would be fun
Hoping for a toggle option so we can still enjoy these delicious chiptunes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ekCndckJfU
I feel redbook audio is over-rated. So is the SNES' fancy music chip. I say this as a long-time SNES enthusiast and owner.
@Sketcz Noooooo, Redbook is UNDERATED!!!
Seriously, I love chip-tunes, but I love Redbook more; it's a snapshot of a certain golden era of 80s and 90s Synthesizers, Samplers, Drum Machines and MIDI modules.
It's probably why I love the Mega Drive sound chip so much, because it sounds so much like a DX-7
Data Discs recently released a new version of the Revenge of Shinobi soundtrack taken from Yuzo Koshiro's original PC-88 files (recorded by Yuzo Koshiro himself). Be cool if they could use that audio in this release. There was also an unused bonus track that they could maybe work in.
@Sketcz Them's fightin' words!
I love how the Redbook soundtracks really bring that late '80s and early '90s sound, in a way that many cartridge-based games couldn't.
And the SNES's music chip can produce great results in the right hands... it just doesn't sound good when the publisher cheaps out and makes the sound team pack an entire soundtrack into 100 KB of ROM!
But I will concede that some Redbook soundtracks are really cheesy-sounding (Golden Axe on Turbografx), or lean more into an atmospheric style instead of catchy, hummable tunes.
@AJB83 Always great to hear when game soundtracks (most often on Genesis/Mega Drive) use a recognizable synth sound that can be heard in '80s pop music... or vice versa!
Also, I figure one's appreciation of early '90s Redbook soundtracks hinges a fair bit on an appreciation of mainstream music from around that time.
@smoreon I quite like it when you can select, and I'll swap between soundtracks. I recall Castlevania Chronicles on PS1 had the original music and a remixed selection you could swap between. I used both, even though my tastes lean towards chip-generated sounds. (I hope I'm remembering that right, it's been years since I owned Chronicles.)
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