Maker - Sega   Catalogue No. - G-4085

Type - Platform Action

Known to many in the west as Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, The Super Shinobi II is the actual real title to this game since Shadow Dancer was never really a part of the Shinobi series unlike the western divisions of Sega thought hence calling this title the 3rd in the series.  Anyway, how does The Super Shinobi II stand up to the classic, The Super Shinobi (The Revenge of Shinobi)?  Well, very well indeed and may I even say better?  While many will argue that the original Super Shinobi is the best I disagree and here is why.

1. The sheer look of this game is far more polished than the original game in every area.  That's not to say that the original was by any means an ugly game but it's getting on and does show in one or two areas these days while this sequel still looks fresh thanks to it's better use of colour and a few graphical effects.  Presentation on both games is pretty good but just maybe, The Super Shinobi II looks a little more professional.

2. The great Yuzo Koshiro produced the audio in the original Super Shinobi and what a fantastic job he did, especially with that China Town track.  However, due to the age of the game the music seems to be played at a very low sample rate giving it a muffled tone.  There are also one or two dud tunes in there.  The Super Shinobi II also has a few dud tunes but overall the experience is very good and far more closer to what you'd expect ninja music to sound like and not to mention cleaner sounding.  Morihiko Akiyama, Hirofumi Murasaki, and Masayuki Nagao all did a great job in producing the music in this title.  Personal favorites include Idaten and Whirlwind.

3. As we all know playability is what makes or breaks a game NOT the graphics or sound, although they certainly do play a role in the over all enjoyable experience.  The Super Shinobi played very well and some may say perfect.  The problem was though that you only had a few attacks such as the shuriken, katana and your fists & feet.  In Shinobi II you have all of those plus extras such as the dashing katana thrust which looks really cool and the drop down kick attack that is quite similar to the attack those women did on the China Town stage in the original Super Shinobi.  It's also possible to hang from the scenery in the sequel.  These little extras plus the easier to pull off double jump just edge The Super Shinobi II over the original.

Get the original Super Shinobi by all means and once you've completed that get the follow up.  A great game that should be part of every Mega Drive fans collection.