The Revenge of Shinobi/Gameplay

You play as a Joe Musashi, a ninja master. The evil Neo Zeed organization has destroyed your master's dojo and stolen your girlfriend. Now it's up to you to get her back and save the world from domination at the hands of a ruthless ninja clan.

The game is divided into four difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Hardest. As difficulty increases, more enemies appear per stage, Musashi's life bar grows shorter and the amount of starting lives decreases from 10 to 1. From the options menu, you can also choose the amount of starting shurikens from 0 to 90.

Controls
A key move in The Revenge of Shinobi is the somersault, which maximizes Musashi's jumping height and enables him to throw eight shuriken at once in mid-air. Additionally, some stages consist of multiple layers, such as the first scene of the ../The Military Base/ and the freeway in ../Area Code 818/. Switching between layer (outdoor/indoor, or on-the-highway/next-to-it) is also done with the somersault move.

Ninjutsu techniques
Besides his regular assortment of moves and attacks, Musashi has the ability to perform four special ninjutsu techniques. Only one can be used in each level, unless an additional bonus is picked up or the ninjutsu of Mijin was used to reset your life total.
 * 1) Ninjutsu of Ikazuchi (the art of thunder): Envelopes Musashi with a shield of lightning energy that sustains damage for four consecutive hits.
 * 2) Ninjutsu of Karyu (the art of fire): Summons four dragon-shaped columns of flame that move across the screen and damage all enemies in their path.
 * 3) Ninjutsu of Fushin (the art of floating): Improves Musashi's agility by heightening his jumping capability.
 * 4) Ninjutsu of Mijin (the art of pulverizing): The most powerful ninjutsu technique in the game. Musashi explodes, damaging all enemies on screen at the cost of one life. If the player does not have a life to spare then Mijin will result in Musashi's death, and a subsequent game over if the player is out of continues.

Bonus crates
A variety of bonus crates can be found in each level, some hidden in the scenery. These include simple power-ups such as extra shuriken or health packs, as well as special items to gain lives or extra ninjutsu turns. Besides power-ups, some crates may contain time bombs: explosives that detonate when their fuse runs out or if Musashi comes too close (though he can walk out of the blast radius if you're quick enough).