Shinobi: Art of Vengeance Brings Sega’s Ninja Legacy Back

In 1987, Sega looked to tap into the widespread appeal of ninjas with an arcade game named Shinobi. The game became a major success as Sega worked to regain momentum in the arcade sector. The company then used its popularity to advance in the console market, porting it to the Sega Master System, PC and even Sega’s future rival platform, the Nintendo Entertainment System. This multiplatform success established protagonist Joe Musashi as one of Sega’s earliest heroes, leading to numerous sequels in arcades and on the Genesis, Game Gear, Saturn, PlayStation 2 and 3DS.

Yet after Shinobi 3D launched for 3DS in 2011, the series abruptly stopped. A franchise once regarded as one of Sega’s flagships remained inactive for more than a decade, while memories of Joe Musashi’s missions became firmly nostalgic. Sega did issue an enhanced Switch edition of the original game in 2020 through its retro Sega Ages line, but it increasingly seemed that 2011 had been fans’ last chance to step into the tabi of the Oboro Clan.

The Sega Ages version of Shinobi (2020)

During that period, other series also disappeared in succession. Established Sega staples such as Super Monkey Ball and Virtua Fighter joined dormant franchises including Golden Axe, Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi, as Sega increasingly concentrated on properties such as Sonic the Hedgehog and, in the years ahead, Yakuza (Like a Dragon).

"When people hear 'Sega' nowadays, they usually have the impression of Sonic or Like a Dragon, which we are very grateful for," director of Sega's content production department Kagasei Shimomura says. "These are IPs that we are very proud of, of course, but we do think that if you had asked people maybe 20 years ago or 30 years ago, there would have been fans thinking of many more IPs than Sonic or Like a Dragon. Those fans' excitement is very important."

Power Surge

Revenge of Shinobi (1989)

As part of a wider Sega team, Shimomura reviewed the company’s catalogue and recognised the enormous range of IP Sega had accumulated across more than 60 years. The group concluded that reviving a selection of inactive franchises would benefit the company while also appealing to a wider group of fans.

The previously mentioned Sega Ages collection had kept several classic series in circulation through enhanced remasters, but Shimomura, who helped lead Sega Ages, felt that approach did not go far enough. "We didn't just want to go and make remasters or remakes of all the titles that are already around," he says. "We want people to enjoy and be satisfied by what we put out there, and find ways to create new Sega fans."

When Sega decided to rebuild these apparently lost franchises, Shinobi quickly became a leading choice for both the team and its fanbase. Shimomura is personally fond of the series, and he also saw a connection between Sega’s new initiative and Sega Ages: Shinobi was the first game to enter development for the Nintendo Switch Sega Ages programme. Although it was not the collection’s first release, Shimomura liked the fitting nature of Shinobi becoming the first franchise revived through this effort to bring back legacy IPs.

Sega disclosed its intention to make new games in formerly dormant franchises during The Game Awards 2023. Its teaser announced new projects based on Jet Set Radio, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Crazy Taxi and Shinobi. Separately, although it was not formally part of that initiative, Sega released the first entirely new Super Monkey Ball instalment in more than a decade last year, while a new Virtua Fighter game is currently being developed.

Shimomura considered how these classic series should be approached, giving particular focus to Shinobi. In his view, the original Shinobi can be seen as the foundation for Sega’s entire line of action games, making it an appropriate starting point for reviving these IPs.

Retro Reconnection

Streets of Rage 4 (2020)

After deciding that Shinobi was the right game to launch this strategy, Shimomura and the wider Sega team sought a developer able to honour the past while successfully moving the series into the contemporary games market. Their search led them to a small independent studio that had recently achieved exactly that with two other Sega franchises that had been dormant for years.

Lizardcube, a Paris-based studio recognised for its beautiful 2D visuals and precise gameplay, released Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap in 2017 and Streets of Rage 4 in 2020. Both games earned critical praise and scores in the 80s on review aggregation site Metacritic. Although each was a new entry in a Sega-owned franchise, Sega did not directly develop or publish either title. Instead, it licensed its IP to Lizardcube.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap (2017)

"After the success of Streets of Rage 4, Sega came to us, basically asking how we’re doing and if we had any other ideas about reviving," Lizardcube CEO and creative director Ben Fiquet says. "As big Sega fans, my blood started to boil once again."

Fiquet and the Lizardcube team proposed a Shinobi game to Sega, an especially fortunate development given Shimomura’s desire for that franchise to begin the legacy-IP initiative. Lizardcube impressed Sega with a proposal that balanced the old with the new, offering an experience that was both fresh and nostalgic. Achieving that balance is a frequent obstacle for developers producing remakes, remasters or new instalments in classic series.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance (2025)

"Getting the tone right in terms of art, in terms of vibe, in terms of different setup, but the gameplay, sometimes people don’t remember the gameplay exactly; they just remember playing a ninja and being a fast action game for the time," Fiquet says. "So, they want a fast action game, but it’s not the same thing as in the ‘90s on the Genesis. A fast action-platformer game has a lot of competition now. It needs to appeal to modern gamers, which, in my opinion, is fair because nostalgia can only get us so far, and we want the new people to care, and some people are young and they don’t know about the license."

Following Lizardcube’s pitch, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance came into being. "Lizardcube is a studio that has extreme attention to detail and quality," Shimomura says. "When they were working on Streets of Rage 4, this was also something that we could tell. Back then, when Streets of Rage 4 came out, it wasn't that major to have revivals of older IPs on the market at that point, but we realized by the way people responded that working with a studio like Lizardcube that really has love and passion for Sega IPs is definitely something that users also appreciated."

Or-Oboros

Both companies agreed that a 2D action game offered the most suitable and effective route for Shinobi’s return. Even so, the format required further refinement. Drawing chiefly from Shinobi 1, 2 and 3, Lizardcube began testing ways to make the experience more compelling for players.

"We started the game as a direct follow-up of the gameplay for the original games, but we soon realized, even at the prototype phase, that it was kind of missing something," Fiquet says. "We soon realized that if you wanted to have the player care about what they will be doing the most, which is fighting, the fighting will need to be more interesting. That’s why you have a lot of moves now, and it’s a very interesting mix because it’s more like a beat-‘em-up in a platforming environment. You have a combo system, you have different moves at your disposal, powers, ultras, and different stuff, so that when the player is doing what they’re doing the most, they are entertained."

Shimomura valued Lizardcube’s characteristically bold visual style and its willingness to treat older IP respectfully without being reluctant to update them where appropriate. "The action-platformer genre is really part of the Shinobi DNA; we call it the lore," he says. "We didn't want to make a remake or remaster, but we wanted to make sure that we stay true to the lore and also innovate alongside. We identify the lore to be the DNA of an IP, which is not just a story or a certain setting, but really the essence of the IP itself, which we do believe is, in part, the action-platformer genre."

For this project, Sega wanted to participate more directly as a development and publishing partner, rather than merely licensing the Shinobi IP as it had for Wonder Boy and Streets of Rage. "As you can imagine, it’s like a dream come true; if you’re a Sega fan and you were a kid in the ‘90s, working with Sega, it’s kind of meeting your heroes in a way," Fiquet says. "Sega has a better knowledge of games in general, and their own games as well. The back and forth has been more constant from the beginning because our producer, whom I really like, came from game development; they are not just marketing or a producer just trying to sell you something because this is an old IP. They really know what they’re talking about."

The producer Fiquet is referring to is Toru Ohara, who began as a Sega game designer more than 30 years ago and is Sega’s chief producer for Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. As Fiquet suggested, Sega’s involvement extends beyond conventional publishing responsibilities. The visual style of Lizardcube’s first pitch was initially, in Fiquet’s words, "a little soft." Ohara and his team urged Lizardcube to be more expressive and incorporate additional brushstrokes, producing the eye-catching art style now seen in Shinobi: Art of Vengeance.

"When they shared their ideas with us, we felt that this European art style in combination with a Japanese feel is something very special and unique," Ohara says. "We tried to add to their very beautiful art style through our feedback [to create] a little bit more of a Japanese feel to make it very distinctive."

Ohara’s team advised Lizardcube on details including brushstroke styles, building designs and other elements intended to bring more Japanese character to the visuals of Art of Vengeance. The outcome is colourful and beautiful, even within the densely populated 2D action-platforming genre. As Fiquet puts it, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance has a look more commonly associated with animation and comics than games. Its striking visual identity represents the fullest continuation yet of the direction that 1990s Genesis titles such as Aladdin, Earthworm Jim, Cool Spot and The Lion King set Fiquet on three decades ago.

The collaboration was not limited to feedback and proposals. A team led by Ohara actively worked alongside Lizardcube during development. Its purpose was not only to produce the strongest game possible, but also to make certain every element remained entirely faithful to the Shinobi franchise. Sega’s Ohara, Shimomura and their teams worked closely with Lizardcube to stress authenticity across the characters, world, themes and, naturally, lead character Joe Musashi.

While Sega was protective of the series’ identity, it also supported experimentation and change. "We were very careful not to destroy the atmosphere that is very unique to Shinobi," Ohara says. "We felt that [the 2D action-platformer genre] needed to be evolved and modernized in order to make sure that, nowadays, players can enjoy the game and that the play-feel is correct, and that you have a game that is up to modern standards quality-wise. We were very particular not to keep everything as it was just for the sake of keeping it as it was."

Striking in the Open

Although Shinobi: Art of Vengeance was initially teased at The Game Awards 2023, The Game Awards 2024 also revealed another 2D ninja action-platformer based on a legacy 1990s IP and made by a prominent independent developer. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, from Blasphemous studio The Game Kitchen, is scheduled to arrive later this year.

"I think, in a good way, there's a lot going on in the action game market lately," Ohara says. "We think there are a lot of great games coming out, not only indies, but new creators creating new types of 2D action games, and just so many new ideas."

With Shinobi: Art of Vengeance due later this summer, Ohara is confident that it will distinguish itself from potentially similar games. "I really think there is something very new and distinct to this title, mainly the play-feel and a large variety of choices that you, as the player, can make," he says. "The game starts out as a normal action game, but it does feel much more like a fighting game in the end, where you have all these different combos that you could choose from because you can learn to do more and more and be able to do more and more the further you go."

Sega does not regard the project as a one-off return. If it succeeds, the Shinobi franchise could enjoy a lasting resurgence and once again hold a prominent place among Sega’s IP. "Most important for us is to create games, of course," Shimomura says. "That being said, we do feel strongly about growing IPs and nurturing our IPs. So, the game release comes first, but we have also put out a release before about certain video content, but there are so many things that could happen in the future. Nothing is set in stone, of course, but there could be maybe comics or goods [...] We do think that IPs are supposed to evolve and expand, and we really do feel very strongly about our Shinobi IP and want to take care of it and nurture it. Maybe there might be a Vengeance 2 somewhere along the road. This is obviously nothing that's planned right now, but it really depends on how we can nurture the IP in the future and how the IP is going to grow, but we definitely do want to grow it."

However, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is not the only legacy IP set to return soon. The 2023 teaser also announced franchises including Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Golden Axe and Streets of Rage. "We can't talk in detail about anything, but that being said, we are considering several projects and are working on several projects," Shimomura says. "Not only games, but also other things that have been [announced] already. We're really looking forward to growing several of our IPs and making sure that we have several fun things coming up in the future."

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance arrives on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and PC on 29 August.