The Revenge of Shinobi

Regional / Revisional Differences
This game went through a ridiculous number of revisions.

REV00 (JP Version) → REV01 (US/EU Version)
REV00 is the only version of the game to be released in Japan while REV01 is the first one to be released internationally. Despite that, in every version of the game (besides the Smash Pack version) the title graphic changes appropriately depending on your emulator's region setting (The Super Shinobi for the Japanese version and The Revenge of Shinobi for the international version).

The flamethrower enemies were changed from Rambo lookalikes to ordinary bald guys.

The boss of Round 6 takes on two forms: one that resembles Spider-Man, who then transforms into one that resembles Batman. The Spider-Man form was changed to resemble the actual Spider-Man. It's mostly just a palette swap, though the eye parts of the mask were also changed.

He also no longer transforms into the second form, but instead slinks away through the top of the screen when defeated. The second form then flies down from the top of the screen.

The Batman form was changed to resemble the manga character Devilman.

REV01 → REV02
A copyright screen was added before the title screen to accommodate the copyright notice for the use of Spider-Man. The copyright notices for Sega and Yuzo Koshiro were moved from the title screen to this screen.

REV02 → REV03
REV03 is found on the 6-Pak compilation cartridge.

The "TM" in the title screen is removed in REV03.

The boss of Round 7 was changed from a Godzilla lookalike to a skeletal dinosaur.

The dinosaur's fire breath was also changed from red to blue.

Smash Pack
The version included in volume 1 of the PC Smash Pack collection appears to be a prototype version. The internal ROM date says March 1989, and the product number is filled with zeroes. In the notes section of the ROM header (at ), there is the string, "A0115 Sega_Channel", whereas all other releases have that area filled with ASCII space characters. The header also is only marked as being a Japanese release, while all other versions are marked as Japanese, US, and European.

The title screen always uses The Super Shinobi regardless of the console region. The game has an invincibility mode in the options screen, and a level select at the main menu. Enabling invincibility also gives infinite lives from falling off screen, out open doors, and using Mijin (it also prevents you from gaining lives). There are other changes found in the options menu: the shuriken option is spelled, "syurikin" (in other versions, it's spelled, "shurikin"), and the sound test option lacks music titles, showing only a hex number (in other versions, sound effects are numbered in decimal).

There is no copyright screen. The introduction uses the final version Round 1 music (The Shinobi) instead of its own theme. The sound effect when Musashi changes his grip does not play, and the sparks when the shuriken hit the sword stay on screen longer. There are no demos other than the opening animation (i.e. no plot text or gameplay demos).

Using Mijin uses up your ninjitsu; in other versions you can still use ninjitsu after using Mijin. Mijin also remains selected after it has been used, instead of switching to Ikazuchi. There is also no shouting sound effect when ninjutsu are activated.

The final game has 19 music tracks, but this version only has the first 7 (the order of music in the sound test is unchanged). Because of this, there are differences in what music is used for what Round, but even when the music is in all versions, different tracks are used. The music used in 1-1 is China Beat, and 1-2's music is Make Me Dance while in the final, both stages use The Shinobi. The game over screen has no music and is missing Zeed's laughter. The drum samples used throughout the game are also different.

For the most part, the enemies resemble the REV00 versions with the exception of Spider-Man, which is red and blue instead of red and black. However, he is still missing the eye mask.

Some bosses appear incomplete. The Godzilla boss of Round 7 seems to be invincible, and the fight ends after the boss goes through a few attacks. The Round 3 and 8 bosses appear to be missing completely (although the maps themselves are there); the game switches to the end of level screen shortly after starting. There is no ending either: the game loops back to Round 1 after 8-3.

REV03 → Virtual Console
Since Sega's Spider-Man license had long expired, the copyright notice was removed from the copyright screen, kind of nullifying the reason for its creation.

The face of the ninja that appears at the title screen was changed. The original is actually Sonny Chiba from the television series Kage no Gundan.

As you could guess from the copyright screen change, Spider-Man isn't the real Spider-Man anymore. His palette was changed to a questionable shade of pink, but he still acts the same as before.