When the last mainline Shinobi game hit consoles in 2003, ninjas were at a zenith of popular nerd consciousness.
Since then, however, the side-scrolling hack-and-slash series — one that produced 11 titles between 1987 and the early 2000s, graced some of the earliest commercially viable home computer systems like the Commodore 64 and Atari ST, and constituted a pillar of developer Sega’s games catalog for its now-defunct console business — produced just one release: a middling 2011 outing for the Nintendo 3DS.
The thing about ninjas, though, is that the shadowy warriors strike hard, fast and when you least expect. In effect, that’s Shinobi: Art of Vengeance — a quick-hitting resuscitation of the dormant franchise that knows not to overstay its welcome.
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