The Revenge of Shinobi was one of my favorite Sega Mega Drive games, mostly because it was one of about six titles I had at the time, so it didn’t have much competition. Regardless, it was a pretty cool sidescroller, not least thanks to the random inclusion of Spider-Man as a boss.
Spider-Man was the only comic character that Sega was able to license for the game, as it had previously pilfered The Incredible Hulk, Batman and even The Terminator for use in the game without their owners. Naturally, lawyers made sure that these characters never made the final cut, but Shinobi did get to legally battle the wallcrawler, for no valid reason whatsoever.
It seems, however, that Sega no longer has permission to use Spidey, as evidenced by the hasty recoloration of the webslinger in Revenge of Shinobi‘s Virtual Console port. Now resplendent in an all-pink costume, it appears as if he’s been altered just enough to avoid Marvel’s wrath. Quite a shame, as his totally pointless inclusion in the game was a highlight.
I’m just annoyed that my original cartridge is long-lost. Probably could have made a fortune off that.
