Jeremy Parish

NES Works 150: Shinobi & Rolling Thunder

Added 2025-07-16 12:24:07 +0000 UTC

The sesquicentennial episode of NES Works brings the brief NES Works/Segaiden crossover sensation to a close. The closest thing we'll see to something like that in this series again will be, I dunno, the eventual NES port of Bonk's Adventure? I tried to save the best for last—and 50% failed, because this episode covers the absolutely terrible NES version of Shinobi. But it also lands on Arc System Works' luxurious port of Rolling Thunder, which might be the single best thing Tengen published outside of maybe Tetris? And Rolling Thunder didn't land them in court. Although it could have, given how brutally it savages its companion piece Shinobi. I don't know why Sega and Tengen didn't collaborate further beyond this point, but if you told me it was because Sega was horrified by the state of this Shinobi adaptation, I'd buy it.