the game's director noriyoshi ohba intended "revenge of shinobi" to be a showcase for the then-new genesis hardware as well as to adapt the series to something better suited for a home console. as a result, the game is more story-driven with joe musashi not rescuing multiple hostages in each level as in the original game, but a single hostage at the end. a life bar was introduced as being more appropriate for a console game of that scope. ohba intended "revenge of shinobi" to have a high level of difficulty to get the player to think about how they could best beat the game. the game's ninja magic was intended to be helpful in particular situations or boss encounters, making certain parts of the game much easier if the player knew which ninja magic to use at what time.