The early 90s were the age of platformers and we all loved visiting our favorite arcades and playing these classic titles for hours. There were no saved files, no easy checkpoints, or anything else back in the days that used to provide us any sort of relief from the clutches of death. Modern titles are a piece of cake when you compare them with these classic platformers regarding difficulty and accessibility. ININ Games is a publisher well-known for bringing back these classic games to modern games and these are not just senseless ports brought back to life for corporate greed. We see modern visuals, accessibility options, save points, and many other cool features giving us the best of both worlds. This is our review of their latest release Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn on the PS5 in which we kill some cool enemies and experience nostalgia all over again.
Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn is another one of ININ Games’ remasters that has allowed them to bring yet another title back to life. Shadow of the Ninja was released back in the 90s on the NES, and it had been lost to the cruel tidings of the time. This new title brings back the development team of the classic game, Tengo Project, which means that it features the same development hands as the original NES version of the game. Apart from upgrading the visuals, it also features a reworked soundtrack and audio design along with enhanced gameplay mechanics to make it accessible to modern players.
Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn follows the story of two ninjas, Hayate and Kaede. They are dark assassins who are on a mission to save the world when it falls into chaos. Both of them belong to the Ryuha Shippu clan of ninjas that has been operating in the shadows of Japan. You can play both of these as the main characters in the game. Upon booting into the game, you are taken to a very 90s-inspired main menu where you can choose to play from two different types of modes. You can either jump into the main Arcade mode which is the main story mode of the game, or you can jump into the Time Attack mode where you can try and beat the best time of the level.
Further, you can choose which character to play and then after choosing a difficulty, you can jump straight into the game. There are six stages in the game which are split into much shorter sections. Each section gives you a chance to explore a particular section while platforming and defeating enemies before you move on to the next section. At certain points, you will also come across boss battles. If you die in any section, you can restart from that particular section instead of restarting the whole game. This keeps the flow of the game going and also does not make you lose interest in the game if you are dying plenty of times.
While Shadow of the Ninja-Reborn is not soulslike difficult, it is certainly a challenging platforming game because the enemies are relentless, and you have to be at your A-game to beat them all while preserving your health for the boss encounters. The gameplay involves both platforming and combat. The levels have verticality to a certain extent which means that you will be moving up and down on different platforms while fighting with enemies. Staying true to the platforming games of the early 90s, you will find that enemies can become overwhelming sometimes and you will need to keep an eye out for incoming ranged attacks while dealing with the enemies who are right in your face.
For this purpose, you have your basic fighting weapon, a katana, and you can pick different items along the way as well which the game calls gear. For normal attacks, you have a katana which can be powered up for a small range attack effect while for longer attacks, you have a chain sickle which can take out enemies at a great range. You can combine both of them to kill enemies in style. Apart from this, you can also perform some cool moves such as landing on your katana from a jump or even a powerful charged attack. You can dodge attacks with the help of a move called Shadow Step. Shadow Step is a precision-based move, and it is somewhat hard to master because the invincibility window is very small for it.
The real advantage comes in the game for picked-up gear which is plenty. During levels, you will come across boxes or other storage items that can be broken to access gear in them. These range from offensive to support items and at one time, you can store seven of these in your inventory. To use these picked items, you first have to press R1 which enters the ‘Gear’ mode and then you can press the attack key to use these items. Depending on the item, it may be one time like a health potion or could be many like bombs or such. These items are crucial in combat scenarios, and you will find them useful, especially against boss battles.
Apart from the combat mechanics, the platforming mechanics are fairly straightforward. You can jump around, grab ledges, climb and drop down from ledges, and even perform a short hover move. The platforming is much more in the background when it comes to gameplay because most of the time, you will be fighting with enemies. The enemies range from soldiers to massive soldiers to mind-controlled gorillas to robots. There is no shortage of enemy designs in the game, and this keeps the gameplay fresh until the final boss battle of the game. The gameplay is engaging and easy-to-learn but the game is fairly on the difficult end of the spectrum. You will need some time to practice the mechanics and understand how the enemies attack otherwise you will die instantly.
Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn also allows you to play in co-op with another couch player. If you choose the co-op mode, the game changes its enemies a little bit. They become harder and they also change their fighting style. For example, the first boss encounter adds a jump attack which is missing completely if you are playing solo. Switching the difficulty to hard also makes the game different from the normal mode and enemies don’t just hit hard but they also add new attack moves into the mix. This adds to the title’s replayability as you can try out the two difficulty modes and try to beat the game.
When it comes to the technical side, we reviewed the PS5 version of the game, and it ran pretty well for us. As far as the gameplay goes, there are no glitches or gameplay bugs whatsoever. The overall performance is pretty smooth as well. For this preview, we tried the co-op mode along with the two difficulty settings so that covers nearly all aspects of the game. There is also a high score section where you can check for online highscores and try to beat them if that is your thing. You can submit your high scores right at the end of every run you complete or even if you die.
Final Verdict:
ININ Games and Tengo Project have done an amazing job in bringing Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn back to life in its best form possible. You can easily say that this is not just a simple port of the NES version to the new version because it features enhanced gameplay, HD visuals, and a better soundtrack which really makes it better for modern players. The gameplay itself is pretty solid and satisfying and will keep you glued to the screen until you end the game. If you are looking for a satisfying platformer with good gameplay mechanics and cool visual art, you should definitely give Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn a shot.
Final Score: 8.5/10
