While Ryu Hayabusa tends to win all the laurels when it comes to ninja-themed games on the original Nintendo, there was another great action platformer that is often overlooked at the time and even today. Natsume’s Shadow of the Ninja proved that there was more to the niche than Tecmo’s offering.
Putting you in control of one of two ninjas who play somewhat differently, the game had its share of cool level design and boss encounters, but ended up on the less remembered side of things because it just didn’t get any more games after the first, while Ninja Gaiden nearly flooded the NES with three entries over the span of the console’s lifecycle.
That is a shame because with just one attempt Natsume really hit it off. But it’s about to make its welcome return with a new re-release that not only preserves what makes Shadow of the Ninja so good, but updates it with beautiful HD graphics and a brand-new remixed soundtrack. While the game doesn’t necessarily play all too different from the old version, that’s not much of an issue considering it was pretty damn great to begin with.
This being an already excellent retro game from the start made for an interesting start-off point for developer Edigger, who was tasked with the remake. With little to no previous work to hang their hat on, Shadow of the Ninja Reborn does wonders in showing off their prowess in not only keeping what was great from the old version and revamp it to today’s standards in terms of presentation.
There’s not a whole lot to say when it comes to new gameplay features as the new run basically plays a lot like what you might’ve seen in the NES if you were around back then, which is to say tightly controlled, precise action with a healthy dose of difficulty. Compared to Ninja Gaiden, though, it’s much less punishing when it comes to the cheap traps and enemy placement from that game.
All in all, if you have experience dealing with all the horse crap that Gaiden is so happy to throw your way, well, you find that Shadow is a lot nicer in all aspects. I know that the general consensus is Ninja Gaiden is the better of the two, but having played both when they were originally out and on emulators on and off, I find myself coming back to this nine times out of ten because it’s just a much more enjoyable time, one that doesn’t require nearly as much muscle memory and is still challenging in its own way.
The remake, then, does incredibly well because the developers were smart enough not to change a winning combination that had nothing wrong about it. What worked back in the early 1990s is still just as good now, and as this shows, if given a good presentational treatment keeping the gameplay intact, well, it can be just as great of a banger now as it was back then.
As with modern styling of retro releases, Shadow of the Ninja Reborn gives you a few display options to mess around with. The best that I found are the scanlines and general color display offerings, which are both numerous and help make the graphics pop even more, especially on a portable screen such as the Switch OLED. I especially enjoyed being able to add some glare and bloom to the lights and colors which made the game even more livelier to play.
Given its nature, you should know what you are getting into when you get this game, as in it’s really short. If you manage to learn attack patterns and make good use of the lives that you are given, you can finish it in only a few hours, much in the vein of the releases from that period in time. The good part about having two playable characters is being able to experience the game in somewhat unique ways, but truth be told, the two that are available here don’t offer much, but are still something.
Shadow of the Ninja Reborn marks the return of a criminally overlooked NES gem that deserves the limelight it’ll be getting once it hits digital markets today. You’ll be a fool not to at least check it out. Heck, maybe you never heard of it with all the racket that Hayabusa made on the NES. Even better! Be surprised with what else that little gray box had going on when it came to ninjas. You’ll be surprised!
