Now NatsumeAtari has decided to revisit Shadow of the Ninja but this is no Game Boy release. Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn takes the original NES source content and drastically updates the game, turning it into a modern precision platformer that mimics the level and enemy design of the original game, vastly expanding the experience for a new generation. Along with publisher ININ Games, Tengo Project (NatsumeAtari developers of Pocky and Rocky Reshrined and Wild Guns Reloaded) have created a whole new Shadow of the Ninja game that will thrill and frustrate you in equal measures.
The core of Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn isn’t a deep story. The focus here is on gameplay and your job is to save the world from an evil demon emperor who has sealed the world in darkness. Presumably he found a very big space tarp somewhere. Plot doesn’t matter except as a template for graphics and style here however. It’s all gameplay all the time here. You have your choice of playing one of two ninjas, Hayate and Kaede. It doesn’t really matter which one you choose since they play identically, but it’s certainly nice to have options.
Each level is broken down multiple sections with platforming and combat areas and a boss fight. Most stages consist of three sections and you’ll get to know every area quite well. The game has six stages in total but getting through them all is quite challenging, even on normal and let’s not get started on hard difficulty. Your main attacks consist of a standard sword swing which blocks most bullets and what looks like a kusarigama, a sort of knife on the end of a long chain. You can also shadow step (dodge) and jump, though the dodge doesn’t always take you through enemies. You can cling to corners of objects and then jump up to reach higher areas and you can run short distances up walls, even jumping from wall to wall to climb.
It all sounds pretty good and that’s before we even add in the vast array of weapons and healing items available to your ninjas from guns to spiked clubs to homing ninja stars and even energy drinks. There’s a lot going on in Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn and just learning the ropes takes a bit. What you’ll noticed first before anything else about the game though is that the platforming sections of each stage are quite long and the enemies are incredibly unforgiving.
This is a precision game, one that requires you to learn and memorize enemy positions, firing timing, and other key factors in order to progress and chances are good that you’re going to die…a lot. Fortunately, unlike the original NES game Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn features unlimited continues and even provides you with additional healing and powerup items when you die. Unfortunately, the controls are a bit finicky so expect that death rate to stay high until you memorize everything.
Compared to the Japanese release, the controller responsiveness has been improved in this version of the game but it’s still more than a bit of a fight with the controller to get things going. Grabbing onto platforms is natural but pressing up to swing up instead of the jump button isn’t and it’s easy to accidentally fall when you intend to swing up. That goes double for running up walls as an extra button press will jump you right back off again and you have to have the stick at the right angle and hit the buttons correctly to pull off the move. It’s definitely frustrating, as is switching weapons. To do so you’ll have to use the R button to switch items. Unfortunately, you also have to hold down R to cycle through items using the left stick. You know, the same one that controls you so you have to stand still while doing it, sometimes in combat situations.
Having to switch weapons without the game halting can be incredibly irritating, especially in boss fights. And having the weapon swap button mapped to a place where your finger is resting means it’s easy to accidentally swap weapons in the heat of battle when you don’t want to. It’s a weird choice when A isn’t even used and the L2 and R2 buttons could easily have cycled since they’re also unmapped. Using items takes time too and if enemies hit you while you’re selecting a healing item or even during use of a healing item, you lose the item and it doesn’t heal you. More than once during play we lost desperately needed healing items to a sneaky bullet or enemy slash while literally in the process of consuming them. Granted, all the buttons are mappable in the Options menu, but you’ll still have to change items the same way.
Enemies are your other big problem and many of them are strategically positioned to whittle down your health bar quickly and even learning their positions and attack styles sometimes doesn’t help as you’ll have to wait patiently for the right openings and be prepared to dodge or cancel enemy attacks. With enemies rolling into balls and bouncing, whirling after you, and stabbing you from the floor, you’re attacked on all sides and even cancelling some attacks won’t save you every time. Your sword is a wonder, blocking bullets of all sorts and even flamethrower flames, but you’ll have to experiment with what works and what doesn’t. Move too fast through a level and multiple enemies attack you at once, piling varied attacks onto you until you’ve taken one too many hits. Often the best approach is to just skip past enemies as you don’t gain much from killing them aside from a bit of extra money and you won’t need it if you die anyway.
Bosses are interesting and feature multiple attacks and forms, but they tend to be surprisingly easy compared to the platforming sections of the game. You can continue at the boss areas, so once you get to them, you can just keep working at their patterns until you get the hang of each one. The patterns are extremely predictable and tenacity is your friend here. The bosses are definitely huge and intimidating with cool design elements and attacks, but they won’t stop you in your tracks after a few attempts.
Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn features couch co-op built in, allowing you to attack stages with two ninjas instead of one. Double teaming levels means that one of you can focus on certain enemies while the other deflects additional attacks, making the platforming stages easier but there are a few caveats. Go too far and the other player is killed when they go off screen. If one of you dies you don’t immediately respawn either. Instead the other player will have to wait patiently for a chance to come back…if you survive. You’ll also have to share powerups, and with the scant handful of health available per stage, that can be a risky endeavor. Playing with someone else of a lower skill level can also be incredibly frustrating as this isn’t an easy game by any means and you’re likely to end up dying faster rather than slower.
Manage to complete a level with powerups remaining and whatever you have left is unlocked in a menu that allows you to buy those items with the gold you’ve been saving up from killing enemies. Kitting out your ninjas with the right gear can be the difference between survival and failure but it’s also hard to survive and bring those items all the way to the end of an entire stage, so it’s a slow process to unlock everything as you creep your way through stage after stage. You can view all the gear you’ve unlocked in the gear catalog in the Options menu, along with your accumulated money.
Finally, there’s a time attack mode available as well if competition is your thing. You can play any stage you’ve completed in time attack mode, allowing you to shoot for the fastest completion time and compare your scores and accumulated money with other players. While that won’t be for everyone, hardcore speedrunners are likely to gravitate towards this mode and rightly so. Even if that’s not your thing, it’s neat to see how you stack up with prep money alone…or at least see how inferior you are to some players.
The visuals in Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn are nothing short of outstanding. Based on the original levels from the NES game, everything is enhanced with rich colors, detailed enemies, and lush backdrops that have so much going on that it’s hard to decide what to look at. Items are concealed all around the stages in areas that aren’t immediately apparent and you’ll have to experiment to figure out how to get to certain areas but everywhere you look, the pixel graphics are simply outstanding. While enemies and even bosses are clearly similar to the original game, all of the designs are carefully and lovingly remade into a game that will wow you every step of the way. This is what peak pixel art looks like and it is well worth playing through the game just to see the incredible design work. The user interface is crisp and straightforward too and everything about the visuals is top tier from start to finish. You can even add scan lines for that old school finish if that’s your thing.
The audio is a hard hitting 16 bit soundtrack reminiscent of old Genesis soundtracks too. With a synth-rock vibe to it, you’ll be constantly pumped up by the tunes as you play through the game. Sound effects are crisp and clean as well and the balance between music and sound is quite good so you never feel like you’re missing cues or overwhelmed by sound effects. Naturally it’s all controllable too, so adjust to your preferences and enjoy. This is one of those soundtracks that you’re going to want to listen to even when you’re done playing.
Only a few things are really off with Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn which keep it from being a total success. One is the item selection system we talked about earlier. Another is the high difficultly level. Even on Normal (there’s no easy), you’re in for a fight and Hard is absolutely insane. From an accessibility standpoint, this is a game that’s intended for serious platformer players with a high degree of skill and there’s really no way around that. The last flaw is the save system. Yes, you can save, but the only way to do so is to die in a stage and then choose exit rather than continue. The game never notifies you that it is saving and doesn’t tell you how to save, even in the digital manual included in the Options menu. Select return to title and the game does not save. Only dying and selecting exit preserves your progress for later play, something that definitely should have been explained.
There’s no question that Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn is an amazing game that successfully combines the original game with new aesthetics and gameplay and elevates the pixel visuals to an unexpected plateau. With added co-op play, a vast array of weapons, continues, and even saving, this is a modernized version of the game that platform players are going to want to play, especially with the online ranking system to push players even further. While there are a couple of very minor missteps in design, they don’t significantly affect gameplay and the overall experience is great, even if this is not a game for beginners or players with low patience. As long as you’re ready for the challenge, Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn is going to deliver one hell of an experience!
This review is based on a digital copy of Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn provided by the publisher. It was played on a Nintendo Switch in both docked and undocked modes and played equally well in both. Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn is also available for PS5, Xbox, and PC on Steam.
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.