I’ll have to admit, when the home version of Ninja Gaiden came out for the Nintendo Entertainment System, I didn’t like it. Mostly because it deviated from the excellent, albeit extremely difficult, arcade version of the game. It’s no secret that the arcade games were meant to make money, and Ninja Gaiden is no slouch. I had the game though, so I had to play it. And guess what. I didn’t like it. In the sense of platforming, and mechanics, the game was fairly smooth. The bosses were challenging, but beatable. The game had this issue where enemies would regenerate if you went slightly off screen. Sometimes you didn’t even have to do that. Look up any Ninja Gaiden video for further reference. It took me 11 weeks to beat that game, and I never recovered.
Who knew that Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound was the solace I needed. This game was fun. This game was difficult toward the end. This game was the redemption.
Dotemu, The Game Kitchen and Koei-Tecmo have come together to bring us a storyline parallel to the home version of Ninja Gaiden from 1988. It’s a side-scrolling action adventure, which moves so fluid that you forget you are even playing the game. We’ll get to more of that later, even though this game deserves all the praise it will get here.
You start off as Jo Hayabusa, facing a rival in a dual to the death, just like the NES title. This becomes the backstory to that opening scene, and then, you get to control Jo! It’s a small tutorial, but very fun to see Jo cut through ninja and erratic birds, which is par for Ninja Gaiden. I’m in.
That first level ends and starts with a cut scene, where you’re introduced to Kenji, a student of Ryu Hayabusa. Ryu then directs Kenji through a training course, where you get to see the true potential of the movement you can make. Like Jo, Kenji can hang from ceilings, climb and jump off walls, and a single slash will take out most enemies. That very same slash will take down projectiles, too.
Kenji has a double move when you hit the jump button in midair. This is called the guillotine boost, and you can bounce off projectiles and other enemies, though it is weaker than your regular attack. In game, it gives a length to your jump, both vertical and horizontal. Kenji has an invincible dodge, that avoids everything as long as he’s in the dodge animation. But as soon as he comes out of it, he is susceptible to damage. Do not dodge roll into enemies. It’s an automatic two hits, and bad news.
I said a single sword slash will take out most enemies, and even if you slash and quickly turn around, the animation will continue and take out an incoming enemy behind you. The slash also blocks most projectiles. There are enemies who will need to take more damage to take them down. That’s where your Hypercharge comes in. You can get the hyper charge two ways. Some enemies will have a hypercharge for you in exchange for their defeat, and then you can use it on a larger enemy, taking them down in one quick slash. The other way is to hold the attack button, and at the cost of a little bit of life, you get a hypercharge. Just don’t use it on the wrong enemy, because it’s one and done.
Speaking of the enemies, you have your ninjas, monsters, birds, and even enemies with machine guns. There are even machine guns without enemies. These enemies do not regenerate like the NES version. There are, however, plenty to get in your way. Though most of them die in one hit, some of them make it harder for you to get to them. Use the guillotine boost and the dodge roll to your advantage.
Running straight at you, flying, shooting bullets, throwing stars, and even being invincible for a period of time, are just some of the ways these enemies want to kill you—and they will. The guillotine boost is good enough to take out lighter enemies, but not enough of the harder ones. Speedruns are cool, but you’re probably not doing this out the gate.
With the exception of Ryu in the second stage, the bosses are larger than life, and no joke. There are patterns, but it takes you a while to get there. The first big dragon boss took me down a couple of pegs, because I thought I was the best ninja in the clan after that tutorial. I was not. This thing flies around the room, stomps down on you, breathes fire, and throws small fireballs at an angle. I would advise you to throw everything you’ve got at these bosses, but that’s just silly. Wait it out. Study some patterns. Get some good hits in. Use the hypercharge, and the dodge roll. Rinse and repeat, for if you don’t, you’ll be sent back to that checkpoint faster than you can say, “My father is stupid for going to meet his certain death at the hands of his rival clan.”
Now, later in the game, you will meet a ninja named Kumori, of the Black Spider Clan. Kumori weaves her way into the plot finding herself in the same position as Kenji as a non-spoiler part of the story. There is another tutorial, but this one is just to show you the subtle differences. She can throw kunai in four different directions. They are unlimited and even get the same hypercharge properties Kenji gets with his sword. Because of this, she can activate switches and take out enemies from across the screen. But this game is just getting started.
Because of a non-spoiler event in the story, Kenji and Kumori, two ninjas from rival clans, fuse together. You will be in full control of Kenji again, but they share the same life meter. Kenji can now throw kunai and use an alternate weapon, which is a kama by default. There are meters for this, though, indicating that Kumori’s powers are limited. You can refresh these powers by smashing Kumori-colored orbs. These orbs will fill up Kumori’s meter and let you continue to use her powers. You will play the rest of the game this way.
You will change back to Kumori to reach parts of a level. She can use her kunai to teleport to certain areas, with a time limit. You have a limited amount of time to get through these sections and can refill your time by smashing a Kenji colored orb. This meter depletes also if you take damage. This is seamless, and what I wrote is a lot more complicated than it really is. Finally, you can collect rage orbs, which eventually give you a rage art. This is activated by a two-button press and takes out all the enemies on the screen. I saved these for the bosses, as I needed to use them later.
Throughout the game there are collectables, and these are few and far between. The orbs early on refill life, but later on replenish Kumori time, refill Kumori’s meter, and more. There are also crystal skulls that you can find, and the game’s menu will tell you how many you have found. Look for these in hidden rooms, or even behind enemies. There are also scarabs found in the game, which is in game currency. Lastly, there are scrolls that open up secret operations. These secret operations get more difficult as the game progresses, but there are rewards: more scarabs and crystal skulls. A little extra exploration is essential to finding these. If you miss some by level’s end, you can easily go back into the level from the “level complete” screen with the push of a button. Of course, the collectibles are said to unlock different costumes, but I only got two.
You can use the scarabs to buy talismans from Muramusa’s store. You can also get secret arts here, too. You can equip up to two talismans, and two secret arts. The talismans are Kenji’s, and consist of benefits like health recovery, and extra damage. The secret arts are Kumori’s, and can change her alternate weapon, and the rage art. You can also buy talismans to make the game harder for you, so you can get a better grade at the end of the level. The better grade you get, the more you unlock to be able to buy in the store. Again, more complicated than it seems.
By the time you’re out of the tutorial phase, that Ninja Gaiden pain comes back to haunt you. This is a game where if you die, you come back at the last checkpoint. There are side scrolling and vertical levels. The levels that are the most fun, are the vehicle levels. These are a breath of fresh air, especially the first one. You put Kumori on a motorcycle and watch her tear through enemies, which is especially good, giving that extra bit of goodness that this game is. And again, both Kenji and Kumori move like smooth criminals.
The game takes about eight hours to complete, and you can probably get it done faster. It starts off very much with you rolling with the punches. The two ninjas move like butter, with probably the tightest controls I’ve ever used in a video game—on both my PC and the ROG Ally. The game ramps up difficulty, and by the time I reached the end of the game, something clicked for me. I always wondered why the enemies in Ninja Gaiden were what they were. Now I know why.
It’s very cool, it’s very fun, and pays homage to the old game in a way I wasn’t expecting. If you’re a person who likes to 100% a game, you’ll get a little bit of replay value from it. There are even multiple endings. Collect all the things, maybe equip some of those diminishing talismans, and definitely play the game on hard mode. You’ll love it.
* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company.
