Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound Has Serious Potential for Old-School Fun

After much than a decennary successful the shadows, the Ninja Gaiden bid returns with not 1 but 3 releases this year: the astonishment remaster of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black that’s already out, this fall’s Ninja Gaiden 4, and successful between, the 2D enactment platformer that returns the bid to its roots, Ninja Gaiden Ragebound. While the specified beingness of this trio is simply a pleasant surprise, Ragebound is possibly the biggest shock, arsenic the bid hasn’t been two-dimensional since the aboriginal ‘90s. It’s besides being delivered by a developer (The Game Kitchen) and steadfast (Dotemu) who are caller to Ninja Gaiden. They aren’t caller to pixel creation oregon retro throwbacks, though, and Ragebound appears to beryllium successful bully hands that person existent emotion for the franchise.

If you cognize The Game Kitchen’s Blasphemous series, you’ll cognize they nutrient immoderate of the best-looking pixel creation today. Even though the Ragebound uncover trailer featured a batch of hand-drawn animation, everything I saw during my playtime was pixel art, from the rubric surface to chopped scenes. I emotion the consciousness of extent they make successful a wood country with layers of parallax scrolling, portion fireflies drift astir successful the foreground, unconcerned with each the bloodshed happening close successful beforehand of them.

An aboriginal brag fight.

Speaking of bloodshed, defeated enemies supply a satisfying splatter of pixelated reddish spray. Some atrocious guys adjacent person aggregate decease animations. I besides admit how, portion immoderate force corpses volition alert offscreen oregon conscionable burst into goo, others stay littered successful your wake. Your ain humor volition occasionally spill connected the background.

For its part, meanwhile, Dotemu published TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, Streets of Rage 4, Metal Slug Tactics, and the upcoming Marvel Cosmic Invasion. This is simply a squad with a way grounds of reviving dormant crippled franchises and reinvigorating them with caller ideas and often dazzling art. That seems to beryllium the lawsuit again with Ninja Gaiden Ragebound. It looks similar a supercharged 16-bit mentation of the NES trilogy and adds immoderate gnarly caller ninja tricks.

One is the Guillotine Boost, which lets you bounce disconnected enemies and projectiles with a rotation attack. Not lone volition it woody damage, it extends your clip successful the aerial and truthful volition assistance you transverse wide areas with nary crushed beneath your feet. Game Kitchen has prepared galore platforming challenges for you astir this technique.

Kumori, your demoness buddy.

You’ll announcement definite enemies person a glowing aura astir them. These you tin slash to load your hypercharge attack, which decimates ample foes and obstacles with 1 hit. Hypercharges tin beryllium chained unneurotic if determination are aggregate glowing enemies nearby. So successful galore instances determination is simply a preferable bid successful which atrocious guys should beryllium defeated, adding 1 much furniture for you to deliberation about.

Just to beryllium clear, Ragebound is simply a level-based enactment game, not a Metroidvania. You marque your mode done each country slashing enemies, platforming, and warring a brag astatine the extremity -- similar the ample demon bat happening I encountered successful 1 of the archetypal areas.

Mercifully, checkpoints volition forestall you from being sent backmost to the opening should you beryllium overcome. At the extremity of a signifier you’re scored connected your show from D to S and volition person a summary of your completion time, fig of kills, max combo, collectibles you found, and immoderate challenges you completed. Challenges mightiness beryllium things similar not taking harm oregon sidesplitting a definite magnitude of enemies with hypercharged attacks.

I privation to notation the prologue that sets the country for Ragebound due to the fact that it’s awesome, but if you privation to debar immoderate and each communicative spoilers you whitethorn privation to skip ahead. *pauses* Okay, formed your caput backmost to that archetypal cutscene that opened the archetypal Ninja Gaiden backmost successful 1989. Two ninja look each different nether a afloat moon. They dash forward, leap into the air, and clash swords. Back connected the ground, aft a moment, the reddish ninja falls, and we larn this was Ryu Hayabusa’s father. Most of america had ne'er seen thing truthful cinematic successful a video crippled before. This lawsuit kicked disconnected Ryu’s quest for revenge.

In the prologue of Ragebound, we play arsenic Ryu’s begetter successful the moments starring up to his duel. It’s truthful cool! Right from the jump, fans volition admit updated versions of classical tunes, similar that which underscored the infinitesimal Hayabusa San collapses to the ground.

When connection gets backmost to Ryu of what happened to his father, helium leaves for America and each the events we witnessed successful Ninja Gaiden I-III. Back successful his village, immoderate benignant of portal is opened that sends demons spilling into our world. With Ryu preoccupied, it’s up to 1 of his pupils, Kenji, to prevention the colony and dispatch this demonic threat. So it would look the events of Ragebound play retired alongside the archetypal game. A literal gaiden, oregon broadside story, then. Clever.

Ryu is successful 1 of his 3D Ninja Gaiden outfits here. He’ll evidently beryllium changing into his archetypal bluish outfit for his travel to America, but it’s chill to spot a 3D costume rendered successful pixel art.

Many gamers who came up successful the ‘80s and aboriginal ‘90s inactive person PTSD from those damn birds that archetypal appeared successful level 3-1 of the archetypal Ninja Gaiden. They were benignant of an annoying operation of the medusa heads and fleamen from Castlevania. My friends, I regret to pass you: The buzzards are back. Thankfully, they inactive instrumentality conscionable 1 deed and look to beryllium much manageable here, astatine slightest successful the aboriginal stages.

One of the astir absorbing caller additions to the classical Ninja Gaiden look is Kumori, a demoness who volition go your companion and has immoderate utile tricks of her own. If you hap upon a Demon Altar, Kumori tin commune with it and power to the acheronian world, wherever hidden demonic entities are revealed and tin beryllium utilized to navigate environments and unfastened immoderate was blocking Kenji’s path. This isn’t a cooperative game, though, truthful Kenji volition stay trapped successful the altar portion Kumori is galavanting astir demon town. She besides has peculiar attacks that tin assistance Kenji successful combat.

Two heads volition marque you deader than one.

I already encountered immoderate truly chill enemies successful my abbreviated playtime, similar a cyclops that spits elephantine eyeballs from its gut. I similar the mode it dissolves into a skeleton, too. In a bully touch, clever moments interruption up the action, similar erstwhile a demon leaps retired astatine you but is eaten by a dragon snake happening that comes retired of nowhere. These are oculus candy moments that could conscionable beryllium amusing, oregon they mightiness present a monster you’ll tally into aboriginal on.

I deliberation aged schoolhouse Ninja Gaiden fans are bound to bask this instrumentality to form. Ragebound has large pixel art, fast-paced platforming action, and caller ideas that elevate the root material. I’m looking guardant to learning much astir Kumori and seeing however her narration with Kenji develops. From what I’ve played truthful far, this seems similar different winning operation of beloved but neglected IP with passionate indie devs. Ninja Gaiden Ragebound is retired this summer.