Shadow of the Ninja: Reborn Re-emerges From The Shadows

After months of teasers, Shadow of the Ninja: Reborn is the latest retro revival from NatsumeAtari that does its best to retain the spirit of the original with remastered graphics. At first glance, the game certainly looks the part. Beginning with a widescreen 16:9 ratio and colorfully detailed sprites, Reborn is a beautiful reimagining of the NES/Famicom title released 34 years ago in 1990. A special thanks to NatsumeAtari for sending us a copy to cover an important piece of gaming history. This was played on the Steam version.

Much like other titles from this generation, the original Shadow of the Ninja featured a simple yet effective plot. Two ninja, Hayate and Kaede, are tasked to infiltrate a dilapidated futuristic version of New York City and eliminate Garuda, the big bad of the game. What I found humorous is that the game is set in 2029, which is not too far off from today’s date. Could it be that in five years, we will see a pair of cyber ninja battle with an evil dictatorship aboard cargo ships and castles? Who’s to say, it certainly was a vision in 1990 and it could very well be a reality five years down the line!

Recreating a co-op oriented game from the 8-bit era is no small feat and I cannot stress enough how much of an effort the developers made in bringing new life to a niche cult classic. The gritty dark atmosphere, the flashing of thunder and lighting, and a steady downpour of rain set the tone accompanied by synths and guitar riffs courtesy of Iku Mizutani and Hiroyuki Iwatsuki. The former had also worked on the original Shadow of the Ninja and the passion felt behind the soundtrack’s recreation can be felt.

For an 8-bit era title, the music felt ahead of its time in 1990 and the original vision of the game’s music is felt 30 years later with a modernized kick. Iwatsuki worked on the composition of several other Natsume titles, including Pocky and Rocky which also saw a recent recreation in Pocky and Rocky Reshrined. He also composed the Game Boy title, Ninja Gaiden Shadow. Despite what the title suggests, this version bears little relation to Ninja Gaiden aside from Ryu Hayabusa himself. It was originally intended to be the Game Boy port of Shadow of the Ninja, as seen in this magazine clipping from the September 1991 issue of Nintendo Power below.

I wanted to do things a bit differently with this review as my previous coverages have been single-player-oriented games. A large part of Shadow of the Ninja‘s original appeal was its two player co-op, meant to balance the difficulty of the game by pitting two players against the gauntlet set before them. Unfortunately, local co-op is the only way to play with others, keeping the spirit of the original game in place. Fortunately, I played through some of the game via local co-op as I’ve had assistance from a dear friend who doesn’t live far from me (Thank you, you know who you are!). Comparing my experience from playing the game as a single player versus couch co-op, it was more fun agonizing our inevitable deaths as we struggled to keep up the gauntlet with a good friend than clenching your controller in frustration alone.

I say this to say that this game is a relic of its time. Shadow of the Ninja: Reborn, for all of its glittering visuals and dynamic sounds, is still a product of the late-80s-turn-of-the-decade-to-the-90s environment. In an attempt to keep things as close to the original as possible, the characters control almost as accurately as they had in the NES original. A game with 8-bit physics and controls paired with modern graphics and atmosphere felt a bit jarring at first. What I expected Hayate and Kaede to control with fluidity was instead met with inputs that required precise inputs to control. An example was climbing up platforms, in which the player has to tap the Up button as well as Jump at the same time.

The enemies also have a higher priority in attacks than the player, especially if the player decides to use their safe attacks. The kusarigama is a nice alternative to the default katana. It attacks enemies from a distance, yet there are so many active frames that if the attack whiffs, the player will be left wide open as they recover from the attack. In “modern” games, this would be circumvented by a jump cancel, yet the player is locked in the attack animation for so long that they’re often a sitting duck if not careful. Instead, Shadow of the Ninja Reborn expects players to take a “divide and conquer” approach. While Player 1 attacks enemies on a lower level, Player 2 can attack enemies on the floor above, covering the first player’s blind spots. Occasionally, the players will drop beneficial powerups, including a healing elixir and a club that one-shots most regular enemies.

However, accessing the inventory means players must go through each item in order before cycling to the one they need the most. This ensures that players are using their given items rather than hoarding them for a major enemy encounter. There were times when that one healing item that could have saved me was buried under a shuriken which cost our lives. It was after our session I realized that I was supposed to hold the button to cycle through my items, so that was an error on my behalf. Always read the manual that comes with your games if you aren’t 100% sure what each button does! The game expects you to have done your homework beforehand.! That’s why the manual is there!

As expected, players are given one life each and if both players are down, they must start from the beginning of the section of a level. Similar to my thoughts on Rainbow Cotton, this meant that we had to strategize picking our fights enough to reach the “checkpoint” so we wouldn’t have to run through the same gauntlet again and again. Fortunately, Reborn is generous with its retries, giving players an infinite amount while also boosting the effect of items upon continuing. It becomes more of an act of patience this way as both players need to work together at a steady pace to reach the end of the level. But not too slow as the players are on a timer.

I have conflicting thoughts about Shadow of the Ninja Reborn. On one hand, as I’ve said several times, it is a beautiful game that will attract many newer players to the original. The faithfulness to recreate an 8-bit game from the ground up and make it appealing to both modern and classic audiences is no small feat. However, it is still a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Shadow of the Ninja is just as intense in difficulty and gameplay mechanics as it was 34 years ago. I will give Natsume kudos for maintaining the same authenticity, difficulty, and all while acknowledging that this game won’t be for everyone.

However, everyone should give Shadow of the Ninja Reborn a chance, especially with a buddy next to you. It’s frustrating and will take a few tries to get used to what is thrown at you. I found myself giving up yet returning after a few hours and that was a feeling most recent titles haven’t given me lately. For a $20 price tag, Shadow of the Ninja Reborn is worth the price of admission as NatsumeAtari continues to preserve its classics for a newer generation of players. With the number of titles receiving recreations and re-releases, the future is looking bright for maintaining the legacies of the past.

Shadow of the Ninja Reborn is available on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. There’s currently a 10% release discount on Steam until September 12th.