We’re all entitled to change our minds.
As a goofy teenager, I was a “Ninja Gaiden” apologist, to the point that I found all other ninja-themed video games to be lacking.
Fast forward a few decades and “Ninja Gaiden II” popped up on Switch Online, so I eagerly consumed it and found it be … quite obnoxious.
For one thing, the game didn’t advance enough upon the original, but it was also irritatingly difficult., the kind of experience you’d walk away from without save states unless you were:
A.) A masochist.
B.) Transported back in time to 1990.
C.) Both?
“Shadow of the Ninja,” released that same year by developer Natsume is, dare I say it, a more enjoyable use of one’s time.
13-year-old me would be shaking his head right now.
Shadow tones down the difficulty of the Gaiden series, provides a similar flair for the theatrical (great music, graphics and level/enemy design), and offers several goodies that Gaiden doesn’t: some useful weaponry that makes the journey a smidge easier (such as a kusarigama for longer range attacks and bombs for heavier damage) and a two-player mode that included a female character (this was still a big deal in 1990).
This game kind of rocks, if I’m honest, which is a far cry from what I thought when I rented it back in the day.
Shadow better than Gaiden II?
I’m shook.