by In 1990, Natsume released Shadow of the Ninja, a hack-and-slash platformer for the NES.
The premise is pretty typical of games from that era. It’s the year 2029, and the Evil Emperor Garuda has taken over the USA. Our ninja heroes, Lord Hayate and Lady Kaede, must assassinate him and save the day. To do that, you’ll run, jump, and slash through hordes of enemies.
So, did Natsume rise to the challenge, or should they have stayed in the shadows? Let’s find out.
Gameplay
The controls in Shadow of the Ninja are typical of platformers. The D-Pad moves your character in the corresponding direction, the A button jumps, the B button attacks, and the Start button pauses the game. If you press and hold A and B at the same time, you will charge up a special attack that calls down lightning to strike your enemies. This attack wipes out all enemies on the screen at the cost of half a total health bar. If you don’t have enough health, or you are interrupted, the attack fails. This attack is not mentioned in the manual.
There are 3 main weapons: the sword, kusarigama, and shuriken. The sword isn’t that strong and has a short range, but it can be upgraded with power-ups to increase its range and speed. The kusarigama has a medium range and can be aimed straight up or at an angle, but it is a bit slow. The shuriken is quick and has a long range, but you have a limited supply. It upgrades alongside your sword. There are also supposed to be bombs you can throw at enemies, but I haven’t found them.
Running, jumping, and attacking are all very responsive, which is always nice. However, attacking midair is a bit odd, as it jerks your character forward a bit. Despite minor issues like that, the game is a joy to play. It also has a simultaneous 2-Player mode for those who don’t want to play solo.
I give the gameplay an 8.5/10.
Graphics
Between detailed environments, weather effects like rain, a good use of negative space, and cool enemy designs, Shadow of the Ninja looks fantastic.
Given when it was released, they had a chance to learn from other games that had pushed the limit, but it’s still quite impressive.
I give the graphics a 9/10.
Music and Sound
I absolutely love the catchy, high-energy music. It really gets you pumped up and ready to go. There’s also good variety here. I’ve not come across a single bad track in the entire game. It’s not quite on the level of classics like Mega Man or Legend of Zelda, but still very good.
The sound effects are top-notch. None of the sound effects are obnoxious or feel out of place. The entire game is a delight to listen to.
I give the music and sound an 8.5/10.
Difficulty
In Shadow of the Ninja, you do not get lives, but you do get 5 continues. There is no password system. Due to this, and some of the enemy designs, it is a brutally difficult game. You have to be on point with your attacks and movement timing, or you will not last long. The furthest that I’ve gotten is the 3rd stage. I ran out of continues entirely at least once before I managed to do that. The NES earned its reputation for difficulty due to games like this, Ninja Gaiden, Battletoads, and the first TMNT game.
Final Verdict
Overall, I give Shadow of the Ninja an 8.5 out of 10. If you enjoy platformers or a challenge, I recommend checking it out. As of writing this article, a loose copy is about $95. Apparently, they recently remade the game as Shadow of the Ninja: Reborn. I haven’t tried that version yet, but I might review it later.
