Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound has old-fashioned entertainment potential

After more than a decade in the shadows, the return of the Ninja Gaiden series, rather than three versions: Ninja Gaiden 2 Black surprise remake has emerged, and this fall’s Ninja Gaiden 4 and somewhere in between, bringing a second action platformer back to the series, which returns its roots, Ninja Gaiden Ragebound. While the existence of this trio is a pleasant surprise, Ragebound is perhaps the biggest shock, as the series has not had two dimensions since the early 90s. It is also provided by developers (Game Kitchen) and publishers (Dotemu), who are new to Ninja Gaiden. They aren't newbies to pixel art or retro regression, though, and Ragebound seems to have a real love for franchise.

If you know about the Profane series of Gaming Kitchen, you'll know they're producing some of the best-looking pixel art today. Even though Ragebound reveals that the trailer has a lot of hand-drawn animations, everything I see during game time is pixel art, from title screens to editing scenes. I like the sense of depth they create in forest areas with parallax scrolling, while fireflies drift in the foreground and don't care about all the bleeding happening in front of them.

Speaking of bleeding, the defeated enemies offer a satisfying pixelated red spray. Some bad guys even have multiple death animations. I'm also grateful that some enemies' bodies will fly on the screen or just fall into mud, but others will still litter. Your own blood will occasionally spill over the background.

Meanwhile, Dotemu published TMNT: Revenge of the Shredder, The Streets of Angry, The Metal Slug Bone Tactics and the upcoming Marvel Universe Invasion. This is a team with a franchise for the Restoration of Dormancy Games and rejuvenated with fresh ideas and dazzling art. It seems like this happened again with Ninja Gaiden Ragebound. It looks like a supercharged 16-bit version of the NES trilogy and adds some new ninja tricks.

One is the lift of the guillotine, which allows you to bounce enemies and projectiles by spinning attacks. Not only does it cause damage, it also extends your time, so it can help you get over wide areas without the ground under your feet. Game Kitchen has done many platform challenges for you around this technology.

You will notice light around certain enemies. These you can cut to load overweight attacks, which will defeat big enemies and obstacles. If there are multiple glowing enemies nearby, you can tie the overcharge together. Therefore, in many cases, there is a preferred order that should be beaten up and add another layer for your thinking.

It's just clear that RageBound is a level-based action game, not Metroid. You walk through each zone, cut enemies, platform, and fight the boss at the end – like the large demon bat I encountered in one of the first zones.

Kindly, the checkpoint will prevent you from being sent back to the start if you overcome it. At the end of a phase, you will score on performance from D to S and will receive a summary of your completion time, number of kills, maximum combinations, collections found, and any challenges you completed. Challenges can be things like not getting hurt or killing a certain number of enemies.

I want to mention the preface for setting the scene for Ragebound because it's great, but if you want to avoid any story spoilers you might want to skip. *Pause*OK, lower your mind to the first cutscene of the original Ninja Gaiden in 1989. Two ninjas face each other under the full moon. They rushed forward, jumped into the air, and clashed swords. After a moment, the Red Ninja falls down on the ground and we learn that this is Ryu Hayabusa's father. Most of us have never seen such a movie in a video game before. The event began Ryu's revenge.

In the prologue of Ragebound, we play Ryu's father at the moment of his duel. Too cool! From the jump, fans will recognize the latest versions of classic music, such as the moment Hayabusa San falls to the ground.

When the news returns to Ryu about what happened to his father, he leaves the United States and all the events we witness in Ninja I-III. Returning to his village, opening up some kind of portal, overflowing the demon into our world. As Ryu is fully focused, one of his students, Kenji, wants to save the village and send this demonic threat. Therefore, the events of Ragebound seem to have played a role with the original game. Then, a literal cap or next to the story. Smart.

One of Ryu's 3d Ninja Gaiden costumes here. Apparently, he would have changed into his original blue outfit to head to the United States, but it was nice to see the 3D outfit presented in pixel art.

Many gamers that appeared in the 90s and early 90s still had PTSDs of those damn birds that first appeared at level 3-1 of the original Ninja Gaiden. They are an annoying combination from the demonic Medusa head and Five Leaves. My friend, I regret to inform you: The vulture is back. Thankfully, they still only took one blow at least in the early stages, and seem to be easier to manage here.

Kumori is one of the most interesting new members of the classic Ninja Giden formula, and he will be your companion and have some of his own useful tips. If you happen to the Demon Altar, Kumori can communicate with it and switch to the dark world, where hidden demonic entities are revealed that can be used to browse the environment and open up anything that blocks Kenji's path. However, this is not a cooperative game, so Kenji will be trapped on the altar, while Kumori will appreciate Demon Town. She also made special attacks that could help Kenji fight.

In a short game, I've met some really cool enemies, spitting huge eyeballs out of my intestines like a Cyclops. I also like the way it dissolves into bones. Clever moments, clever moments break the action, like a demon jumping out at you, but being swallowed by the ubiquitous dragon and snake. These are candy moments that may be interesting, or they may introduce monsters you will encounter later.

I think old-fashioned Ninja Gaiden fans will love this form of return. RageBound features excellent pixel art, fast-paced platform operation and new ideas to enhance original material. I look forward to learning more about Kumori and how her relationship with Kenji develops. From what I have so far, this seems to be another winning combination of much-loved but enthusiastic independent developers. This summer, Ninja Gaiden Ragebound was released.