For being made by the same team behind the fantastic Blazing Chrome, a game that might as well be Contra with the serial numbers filed off, Oniken very much feels like them trying to get their feet in the door.
It manages to simultaneously manages to be one of the absolute best, and absolute worst NES throwbacks I've played from the indie scene. It's bursting with style, between its flashy visuals, pretty alright chiptune soundtrack, and to top it off? The core gameplay is pretty damn fun! It's a really cool throwback to stuff like Ninja Gaiden and the sort, even down to the emphasis on story delivered via cutscenes that made the original NG such an iconic staple of the NES library. The game's tough as nails, and I can't lie, when I managed to clear a no death run of a level, there was always that feeling of "Fuck yeah, I did that shit! Me!"
But Oniken unfortunately doesn't stop at just trying to be a cool throwback to stuff like Ninja Gaiden. It brings a lot of the bullshit of the game's final levels, and a lot of less positive quirks of other NES titles from the time. Between losing power-ups upon getting hit enough, a pretty strict focus on the more bullshit kind of trial and error that marries with a life system, and a checkpoint allergy in its overly long levels that I haven't seen since Jak 2, it's unfortunate that I can't look at the game as positively as I wish I could.
It's not that the game is hard; I loved Blazing Chrome, and I'm no stranger to tougher NES platformers like the Mega Man titles or, well, the first Ninja Gaiden. But Oniken doesn't know when to let up so it often swims into the deep end of "Bullshit hard NES game that the devs didn't want you beating over the weekend rental period", and that kinda bites. I can definitely appreciate it for getting a dev team who'd go on to make a banger shooter into the industry, and who knows? If you're into getting your balls really crushed, you might find something to like here more than I did! But as it stands? I really wish I liked it more than I do.
It manages to simultaneously manages to be one of the absolute best, and absolute worst NES throwbacks I've played from the indie scene. It's bursting with style, between its flashy visuals, pretty alright chiptune soundtrack, and to top it off? The core gameplay is pretty damn fun! It's a really cool throwback to stuff like Ninja Gaiden and the sort, even down to the emphasis on story delivered via cutscenes that made the original NG such an iconic staple of the NES library. The game's tough as nails, and I can't lie, when I managed to clear a no death run of a level, there was always that feeling of "Fuck yeah, I did that shit! Me!"
But Oniken unfortunately doesn't stop at just trying to be a cool throwback to stuff like Ninja Gaiden. It brings a lot of the bullshit of the game's final levels, and a lot of less positive quirks of other NES titles from the time. Between losing power-ups upon getting hit enough, a pretty strict focus on the more bullshit kind of trial and error that marries with a life system, and a checkpoint allergy in its overly long levels that I haven't seen since Jak 2, it's unfortunate that I can't look at the game as positively as I wish I could.
It's not that the game is hard; I loved Blazing Chrome, and I'm no stranger to tougher NES platformers like the Mega Man titles or, well, the first Ninja Gaiden. But Oniken doesn't know when to let up so it often swims into the deep end of "Bullshit hard NES game that the devs didn't want you beating over the weekend rental period", and that kinda bites. I can definitely appreciate it for getting a dev team who'd go on to make a banger shooter into the industry, and who knows? If you're into getting your balls really crushed, you might find something to like here more than I did! But as it stands? I really wish I liked it more than I do.