Unmistakably Shinobi in its art, music and platforming philosophies, but its execution of combat has a robustness and snappiness more akin to Mega Man X and Zero. It's a great play during its many boss encounters, but most setpieces and platforming sections kill the experience. There's this air roll attack you have to use to get extra horizontal distance in most sections, but much like Shinobi's double jump, it can only be activated at a specific point of the jump arc; hit it before reaching your jump's apex or a ceiling, or else it cancels out. You need this for MULTIPLE do-or-die sections as early as stage 2, and it never feels somewhat reliable. At least in Shinobi (III specifically), the double jump usually isn't mandatory until the end-game, when you've already learned its specific rhythm. There's also weight and audible cues that help ease the stinginess of the timing. There's nothing of the sort in Hagane, and they make this strict design quirk worse by cutting your horizontal jump speed in half. Addressing this problem could easily bump this 1 or 2 points in my book, but it was too much of an issue for too often of the run.