Cleared on May 11th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 11/160)
Review updated on May 12th, 2024 (How has it been literally one year since I beaten the game, where the fuck did that time go?!)
For awhile, I thought the game was pretty good, but that's because I never got past the first half, but when you get to the second half, the game demonstrates its barrage of major issues. My biggest problem? The Double Jump is inconsistent. It's like it decides when it feels like working even when you thought you got it down and this wouldn't be a problem if one of the last levels requires you to double jump and it requires it to work before the platform fall out of screen. That was frustrating.
The rest of the movements seem to work fine, though. You have a run which is triggered by tapping right or left twice, you have attack which fires a projectile by default or swings a sword if you are in melee. You have ninjitsu's that you can activate for a power boost although you get a limited amount and you should be careful when you use it.
The game itself does get really hard by the second half, though where more precise platforming and awareness is demanded which I would say is fair, but just a reminder that when one crucial aspect of your movement is not consistent, it leads on to being extremely unfair. It's one thing if you're as harsh with high demand for precision as a game like Rayman 1 where at least the controls are sharp and responsive, but this game made me genuinely not regret using save states for the sake of my sanity.
It's such a shame that I don't enjoy this game as much as I should because I love the ninja aesthetic and the feeling of being a ninja fighting other ninjas and robots, riding horses, and when the game works, it feels fun
Wow, did I severely misjudge this game out of skill issues. It turns out the double jump issue that I claim to have was likely because I kept holding the jump button instead of tapping it which seemed to make the timing feel much more narrow. I went back to the game thinking it was an emulator issue, but when I compared the official SEGA Genesis Collection emulator along with the emulator on Retroarch, it literally makes no difference. For this reason, this game got its score buffed from 2.5 stars to 4 stars. That seems like a large gap, but you gotta understand how big of a difference it made because the movement was already really fun with the sprinting, divekicking, and wall jumping as if you were a ninja, but finally figuring out how the double jump timing actually works helped me to overcome obstacles that was seemingly impossible without save cheesing such as the 6th level with falling rocks. I will say, though, the final boss is still bullshit. I'm surprised I didn't bring this up in my initial review, but he attacks way too frequently and too quickly, his shuriken from above is near impossible to avoid, and I had to use Mirin ninjitsu 2 times and that lightning ninjitsu for extra damage protection, and I still was only barely able to defeat him with 1 HP left.
Review updated on May 12th, 2024 (How has it been literally one year since I beaten the game, where the fuck did that time go?!)
The rest of the movements seem to work fine, though. You have a run which is triggered by tapping right or left twice, you have attack which fires a projectile by default or swings a sword if you are in melee. You have ninjitsu's that you can activate for a power boost although you get a limited amount and you should be careful when you use it.
Wow, did I severely misjudge this game out of skill issues. It turns out the double jump issue that I claim to have was likely because I kept holding the jump button instead of tapping it which seemed to make the timing feel much more narrow. I went back to the game thinking it was an emulator issue, but when I compared the official SEGA Genesis Collection emulator along with the emulator on Retroarch, it literally makes no difference. For this reason, this game got its score buffed from 2.5 stars to 4 stars. That seems like a large gap, but you gotta understand how big of a difference it made because the movement was already really fun with the sprinting, divekicking, and wall jumping as if you were a ninja, but finally figuring out how the double jump timing actually works helped me to overcome obstacles that was seemingly impossible without save cheesing such as the 6th level with falling rocks. I will say, though, the final boss is still bullshit. I'm surprised I didn't bring this up in my initial review, but he attacks way too frequently and too quickly, his shuriken from above is near impossible to avoid, and I had to use Mirin ninjitsu 2 times and that lightning ninjitsu for extra damage protection, and I still was only barely able to defeat him with 1 HP left.