This was a journey. I think it's possibly my new favorite action game. The combat relies more on reflexes than memorizing combos. Playing it was invigorating, but I was also reminded that games like this were a dying breed.by 2005. Having a simple story of revenge was quickly becoming passe'. Contemporary to Ninja Gaiden Black were games like Devil May Cry 3 and Shadow of the Colossus, both of which released in 2005, as well Half-Life 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3, which released a year prior to Black (The base game Ninja Gaiden released the same year as Half-Life 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3). All of them were doing more interesting things with how stories could be told in games. Ninja Gaiden's story isn't bad, mind. It's just simple, with plenty of worldbuilding, llore, ambient music, and atmosphere to soak in if one is so inclined.

And the game gives you plenty of time to take in the sights. The map is sprawling, with lots of collectibles to find, secrets to uncover, and puzzles to solve. It reminds me of a Resident Evil game or a Zelda game from the Nintendo 64 era in terms of level design, while also having a foot firmly planted in the glories of the NES. You have a Ninja that travels to an evil empire by airship, fights, using primarily a sword, bad guys with guns, other ninjas, zombies, demons, and dinosaurs, with the help of a beautiful woman. It's all stuff you would have seen in the 8-bit days. The aesthetics, plot, and gameplay would fit right in with that era, especially given how hard the game is to finish.

i won't try to sugarcoat it, folks: this game is hard. To the point where it might seem unfair. It has mobs, enemies that respawn, and even classic NES knockback into lava pits. This version of the game does have an easy mode, and it makes fun of you for using it. So naturally, I played on Normal, learned the moveset, got better, and had the time of my life doing so. Every weapon in the game has a use (except for the nunchuks, which are basically a worse version of the flail). In addition, the game is very generous with healing items, so make sure to stock up if you get stuck, and don't be afraid to use your magic. This game does have a ranking system, but the rankings don't seem to do much. Which is a good thing, as that means all the bonuses, costumes, and extra missions can be unlocked and earned simply by playing the game at your own pace.

In summary, this is a perfect reboot of an old franchise. Fun story, immaculate level design, a combat system that will really put a player's reflexes to the test, an interesting world to explore, and lots of bonuses to unlock make this an amazing game that could potentially keep a player busy for months. Probably the best Xbox exclusive not published by Microsoft themselves. Don't miss it. But ignore the remake of this game, Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Sigma eliminates a lot of the puzzle elements that made this game so interesting to explore, in my opinion. Sigma is a fine game on its own, but it is not a substitute for Black. There is no other game like Ninja Gaiden Black. And given the nature of video games now, there never will be.

Great continuation to the story, really adds a significant amount to the characters. Explaining their motives, showing a glimpse of their pasts and giving them an overall believable / understandable feel. The world is perfectly expanded upon and is easily the best looking game I've played. I enjoyed how the narrative was able to change tone (serious, goofy, fun, sad, etc...) without feeling corny or forced. Goes without saying but the story itself is also great in my opinion. Lastly Tifa is in the game :)

Rondo is the most stylish Classicvania and a generation ahead of its contemporaries by way of artistry and scope. It also made me realize I just do not find Classicvania fun.

Not enough can be said about the art production - it's on par and beyond some Saturn and PS1 titles. There's an animation and limited color theory prowess on display that gives human believability and dimension to its universe, supported further by tons of ambrosial expressions and flourishes. But I think it seeps too deep into enemy composition, as their patterns feel more obnoxious than threatening. Even with all the visual windup they have, it's really hard to anticipate where hitboxes start and stop. Flying enemies were a huge nuisance, pestering you while trying to take down larger targets. Their movements are erratic and unreadable - closer to realism than their primitive NES counterparts' sinewaves and such, but those mathematical traits are part of what makes them learnable and readable. Richter's moveset was a main grievance for me: The backflip and fixed aim movement are fun to use but didn't feel circumstantially effective. Fixed aim is super finicky given you have to hold attack, then release and press again to trigger it - it's not the game's fault and more a limitation of the PCE gamepad, but something that should've been fixed for Dracula X Chronicles and Requiem. Backflipping is satisfying when used as a reverse retreat tool against big soldiers or for finding goodies, but every boss that expects you to use it is miserable. It feels extremely unnatural to move backwards, release the d-pad, then backflip towards a boss to evade a hit. And damn what's up with the i-frames in this game? They're barely there. You get hit once and just careen off 3 other things and die.

Maria's extremely fun to control. On paper, her and Richter are the best execution of multiple characters in a Classicvania: A lead Belmont as the intended challenge and a side character that breaks those rules for a smoother romp. Maria's double-jumps, bird projectiles and slides are a perfect summation of tight NES/SNES-era character control, like a coked-out Sir Arthur with slide-dashes. But damn, I really wish some of her toolkit was implemented back into Richter's. Replaying stages after death just to retry the boss is a miserable slog, and I would've loved to just slide-dash my way back instead of having to re-do puzzle-like encounters that I've already proven I can pass.

Running Rondo on the PS4 Requiem collection also had some annoyances - no savestates was the big one, but also the readability of some events. The Death fight was near-impossible until I realized his schythes have a 1-pixel-wide point showing where they'll spawn - something that would pop and pulse out on CRT, but looked like a particle effect on HD with original aspect ratio. Dracula's easy compared to past outings, but trying to read the narrow timing on his fireballs and 2nd-phase jumps was a nightmare until I switched to fullscreen. My understanding is this is an emulation of the PSP source code ports included in Dracula X Chronicles off of Sony's own PSP emulation kit - hence why it's PS-exclusive. I couldn't notice any more lag than normally expected from a Dualshock, but with how often I was fucking up simple bits, I swear there must've been a frame or two extra (totally not a scrub, totally not a scrub, totally not a scrub). I've also heard there's issues in the SotN port specifically because of how the emulator interprets directional inputs, but I couldn't say one way or another if they also apply here.

This was a great experience for the cool factor but I admittedly wanted to stop by the time I reached stage 5. Just couldn't tell you why it doesn't click the way I expected it should. I'd like to go back to one of the NES Castlevania's soon so I could formulate a better case on why Classicvania is something I get in abstract but don't actually like playing.

Weirdly flawed in the way a lot of modern Nomura games are, but hits just the right notes tonally in as many places that I had a lot of fun with this and I have to say that it is the best and most accessible main FF title in over a decade. Gameplay is fast and fun but of course as an original fan I'm hyper aware of all the sections that are padding and they feel that way. The pacing and direction are nowhere near as tight as the classic title, and Nomura's strange direction and fear that he doesn't have the guts to kill characters pervades.

Also why do all the NPCs talk at once, Square has been doing this since 13 to make the world more "alive" I guess but I can't hear anything as I'm running through these areas and it fucking sucks and has the opposite effect where it breaks immersion. Just have a background track unless I talk to specific people.

Still a love letter to many fans, I had a lot of fun with this and I am curious abt what they'll do further. Wouldn't recommend newcomers experience the story this way tho, just get over turned-based combat and play a classic already ya kids.