Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is both a speedrunner's dream and the perfect homage to the NES trilogy

Many moons agone successful the aboriginal '90s, I grew up with a transcript of the Nintendo Power strategy usher for Ninja Gaiden II. That fantabulous tome contained bios connected each of the game's enemies, and I callback being entranced by 1 successful particular: a gourd-like axe-wielder named Pumpkin Head.

Fast guardant 35 years, and Pumpkin Head returns arsenic 1 of the galore villains successful Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, a spirited revival of 2D Ninja Gaiden lovingly crafted by The Game Kitchen. More specifically, helium shows up successful the archetypal signifier to chuck an array of blades astatine caller leader Kenji, who wears a bluish costume that's lone a fewer degrees removed from bid protagonist Ryu Hayabusa's classical attire.

Frankly, Ragebound is the champion that 2D Ninja Gaiden has ever been, sprinting a delicate tightrope betwixt homaging the past and offering thing new.

The throwbacks are the archetypal happening that you’ll notice. Aside from Pumpkin Head, the crippled feels specifically designed to entreaty to each of the folks who played the NES trilogy arsenic kids. From the prologue - which stars Ryu's begetter soon earlier helium perishes successful the moonlight duel that started the archetypal Ninja Gaiden - to Kenji's partition jumping and ceiling-climbing prowess, which feels close retired of Ninja Gaiden III, this effort was intelligibly built by fans with an appreciation for the root material.

That said, adjacent though The Game Kitchen mightiness person made their people successful the Metroidvania genre with Blasphemous, present they thankfully resisted the impulse to muddy the waters with exploration and an endless array of branching paths. In some its older entries and Xbox-era reboot, Ninja Gaiden has ever been astir axenic enactment supra each else, and Ragebound exemplifies this with much than 20 levels that are cautiously designed affairs with zero BS. There's nary request to endlessly notation to a representation to fig retired wherever you're going, and portion determination are immoderate collectibles to stitchery if you want, the absorption is squarely connected adept platforming and slashing done enemies - a refreshing alteration of gait successful 2025.

If this sounds simplistic, cognize that it's thing but. Unlike the games that inspired it, Ragebound stars not conscionable Kenji, but a kunoichi named Kumori whose psyche is bound to Kenji's acknowledgment to demon shenanigans. You power Kenji by default, and his forte lies successful melee swordsmanship and somersaulting disconnected of enemies. Whenever you request a kunai toss, however, you've got to swap to Kumori, and you'll besides aviator her to flip hard-to-reach switches successful a demonic parallel universe.

Switching betwixt some characters rapidly becomes a practised enactment of synergy acknowledgment to the hordes successful Kenji and Kumori's way. Some enemies are infused with bluish energy, meaning Kenji has to termination them. Others are pink, meaning that they're Kumori's targets. Slaughter the close foes with the close characters, and you'll harvest this vigor and rip done armoured baddies successful your way with a azygous hit. Your Rage Meter volition besides steadily accumulate, letting you unleash a screen-clearing onslaught erstwhile full.

The resulting acquisition is simply a thrill for speedrunners, metre absorption freaks, and anyone other who gets a thrill successful receiving an S ranking arsenic they dash done levels. And considering that the NES Ninja Gaidens are predominant speedrunning fodder these days, I've simply got to manus it to The Game Kitchen for erstwhile again doing their homework. They brought backmost Pumpkin Head, distilled classical Ninja Gaiden to its essentials for a modern revival, and managed to marque maine consciousness similar a kid again arsenic I played done their efforts. So portion Ninja Gaiden 4 mightiness instrumentality up much attraction arsenic the shinier caller section successful this franchise, Ragebound is thing special, and steals the katana-scratched crown arsenic my apical ninja crippled of 2025.