New Retro Review and again today I will talk about a game based on Ninjas, an excellent platform game from the time of the arcade machines, which, unlike the other game that I talked about a few days ago, is much better, in many ways, with a more frantic, fast and addictive type of action and also with a much higher and more challenging difficulty level. It is also a game that takes inspiration from other similar games like Ninja Gaiden or Strider, but maintains its own personality and essence.
Today's Retro Review is about: Ninja Spirit.
What can you expect from a video game that was originally released for arcade machines, whose main purpose was to train and make children and adults spend as many coins as possible? Exactly, a simple story, so simple that it's just a tiny pretext for our protagonist to embark on a mission of revenge. Moonlight, our main protagonist, is furious due to the murder of his father and that is why he must travel and eliminate all those responsible for such a vile act. A classic revenge story, typical and quite violent.
Graphically it is an outstanding game, taking into account its age, Ninja Spirit has managed to keep up with the passing of the years due to its good quality sprites and character designs very solid and with good details. It has a quite remarkable pixelart style that makes it shine even today. It is one of those games of which you know immediately that despite being very retro, at the time it was very impressive for those who managed to play it, and although I did not live that time, I can imagine with great ease, the surprise and the impact it left on many players.
In terms of animations it maintains the line of quality of the sprites and character designs, with fast and fluid movements, this being a very important aspect in a game where we control a ninja who must be fast to stalk and attack their enemies, it makes the experience and playable feeling, due to this great mobility of our character, is quite satisfactory. Ninja Spirits is one of those 8-bit games that still endure and will endure over the years.
The sound aspect of Ninja Spirit can be considered as basic, taking into account that it is a game of the 80's and the sound chips for video games were not as spectacular as later generations, it is a game that despite its simplicity manages to fulfill its purpose very well, giving us a soundtrack that manages to "decorate" very well the scenarios and situations through which our protagonist will have to overcome. Also, the sound effects manage to fulfill its main purpose to a great extent.
Ninja Spirit is a very entertaining platform and action game, with very well implemented mechanics that fit very well with all the elements related to the Ninjas, as our protagonist can use several types of very useful weapons and powers ups that makes the gameplay in general is much more fun and diverse than other similar games.
Our protagonist, Moonlight has a set of very useful weapons that we can use in various situations and enemies, taking into account our skills in their use and how they affect the enemies, in this way, we will have to think about which weapon will be more useful depending on the situation we have in front of us, thus adding a certain element of "strategy" to the game mechanics. From the classic katana, bombs, shurikens and a chain, Moonlight, will make his way eliminating as many enemies as possible.
But Moonlight will not only have weapons to face his enemies, because as we advance we can get power ups, which are very useful, one of these power ups makes our character duplicate (like Naruto's shadow clones), and these clones can replicate the movements of our character. Another power up improves the attack of our Katana, as well as a shield that protects us from enemy attacks.
Ninja Spirit is one of those classic games that you must play, with excellent mechanics and action from beginning to end, it is a game that will give us many challenges and entertainment for a few hours.
