Growing up a fan of Sega and owning a NES. I have to admit that both Shinobi and Ninja Gaiden were two games that were not much celebrated in my house. And as for Ninja Gaiden, I don’t even think I was much aware of it to be honest. The difference between now and then, is that gaming was very much something that wasn’t as much celebrated in popular culture, and to be honest it was even kind of rare to find other friends into the hobby. I do remember some heated debates at the lunch table in school, and I got several random phone calls from friends, because they knew I had a lot of gaming magazines and was able to share tips and codes for games.
In the case of Shinobi I did play a lot of Legions on the Saturn, and cannot remember much if anything about the earlier titles. Its very well possible, I played the original Ninja Gaiden games at a friends house, but my memory is not good enough to remember anything specific.
Fast forward today, and I recall watching various different streamers playing the original Ninja Gaiden, and earlier Shinobi games, specifically part 3 that really caught my attention. While still chisseling my way through many of these games, I will admit Shinobi 3 and the first Ninja Gaiden stand out to me most.
When I heard a new Shinobi was being released alongside Ninja Gaiden, I was very excited. As the time draws closer to release for both titles, I have now seen a lot of gameplay of both titles. And its now come to my attention that each title is under development from company’s separate from both Sega and Tecmo. I know for certain Tecmo has long since retired, not even sure what has become of them. So its no wonder that Ninja Gaiden wouldn’t be worked on by them.
The new developers are responsible for games like Streets of Rage 4 and Blasphemous. Two titles I have neither played, both of which do look enjoyable to me.
My only issue with both games is that the wheel has not been reinvented, and unfortunately when thinking of many new games today, the word cookie cutter does come to mind. Is it any wonder that titles are now grouped into category’s like “soulslike” and “metroidvania”.
Its like when people tell me there is a new Metallica album, and I think to myself, yea but have you heard “Ride the Lightning” or “in Justice for All”? or even other thrash giants, who are actually still playing thrash metal like Testament and Slayer.
Am I slowly becoming that old guy, who is yelling at the neighborhood kids, to “get out of my yard!”, or “back in my day…..”.
I won’t be quitting video games any time soon. For me while underwhelming, it is still exciting to see video games still around and people are still developing and creating new stuff. What even excites me more, is watching individuals not even working for any development companies that are creating new games for classic consoles, or translating titles into english, that otherwise cannot be enjoyed without knowing Japanese or having some kind of translating software to understand the dialogue and menus.
Will I be getting the new Shinobi or Ninja Gaiden? eventually yes, but I still have a back log of games, some of which are in fact the classic Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi, and I owe it to myself to complete and finish those first.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2542120/NINJA_GAIDEN_Ragebound
Expected release date: 7/31/2025
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2361770/SHINOBI_Art_of_Vengeance
Expected release date: 8/29/2025
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