Cyber Shadow

This is an NES game. It's pretty crazy, but this could have reasonably been released on that hardware albeit at a much lower resolution and running on the NES's bagel toaster CPU. And, yes, with that comes the difficulty that makes you want to blame someone in the room for falling into spikes. It's all there. I for one thank the devs for trying to make an "actual" NES game and all that entails. This is more Batman on the NES than Ninja Gaiden to me, and I know Batman ripped that game off just very, very well. I prefer Batman. This game has that intense difficulty curve. The bosses will require multiple failures to memorize their tricks so don't be disheartened. There are infinite continues from dock stations as far as I can tell, but you get 5 or 6 hit points as you might have back then. I also don't mind admitting I'm a "boomer" to most of you at 37. So being like Nintendo is nice to me. But your milage may vary.

I've actually been waiting for this game to release for quite a while, and now that I've played it for several hours, I can safely say that it's okay. It starts out a bit frustrating, but keeps a steady pace the the next several levels. The bosses are pretty enjoyable and range from challenging to rage inducing. I cam currently stuck on a boss that I've literally tried to beat more than 20 times (I had to walk away for the sake of my controller remaining intact). Overall the game is very enjoyable and plays similarly to other platformers like Mega Man, Shovel Knight, Metroid and Castlevania. Keep in mind that this is NOT a Metroidvania, but rather a platformer. It does borrow elements from various other games in this genre but it still manages to stay original in it's own right. It's definitely worth picking up for the price.

Cyber Shadow plays a bit like the 8bit NES Ninja Gaiden games with some modern twists. While crouching and wall grabbing aren't present, the platforming and timing of strikes are spot on. The story boards in between stages capture a very NES Ninja Gaiden vibe. The music adds a sense of engagement to the stages. The subweapons system is more RPG like, with swappable upgrades, than the 8bit Ninja Gaiden games. Looks like Yacht Club is sitting on another winner thanks to the designs of MekaSkull. Played on Linux Mint 17.3 64bit, with a Logitech F310. Should also be compatible with Ubuntu 14.04.

I love the original Ninja Gaiden and this game feels like an upgraded version. It really strives to be what's advertised: an authentic 8-bit presentation with more modern animation and gameplay. The game looks fantastic. There are many save points, which are almost always placed in the perfect location. The feel of the game is great at its core, but on several occasions the almost perfect foundation of the game is ruined by annoying limitations put on movement/freedom of movement. I have three main gripes with this. - The first time I was really annoyed was with the boss in the water based level, where you constantly end up in the water where movement is severely limited, so the game has you struggle to create platforms by hitting a certain enemy type. When you finally have enough of a platform you can fight the boss. The platforms quickly disappear, so this has to be done over and over again. I really hate this kind of raised difficulty based on putting limitations on movement. - The second issue, which is much bigger, is the strange run/dash mechanic, which is both inconsistent and difficult to activate. The running is activated by a keypress (not keyhold) and feels.. not good. I'm not sure exactly why, but it seems like the running won't activate sometimes, and when it is active it's quickly lost because you get caught on the environment or something. That's a problem, because you can't dash unless you're already running and you can't start running unless you're on the ground. The dashing itself moves the character too far, which means you can't use it reliably. The end result is a mechanic you have to use sometimes, but that's not enjoyable. - The third issue I have, which was also a major issue in the original Ninja Gaiden, is that the game is filled with cheap instant deaths. This is a minor problem sometimes, and other times it's something that completely ruins the pace of the game for an entire level. Still love this game though.