Retro Weekends Episode 52: Shadow Warriors/Ninja Gaiden

"A good game with good presentation and game play, I really liked some of the weapons, such as the boomerang weapon that could stay on the screen swinging back and forth killing the enemies. On the downside the game is too difficult, it knocks you about without giving you a chance to react at times and graphically its a bit grainy, there's a lot of noticeable dithering in the backgrounds and it doesn't look as good as Bionic Commando or Contra from the same year. All in all a good release but it doesn't quite stack up to the 88' greats."

"This game is a classic that really pushed the bar for presentation in gaming with all of its detailed cutscenes, sure the storyline isn't winning any awards but its richer than the norm for what was available at the time. Game play is fast and responsive, though quite brutal at times with the constantly respawning enemies, many of which appear when you're mid jump. The way the secondary weapons work is similar to in Castlevania but I don't feel they work quite as well here, for me making sure to wait to get the right weapons kind of bogs the game down a little, and while you're waiting for the weapon to land on the ground you're often getting hit by the constantly respawning enemies. "