Are there a more pert pair of buttocks in all of video gamedom than those belonging to Ryu Hayabusa? Like two smooth boulders covered in latex, Ryu’s glutes have accompanied him on many adventures over the years, mostly involving the deadly ninja hacking, slashing, and dismembering his way through a veritable horde of assassins, ninja-dogs and fiends. First introduced in 1988’s Ninja Gaiden, Ryu has appeared in numerous games since, yet it’s arguably when he went 3D in 2004 that both Ryu and his famous bum cheeks really broke through into the mainstream consciousness.
2008’s Ninja Gaiden II is arguably the best action-adventure in the series history, offering thrills, spills, and gore by the bucketload. So, with Ninja Gaiden 4 revealed for release this year, it’s fitting that the original version of Ninja Gaiden II has received the remake treatment. Now dressed up in stunning Unreal Engine 5 visuals, the game certainly looks the part. Character models are top-notch, the level of details added to a 17-year-old game is something to behold. The speed of the gameplay is lightning fast too, Ryu moving with lighting fluidity at a silky smooth 60fps, packs of enemies exploding in viscera around him.
It’s rather quaint to remember that Ninja Gaiden used to be considered a rock-hard, uber-punishing game. Now, in contrast to the Souls genre, it proves itself to be extremely accessible, and all the better for it. Controls are simple and spectacular, basic inputs resulting in phenomenal screen-shaking combo of attacks. Ryu is a bad-ass, and the game lets him be that bad-ass.
Rather than preoccupying itself with limiting the ninja’s abilities, Team Ninja’s finest is all about unleashing that power. With an extremely generous block to protect you, your main task is managing the space and ensuring Ryu doesn’t become overwhelmed by the multitude of murderous foes he faces in each encounter. That means timing Ultimate Attacks just right, and once you’ve done that, the awesome flurry of attacks that follows is all down to Ryu.
Combat is a total cathartic joy, particularly when facing down human foes. Your unwitting opponents will end up with the arms and legs lopped off, though, hilariously, they will fight on, in a manner akin to Monty Python. Though don’t be distracted by all that chuckling, as, due to missing their important extremities, your enemies will unleash devastating suicide attacks – so, you’re best off putting them down quickly. Less enjoyable to face are big minions, such as fiends or werewolves. Whilst it’s undeniably impressive to witness ten hulking werewolves bearing down on you, they lack the variety in their combat style that human foes bring.
What’s most refreshing about playing classic Ninja Gaiden now is how quickly battles are over; this isn’t drawn out Souls-like combat, combat is fast, frantic, and over in seconds. That applies to the bosses as well. I’ve become so atuned to boss battles going on and on through various phases, that I was flabbergasted to crush a typically massive demon in a matter of minutes. It’s a thrilling change from the modern norm of long drawn-out slog-fests. Though, many of the boss battles have not aged well, fighting the weird silver demon train or water dragon are clunky and messy experiences, frankly it’s a good thing they are done with in 120 seconds.
Ironically, Ryu’s greatest foe is no screen-breaking gigantic boss, instead it’s the in-game camera. This remains, as in the 2008 original and is resolutely terrible. Rather than rotating 360 degrees around Ryu, the camera instead acts like a slow-moving drone hovering behind the ninja. As such, it’s all too easy to have absolutely no idea what’s going on, as a lot of the time you can’t even see your player character. Navigating narrow corridors, in particular, is a total chore, the camera failing to keep up entirely. Swimming has also not aged well either, the normally agile and dexterous ninja handling like a soviet-era submarine.
Personally, I would have preferred the camera to have been completely re-worked, but that’s one of the dangers of remaking an older game. But hey, I guess that’s the dangers of remaking an old game, you get everything exactly as it was, just prettier, which means you end up with both the very good and the underwhelmingly bad.
That said, another potential sore spot for series fans might be more about whether this release is deserving of the ‘Black’ moniker. Pitched as a remake of the Xbox 360 original, this is actually closer to Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma in terms of the volume of enemies that you face, and some of the other revisions and changes made as the game was brought to other platforms. If you can accept that, this is the prettiest version of the game, and a great reintroduction to the series (alongside 2021’s Master Collection) ahead of Ninja Gaiden 4.