Twinworld Game Reviews

Posts Tagged ‘Return of the Warriors’

TAITO has been known for creating amazing video games such as Arkanoid, Bubble Bobble, and Space Invaders, since the early 1970’s. In 1987, TAITO brought us The Ninja Warriors, a side scrolling action game for the arcade venues, and later on, the home consoles. The arcade version included a 3 screen display for players to enjoy their ninja action in a unique wide-screen format.

In The Ninja Warriors arcade game, you controlled 1 of 2 robotic ninjas created by an anarchist group led by Mulk. The ninjas were built to assassinate Banglar, the Tyrant president of the United States, who has issued martial law and given total control to the military.

On October 15th, TAITO released The Ninja Saviors: Return of The Warriors in North America on the Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4 home consoles. This release was a reboot of their 1994 sequel, also titled The Ninja Warriors, which was released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Instead of going with a modern art style, TAITO chose to remain faithful to the original release and keep the 16-bit art style while improving on the actual game resolution and animations.

With many companies bringing older 2D titles to modern consoles with 3D character models, I’m quite happy that TAITO didn’t go the same route. Sure, the game might look good if a lot of effort was put into the 3D models, but that has not been the case with many of the reboots from other companies. The character animations in The Ninja Saviors are quite smooth and the background artwork is fantastic. I’ll take gorgeous 2D artwork over mediocre 3D character models any day of the week!

The Ninja Saviors include 5 ninjas for you to pick from, with 3 being available from the beginning. Each ninja has their own move set which consists of basic attacks, aerial attacks, specials, etc. One example would be the red ninja, who is able to unleash a round of shurikens in front of her by spending some of her stored up battery power. The ninjas are also able to block many attacks, as well as pick up various objects in a stage to use against their adversaries.

The game consists of 8 stages, each more challenging than the last. As you progress into the later stages, previously defeated bosses are thrown into the mix to push your skills to their limits. With how challenging the game can get, you need to make sure your reflexes are as fast as ever. During my play-through, I didn’t notice any major frame-rate issues and the character movement seemed to be on point. The load time between stages was minimal as well, which is always a good thing.

Another addition to the title are online leaderboards and a Time Attack mode. In the SNES title, you had a timer that counted down in each stage that you were in, pushing you to complete the stage before it hit 0. With the reboot, the counter is now going up. If you can beat the game without dying (as you only get 1 life before having to re-pick your ninja), your time will be uploaded to see where you rank against fellow ninjas. Since you only have the 1 life to get onto the leaderboards per run, you’ll want to utilize the items placed throughout the stages to help replenish your health and battery power. As you complete each stage in normal mode, a time attack mode will unlock for that stage. This allows you to challenge each stage individually for the best time instead of going through all 8 stages each run.

The game does have 2 difficulty modes, normal and hard. Hard mode is locked when you first start the game, but will unlock after you’ve beaten normal mode at least once. The game also allows you to customize your controller buttons, which is something folks are always happy to see included. The developers included an option to enable / disable blood effects, which is something the SNES was known for having removed from many titles that were published to the console. While the SNES version was only a single player game, this reboot provides you with a local co-op mode so that you and a friend can unload some ninja mayhem on the enemies together.

The developers have included multiple high quality audio soundtracks in this reboot, but only 1 is available by default. Luckily the game tells you what you’ll need to do to unlock the other soundtracks for your listening enjoyment. Multiple language options are available as well for those who want to play the game in a language other than English.

The Ninja Saviors include a built-in manual which is a nice touch. The pages list each ninja’s move sets, so you don’t have to randomly press buttons to figure out which button does what. I am surprised that the manual shows off the character moves for the 2 hidden ninjas though right from the start, which essentially spoils what the 2 ninjas look like. I would have preferred that the manual hide those pages until the appropriate ninja was unlocked.

TAITO has done a wonderful job in bringing The Ninja Warriors to modern consoles with their reboot of the SNES classic. Even though the game can be completed within an hour or 2 once you’re familiar with everything, the unlockable difficulty modes & bonus characters help justify playing through the game multiple times.

Between the graphical improvements, audio soundtracks, new game play modes, online leaderboards, extra playable characters, and revised character move sets, this is one reboot you don’t want to miss out on. If you enjoyed The Ninja Warriors back in the day, or if you’re just looking for a challenging side-scrolling action game, make sure to check out The Ninja Saviors – Return of the Warriors!

Stuttgart, Germany – October 15th 2019 – ININ Games, publishing label of United Games GmbH, is pleased to announce The Ninja Saviors – Return of the Warriors, Taito’s iconic and classic sequel to the arcade hit, which has already been highly acclaimed in Europe, is OUT TODAY in North and South America. This much-revered brand will excite fans of the genre and pull in a whole new generation of gamers. The Ninja Saviors – Return of the Warriors releases on Sony PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch 19.99 USD digitally and the physical edition, with additional items, will be 29.99 USD.

The Ninja Saviors – Return of the Warriors,  a side-scrolling arcade brawler, features a strong cast of five playable characters and a plethora of individual moves, with two completely new faces joining the team.  For even more gripping immersion fans can experience the eagerly awaited, and superb, two-player co-op mode and an online ranking system so that you can measure yourself against fighters from all over the world. In a total of 8 levels, players will brawl their way through waves of enemy hordes, either alone or in pairs.

Players assume the role of one of the five android ninjas to take on the tyrant Banglar and his henchmen with a variety of individual moves in a dystopian future.

A completely uncut and mesmerizing experience is presented and options to change the colour of hit effects are just a few of the surprises in store supplemented by new enemies previously not seen on the original Western Super Nintendo version. Importantly the original developers, TENGO PROJECT, have improved the audio-visuals in every respect, making an already outstanding game even better!

The above six-minute trailer gives an insight into some of the new features and characters that are presented in The Ninja Saviors – Return of the Warriors.

Source: PR Email

Stuttgart, Germany; 2nd October 2019 – ININ Games, a publishing label of United Games Entertainment GmbH, is pleased to announce The Ninja Saviors – Return of the Warriors, Taito’s iconic and classic beat ‘em up arcade hit is only two weeks away from North and South America release. Already highly acclaimed in Europe from its earlier release, the long wait for American gamers is nearly over. The Ninja Saviors – Return of the Warriors will be released digitally on PSN and eShop for 19.99 USD.

There will also be a special day 1 physical edition available in stores for both, Sony PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch for 29.99 USD. The first print physical release will come with a printed manual, stickers, as well as a poster. In addition, there will be a special compensation gift for the delayed launch in the form of two-character cards depicting the new characters Raiden and Yaksha. The cards will be exclusive to North America.

TENGO PROJECT, the original development team, has elevated THE NINJA SAVIORS – Return of the Warriors to new heights with a re-mastered reboot, plus even better audio and visuals with the 16-bit pixel art of the classic SNES version being retained, but significantly revised, along with cool new animations.

In THE NINJA SAVIORS – Return of the Warriors, players assume the role of one of five android ninjas to take on the tyrant Banglar, and his henchmen, with a variety of individual moves in a dystopian future. Along with two completely new characters, the fully revised side-scrolling arcade brawler also finally offers fans the eagerly awaited two-player co-op mode and an online ranking system so that you can measure yourself against fighters from all over the world. In a total of eight levels, players will brawl their way through waves of enemy hordes, either alone or in pairs.

Source: PR Email