It’s only over time that Shadow will learn to throw shurikens, double jump and dash across the screen. Shadow starts out with just his razor-sharp katana, scant hit points, and no special abilities. To the credit of the game’s design, most of the side paths are near tele-porters which bypass some of the more brutal platforming sections, so you’ll only have to play through the game’s most insidious sections once. Exploration and backtracking are encouraged and several optional side passages lead to extra hard platforming trials which reward the player with extensions to their health and spirit bars, as well as the occasional Easter egg referencing the T eenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The stages are presented in a very linear fashion like in Ninja Gaiden, but they’re actually interconnected like in Metroid – though not to the same degree as in that series. Also, while the controls are generally tight and responsive, the player learns a parry ability around the midpoint of the game that never feels like it works quite as well as it should. Shadow controls very well, with his many abilities mapped to just two buttons and the directional pad. There’s even a couple of vehicle sections in the middle of the game which shake things up, and are thankfully not as frustrating as those sections from games of the NES-era, like say, Battletoads. Along the way, he picks up new abilities by thrashing a respectable number of challenging bosses and freeing his fellow ninja. The gameplay is as straightforward as the plot would suggest: Shadow slashes his way through hundreds of enemies across a dozen stages. The story gets the job done, and doesn’t get in the way of the action. Progen’s descent into madness is motivated by a tragic, personal loss. The Master’s empathy and wisdom comes across as she teaches you the ways of the ninja, and the villainous Dr. While Shadow himself is a cypher, the other characters have enough personality that they feel like real people. While the story doesn’t break new narrative ground, it’s well told through dialogue, entry logs and era-appropriate animated cutscenes. Progen from wiping out the people of Mekacity.

It’s up to you to rescue your clansmen and stop the mad Dr. You’re given very little time to ponder your new existence before being called to action: your clan of noble ninjas has been betrayed and your master has been kidnapped by the nefarious Dr.

The player takes control of the eponymous Shadow, a ninja who wakes up in a cybernetic body, after having died in an apocalyptic explosion. The game is brimming with challenging gameplay, catchy synth tunes and pixel-perfect, sprite-based art, just right for any player willing to overcome the game’s uncompromising difficulty. It’s is a devoted love letter to NES-era games like Ninja Gaiden and Shadow of the Ninja-with just a dash of Mega Man and Metroid to spice things up. Developed by Mechanical Head Games, and published by Yacht Club Games, Cyber Shadow was designed over a period of five years by one man – Aarne Hunziker – with music by Enrique Martin. Cyber Shadow is a “modern-retro” game which harkens back to the halcyon days of the 1980s – the golden age for both ninjas and the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Cyber shadow platforms