SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance | Combat Trailer

The more I see of the game, the more I feel like they went too cartoony. It also feels like they're focused too much on duking it out with enemies when the series has typically been about speedily tagging your enemies to kill them and then moving on. Not that you can't change things up, but I'm just not getting much Shinobi from this Shinobi game.
 
Danny Dudekisser said:
It also feels like they're focused too much on duking it out with enemies when the series has typically been about speedily tagging your enemies to kill them and then moving on.
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You're going to have to be a bit more specific about which Shinobi game you're referencing because they're not all like this.
 
March Climber said:
You're going to have to be a bit more specific about which Shinobi game you're referencing because they're not all like this.
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The original arcade game, Shadow Dancer, Revenge of Shinobi, Shinobi III, Shinobi PS2, and Nightshade. None of them are about scrapping with your enemies and whittling down a life bar. Even in the PS2 games, you smack a dude once or twice and then move on to your next target. They're about speed over nuanced combat.
 
Doesn't look like shinobi and doesn't play like shinobi. Could be a pass for me but since it is a SEGA IP I will probably give it a try.
 
Danny Dudekisser said:
The more I see of the game, the more I feel like they went too cartoony. It also feels like they're focused too much on duking it out with enemies when the series has typically been about speedily tagging your enemies to kill them and then moving on. Not that you can't change things up, but I'm just not getting much Shinobi from this Shinobi game.
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Personally, I really like it. The arcade versions of Shinobi/Shadow Dancer are usually one hit kills. Except for some Revenge of Shinobi enemies (Gunner/White Phoenix/Pink Dragon) and Shadow Dancer enemies (Blue/Red Ninja).

This seems to be a change in the formula as it's more of a beat em up this time around with emphasis in movement lots of verticality. I'm in. I know a lot of people were saying the same shit when Streets of Rage 4 came out, saying out it's NOT Streets of Rage. Then, it was a great success. Here's to hoping that lightning strikes twice here.
 
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Looks like it was done by the same team that did Streets of Rage 4, but I don't see their name so coincidence I suppose.

I'll wait and see what other people say before jumping in.
 
Mister Wolf said:
The Ninja Gaiden looks better. Will buy both for Switch 2.
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This.

I mean, this also looks good but the typical lizardcube flash cartoony style isn't doing it any favours IMO - just like it didn't with Streets of Rage 4.
Their games play wonderfully but that fucking art style man...I just don't know 😬
 
This looks freaking awesome, what are some of you smoking? Between this and Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, ninja fans are eating good this year.
 
Giallo Corsa said:
This.

I mean, this also looks good but the typical lizardcube flash cartoony style isn't doing it any favours IMO - just like it didn't with Streets of Rage 4.
Their games play wonderfully but that fucking art style man...I just don't know 😬
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Same people? Because I hated the SoR4 art style to an irrational degree and this is giving me 'Nam PTSD flashbacks of that.
 
I actually preferred the "unfinished painting/comic book" look of the early preview videos. now it looks too clean like an ultra HD flash game.

That aside, I'll pick this up day 1. Doesn't really feel like a Shinobi game, but the game that it is still looks fun.
 
Preordered as soon as I could and just waiting for the Ninja Gaiden preorder to open...
Now we just need some Tenchu news this SGF and this gen is saved...
 
Aside from the inspirations from some levels of the previous games, this game isn't Shinobi. I can see why people might like it though since it's a big departure from the way those games play and it is taking a more modern spin on the formula.

I did enjoy SoR4 despite the art style not landing it and don't really like the direction they went with it here too. Looks like it probably plays really well for the direction that lizardqube wanted to take with it, but its taking a much further departure from the Shinobi games than SoR4 was from that series.

I do think that new 2D Ninja Gaiden looks much better, but I will probably end up getting this at some point but will wait for a deep sale (or to be on PS+ essential).
 
Giallo Corsa said:
Yep, same dev 😞
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Mister Wolf said:
The Ninja Gaiden looks better. Will buy both for Switch 2.
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Ninja Gaiden Ragebound looks kind of lame too.

All this indie-adjacent shit seems to love using that Western animu style. It's irritating. Ragebound does it for its animated cutscenes and I half expect to see "directed by Adi Shankar" drop at the end of the trailers...

Game Kitchen also always makes their games look really washed out with little contrast. It's like they're accidentally developing everything in the wrong RGB color space. The game looks a lot better to me with some pop:

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The Messenger is the true heir to the style of 8-bit Ninja Gaiden. It's just too bad that game falls to pieces in the second half.

 
Looks like a sequel to the Strider remake. Which ain't a bad thing, but it ain't Shinobi either. Enemy life bars. Case closed.
 
Seyken said:
I didn't mention Ninja Gaiden 4 because that's made by Platinum, and they are VERY hit and miss.

Out of those 3 games, it's the one I'm least confident about.
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It'll be good. Tecmo knows its one of their top IP. MS knows. They've had a long time

 
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I find this to be reminiscent of Guacamelee.

Between this and how good SoR4 is I might even have to make the rare decision to pre-order.

With SOR4 I found that it was so fun to play that it affected the originals. That probably won't do that as they were more 1HKO games, it's more a testament to the evolution brought to that franchise. The right choices were made, and it looks like it would well be the same story here.
 
Punished Miku said:
It'll be good. Tecmo knows its one of their top IP. MS knows. They've had a long time

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I agree that the gameplay is looking good and that it's one of their most important IP.

That being said - this is now a main title, and not a spin off, where Ryu is not the MC. What this feels to me - and trust me, I WANT to be wrong - is that Team Ninja doesn't trust Platinum enough to let them handle and possibly spoil a game with Ryu as the main protagonist. It even feels to me like this game was originally made to be a 100% Yakumo game, and at some point they pivoted to make the game more appealing, because they knew people would complain if Ryu wasn't playable. But from all the clips, Yakumo seems like a much more in depth / fleshed out character to play as.

Again, I would absolutely want nothing more than to be wrong about this. But Platinum has been a mess for a while now and had some mass departures from very important people within the company recently. If they deliver a banger with this, PERFECT, they have my money. I'm just bracing for the worst.
 
NG4 looks good but also more floaty than the originals which had a sort of heavy feel to slashing. Which I liked. However, worse than 3 is almost not possible. I do hope PG isn't going to incorperate their slow mo gimmicks and their level design frankly usually sucks ass.

Shinobi looks great. I do prefer 16-bit sprites but I'm sure it looks fine on 4k. The gameplay... its more of a beat em up now. Will probably enable some good juggle and style gameplay. But if you're looking for methodical classic Shinobi gameplay, this isn't it.
 
Game looks alright but not really like Shinobi to me. Then again I'm in the minority that prefers the more methodical almost cinematic platformer style of gameplay in the first couple of arcade games that basically ripped off Konami's Rolling Thunder series than the later console only entries.

Bonus game - M J's Moonwalker home "ports" (just as the ESWAT arcade game is also different than the home versions, though it's a bit closer than Moonwalker): https://youtu.be/HQzzxYnuIYA?t=23​
 
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Killer8 said:
Ninja Gaiden Ragebound looks kind of lame too.

All this indie-adjacent shit seems to love using that Western animu style. It's irritating. Ragebound does it for its animated cutscenes and I half expect to see "directed by Adi Shankar" drop at the end of the trailers...

Game Kitchen also always makes their games look really washed out with little contrast. It's like they're accidentally developing everything in the wrong RGB color space. The game looks a lot better to me with some pop:

C13N5nF.png
7pPUES1.png


3DK2tOU.png
ZU8C3nh.jpeg


w8CgWzY.png
qbniM5R.png
Click to expand...
theyre-the-same-picture-the-office.gif
 
im not a fan of how it looks, i didnt like what they did with streets of rage visually either. maybe my brain hasnt moved on from the 90s for these types of games.
 
I'm going to be purchasing Act of Vengeance as well as Ragebound, so for me....the more, the merrier. Keep these ninja games coming!
 
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