Shadow Gangs

An odd duck and no mistake, Shadow Gangs is nonetheless an enjoyable Shinobi clone with plenty of level design polish. It's let down by an obnoxiously high difficulty level and some fairly stingy game-saves, but overall has a good amount to recommend it if you're done with the Sega Mega Drive Classics and Sega Ages Shinobi. It's an extremely valiant effort at a truly old-school feel and retro gamers definitely won't regret checking it out – just be prepared to swallow your pride and head for the options menu.

A homage to Shinobi and classic arcade games done with love and respect.

Shadow Gangs, a side-scrolling action platformer, pays homage to Shinobi and other retro games in the game style. It revitalizes the formula, maintaining similar gameplay while updating the mechanics. You play as Dan the Crimson Ninja. Throughout the fifteen levels, Dan traverses a variety of enemies, boss fights and gauntlets of platforming.

Given the plethora of beat’em ups available, Shadow Gangs is an easy pass. From the unforgiving nature of the game, questionable detection issues in combat, the game feels rushed, half-assed and could’ve used a bit more work. There are so many better options out there. Don’t waste your hard-earned money on this.

In this sweet moment where so many genres return and recover, having a Shinobi so Shinobi not only comes out without demand of fat plagiarism by SEGA, but it is appreciated and enjoyed...it is also suffered. Shadow Gangs is not only one of those old-school tribute games, it is also an action arcade and platform game that is fun in itself.

In the grand scheme of things, Shadow Gangs is an accomplished reimagining of a seemingly forgotten series. While its gameplay is rooted in the past, the visuals have modern-day sheen – Shadow Gangs‘ HD sprites really pop out of the screen, and the environments are both varied and detailed. It’s far from perfect, but there’s plenty here to delight any classic Shinobi fan.