SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance from SEGA and Lizardcube brings us a fast-paced, hand-drawn 2D action game, making the jump to Nintendo Switch 2. Learn more in our SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance review!
SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance from SEGA and Lizardcube brings us a fast-paced, hand-drawn 2D action game, making the jump to Nintendo Switch 2. You’ll once again be jumping into the role of the titular Shinobi, Joe Musashi, and will need to jump into action after finding that your village has been burned down to the ground and that the members of your ninja clan have been turned to stone! Because of this, you go on a quest for vengeance, ready to take on everything and everyone foolish enough to try to stop your mission.
While SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance offers a level-based structure for its content, you won’t be able to explore every section of said levels and find all collectibles until you’ve unlocked new abilities and skills by progressing further in your journey. This does not make the game a pure Metroidvania, but it certainly feels like a 2D Metroidvania-adjacent experience.
After launching last year on Nintendo Switch, the game has now made the jump to the Nintendo Switch 2. What’s different when comparing last year’s version and this new native Nintendo Switch 2 version? The game’s resolution is getting a bump to 1080p when playing in Portable or Tabletop Mode, while the overall framerate is bumped to a stable 60 frames per second in Portable and Tabletop Mode, as well as in Docked Mode.
You can take on this adventure by choosing from one of two difficulty settings: Normal Mode and Hardcore Mode. Normal Mode provides the standard experience, balanced to test your skills without overwhelming you. The Hardcore Mode difficulty setting will have enemies dealing more damage to you, and healing will be less effective.
Once the intro cutscene is over, you’ll be taking control of Joe Musashi by using the left analog stick or the D-Pad, jumping and double jumping by pressing the B button. The longer you hold down the B button, the higher your jump will be. You can also cling to walls and perform wall jumps as needed. Light attacks are mapped to the Y button, and heavy attacks are set to the X button. You can link these attacks to perform combos. Jumping and then pressing the X button will allow you to perform a dive kick.
Press the R button when you’re on the ground so that you can perform a roll that can hopefully help you dodge incoming attacks. If you press the R button and the opposite direction that you’re currently facing, you’ll perform a backward dodge jump. Pressing the R button while you’re up in the air will allow you to perform a quick dash. Dark attacks are powerful attacks from enemies that you can’t dodge, so be ready for them! If you have any on you, pressing the A button will let you launch deadly sharp kunai toward your enemies.
Your attacks will build up Execution Gauges, which you can notice below enemy health bars. When one is full, you’ll be able to perform a Shinobi Execution. Press the L button to enter Ninja Stance, and then press the L button to attack the marked enemy – or enemies! Do keep in mind that heavy attacks as well as attacking with kunai will fill up the Execution Gauge at a faster pace.
As you progress further and further in the game, you’ll get to obtain new abilities to aid you on your mission, as well as to be able to explore new areas in each level. Perhaps you’ll get to glide. Maybe you’ll gain a mighty ninja hook. Press the – button to check the level’s map, so that you can find potential areas that hold secrets for you to find with new abilities.
There are also special attacks known as Ninpo. One of them is the Fire Ninpo, which will allow you to ignite enemies with a blast of fiery breath, dealing heavy damage in the process. You can cast the Fire Ninpo by first entering the Ninja Stance with the L button and then pressing the X button. Doing this will consume one Ninpo Cell, which you can fill up by attacking enemies. Pressing the ZL and ZR buttons at the same time will have you enter the Ninjitsu Stance. You can press the A button to unleash a fullscreen attack that will damage all enemies at once. You will need to fill up the Rage Gauge in the upper-left corner of the screen to use it. The Rage Bar will fill up when you receive damage or by collecting Rage Orbs.
The Oboro Clan Relics that you collect can be traded at the Yokai Shop to add new items that can help you succeed. Each stage will have five hidden Oboro Clan Relics for you to find. Once at the Yokai Shop, you can spend the hard-earned coins that you obtain by defeating enemies and opening up treasure chests. This is how you can add a double slash combo, a kunai burst, or new Ninpo like the Water Ninpo.
Your abilities can also be enhanced by equipping the amulets that you can collect. These are split into passive amulets that will provide a benefit just by equipping them, and combo amulets, which will take effect once you’ve managed to reach the required combo hit counter. You might even get yourself some new weapons as well if you play your cards right!
If you’re the type who likes to 100% games, you’ll need to work on locating and completing the rifts for the Ankou Trials. Some of them you won’t be able to find until you’ve unlocked additional skills, which is why you should pay attention to the map of each level to find the spots you still need to explore. Completing them will require that you enter a Zen state of mind, since they will feature tricky platforming segments and deadly enemies.
SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance from SEGA and Lizardcube brings us a fast-paced, hand-drawn 2D action game, making the jump to Nintendo Switch 2. You’ll once again be jumping into the role of the titular Shinobi, Joe Musashi, and will need to jump into action after finding that your village has been burned down to the ground and that the members of your ninja clan have been turned to stone! Because of this, you go on a quest for vengeance, ready to take on everything and everyone foolish enough to try to stop your mission.
Along with the main story journey, you’ll also be able to unlock additional modes. Arcade Mode will allow you to replay each level in the game as you aim to get the best score possible, as well as how quickly you can complete it. Boss Rush Mode will, as expected, have you taking on all of the bosses in the game one after the other. And if you manage to locate all lab keys… well, you’ll need to find out on your own!
You can customize your experience by diving into the Accessibility section to enable different options that change the values for enemy damage, health, and attack rate, as well as game over rules, environmental damage, and combo amulet threshold. The standard one is the Shinobi setting, but you could, for example, use the Nove option to drop enemy damage, health, and attack rate by 50%, respawn at the closest location upon a game over, lower environmental damage to 25%, and lower the required hit count for combo amulets so that you can more easily trigger their effects.
To go along with the great 2D art and the fast-paced action from developer Lizarcube, we’re also getting a soundtrack from Tee Lopes and Yuzo Koshiro, just as we did for the most-excellent Streets of Rage 4, which I had a chance to review on the Nintendo Switch back in 2020.
SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance is out on Nintendo Switch 2 with a $29.99 price tag. There’s also a Nintendo Switch version of the game available for the same price as a separate purchase. You can transfer your save data from the Nintendo Switch version to the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game, but not the other way around.
Want more for your game? Then you can go ahead and get the SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance Digital Deluxe Upgrade for $11.99, which will add the following:
– Starter Pack
– Digital Art Book and Soundtrack
– SEGA Villains Stage, featuring iconic SEGA Villains; Majima, the mad dog of Shimano; Dr. Eggman, the evil genius from the Sonic the Hedgehog series; and Death Adder, the ruthless giant from Golden Axe.
Disclaimer
This SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance review is based on a Nintendo Switch 2 copy provided by SEGA.
