Blue Shadow (Natsume 1991)

This is one cool game. The plot might not be the most original I've ever seen, but there's no denying the overall quality of the game. Sometime in the future it is yet again up to two mysterious ninja's to fight the evil that is threatening the world. You can pick your character, either male or female, and then it's off to kick some demon behind. Although most of the enemies you'll face are humans or robots, it's the bosses that really catch the attention. These guys are just plain mean. Starting out with slighter harder than usual humans, you'll soon be facing off against huge robotic death machines and bug or demon inspired creatures. These guys are complete bastards to kill and although you can see how much power they've got left it still takes a good while to destroy their armour or find their weak spots.

The level layouts are also pretty original and thankfully there are no forest or snow levels to spoil the feel of the game. Your ninja will be running through rainy thunderstorms aboard a ship, to towering roof tops. There are tons of things to kill and unlike some lesser games there's no untimely enemy respawning to spoil the day. 

Not that it's an easy game by any stretch of the imagination. You only have one life and five continues. There's also no starting each level with full health. You get what you had on the previous level and only the defeat of the boss might grant you a few precious drops of health. Besides your standard sword that you start out with there are also a nice variety of other gadgets to dispose of your foes. The sword can be upgraded, but there are also some throwing knifes, shurikens, bombs and a mace like weapon to be found. This is just as good as death can come at any moment. Levels are rigged with explosive traps, laser cannons and lethal jumps. The ninja's are quite agile characters and beside the normal jumps can also hang on to certain surfaces or flip on up onto them.

The controls are alight  but did feel a bit sluggish and unresponsive at times. While it is nothing to get worried about, it's certainly not perfect. Another weak spot is the amount of cheap hits you can take, but luckily this does not spoil things too much either. The game is divided into five or six levels and each one has three sub-levels of which the last one is the main boss. Not a long game, but not exactly a walk in the park either. The sound is a highlight and thankfully sounds much better than the usual NES fare. The characters even have some digitized sound effects for when they attack or die. Superior graphics and sound coupled with some enjoyable gameplay plus a challenge ensure that this one remains a classic.

[9]