Back in 1988, ninjas were all the craze. The teenage mutant turtle variety had taken over Saturday morning TV and waves of shoddy martials arts flicks filled the shelves at video stores. They had infiltrated video games, too, with two different titles donning the Ninja Gaiden name hacking and slashing their way into arcades and living rooms that year.

Fast forward to 2025, and the cyclical nature of pop culture has brought ninjas back in full force. The TMNT have returned to their roots as best-selling comics, and a new Mortal Kombat film aims to bring b-movie bloodletting back to theaters. In gaming, Sega’s getting in on the trend with a revival of its classic Shinobi series, and mainstream franchises like Assassin’s Creed have finally embraced the art of the blade.

Yet again, we have two new games named Ninja Gaiden that promise to fulfill the kunai and katana power fantasy: Ninja Gaiden 4 (from Xbox Game Studios) and Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound (published by Dotemu). Releasing this fall, Ninja Gaiden 4 aims to leap the series forward with high-tech 3D action gameplay befitting the modern generation of hardware; Ragebound (out July 31) offers the flip side — a 2D pixelated pastiche that’s directly inspired by the ninja mayhem of the Eighties.

And although retreading the older gaming era could’ve resulted in reheated leftovers, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound deftly sidesteps overt familiarity by perfecting the ideas introduced by its forebears while nailing their vibe. The result is a timeless, adrenaline binge that’s one of the most exhilarating games of the year — in two dimensions or otherwise.

An old-time ninja vibe

The original Ninja Gaiden trilogy arrived on the NES between 1988 and 1991, exemplifying everything great about the early days of gaming. Blisteringly difficult, they were hardcore action gauntlets that demanded precise movement and reflexes, but rarely felt cheap — assuming players could learn through trial and error enough to lock in. With rich pixelated art (for the time), and hypnotic chiptune soundtracks, they worked exceptionally well once you were able to memorize the terrain and enter a flow state. Editor’s picks

That’s the first and most important thing that Ragebound gets right. Players take on the dual roles of two ninjas, Kenji Mozu of the Hayabusa Clan and Kumori of the rival Black Spider Clan, who each control very differently. Kenji plays a lot like the series’ OG hero Ryu, able to slice down most foes with a single slice and parry mid-air; Kumori is a more ranged fighter, unleashing an endless stream of kunai in all directions that she can use to teleport around in specific instances.

Gameplay is easy to pick up, but lighting fast — true to the spirit of the original games. Dotemu

Both characters are playable for specific levels or intervals within a single stage, but primarily they’re fused together (by demonic ninja magic!), making the bulk of their capabilities available at once.

While many 2D action games, either old or new, crank up their difficulty by making enemies into tank-like obstacles that can soak up multiple hits, the Ninja Gaiden games predominantly let players off their prey with one strike. With baddies coming from both sides of the screen, and often from above or below, the key is quickly recognizing and reacting to multiple threats with precision, chaining together attacks in fluid motions.

In Ragebound, bigger or armored foes that would normally necessitate multiple hits — even in this series — can be slain with a supercharged one, assuming a specific glowing enemy is killed just prior to lend a power-up.

Boss fights require pattern memorization and finesse, but rarely feel unfair. Dotemu

This results in a game that never stops (in a good way). Mastering the characters’ abilities lets you go from kill to kill, swapping from sword strikes to kunai blows, and often bouncing off enemies like a deadly pinball with well-timed mid-air parries. The levels are long, with many taking upwards of 20 minutes even once you’ve got their layout memorized; but they’re never dull. Related Content

Each stage is packed with small skirmishes and encounters with specific enemy types, but rarely stay still for long. One could begin as a high-speed motorcycle chase before transitioning into a more traditional baddie-filled tower climb. Of course, they all end with grueling boss battles, all of which test the player’s ability to adapt their skills to suit the rhythm and choreography of the enemy’s attack.

All told, it plays exactly how games from the arcade and early home-console era once did, but cleaner, more precise, and blessedly forgiving. Checkpoints are plentiful, and enemy placement never feels overwhelming — but it’s definitely not easy. Players can customize their skills, choosing two unique abilities per character (i.e. four total at any moment), but there’s no progression trees or leveling. You’re only as strong as you are good at the game.

Vehicular chase sequences inject even more adrenaline into an already fast-paced series of stages.

The good news is that the bad guys themselves never get much stronger, but later levels employ a wider variety of enemy types, mixing and matching different groups for heightened difficulty that necessitates problem solving on the fly based on past experience.

A (healthy) love for the past

The other major aspect that Ragebound nails is in how it evokes the aesthetic of Eighties and early Nineties media without being dragged down into a self-referential nostalgia bog. In action, that equates to building off the early games’ mechanics and structure but modernizing things just enough to feel better. But there’s another layer to that, and it’s one that many retro revivals seem to miss.

Rather than just picking up remaking an existing game or picking up where the original series left off with the adventures of master ninja Ryu Hayabusa, Ragebound tells a story parallel to the events of the first game centering on his protégé, Kenji. While Ryu absconds to the U.S. on his own personal quest, it’s up to Kenji, and his unlikely partner Kumori, to stop a demon invasion in their Japanese homeland. Their pairing changes the overall gameplay mechanics in ways that feel true to the Ninja Gaiden formula but also adds a buddy team-up element to the already ludicrously entertaining plot.

Kenji and Kumori are unlikely allies forced to share a body, making for a silly good time.

True to the era of the older games, Ragebound takes glee in clashing together martial arts mysticism anachronistically with the modern world. Its story is pure VHS shlock, reminiscent of films like John Carpenter’s 1986 camp-fest Big Trouble in Little China, where ancient clans and demon magic mix into a world with CIA operatives and conspiracy coverups. The first NES Ninja Gaiden is well known for partially popularizing cinematic cut-scenes that tied its levels together, and this new version brings them back with flare while never going full-tilt into lengthy mini-movies.

Tons of great action movie tropes are on display: the shaky team-up between two sworn enemies, nefarious corporations and government agencies looking to control a power they can’t comprehend, and an endless supply of robots, monsters, and commandos all rushing into the slaughter. The story is fun but remains exactly as thin as is needed to keep Ragebound a tight, sub-10-hour experience without succumbing to bloat.

Instead, the audaciousness of its setting and tone shines through during the hilarious and heart-pounding set pieces peppered throughout the stages. One moment there’s a dual-headed hydra spitting flame in the city river, next there’s an all-out jet ski race bathed in gunfire. Ragebound excels at taking tried-and-true 2D gaming staples like wave-based elevator ascensions and high-speed vehicular side-scrolling, while ratcheting up the tension to the max. There will be times during gargantuan boss battles or breakneck, timed platforming sections where your toes will clench with stress.

Rather than looking exactly like an Eighties title, Ragebound leans into the game and movie tropes of the era. Dotemu

All these elements would be fine — even great — if rendered in the 2D art style of the NES or older arcade platforms, but the developers at The Game Kitchen have made a downright gorgeous pixel art world. Previously known for their brutal Metroidvania series Blasphemous, the studio is well-versed in making indie games in this aesthetic, but seeing Ninja Gaiden return to its roots looking better than ever is a treat.

The soundtrack, composed by both Blasphemous composer Sergio de Prado and many of the creators of the original trilogy’s music, also works wonders toward pinning down the old school vibes without explicitly cornering itself as something from the Eighties. It’s moody and eerie where it counts and kicks up the synthwave tunes when the action gets heavy. Trending Stories Take the World’s Hardest ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Quiz Doja Cat Spoofs Sydney Sweeney’s Controversial American Eagle Campaign Mary J. Blige Fighting Back After ‘Meritless’ Lawsuit From Sean Combs’ Ex Misa Hylton ‘Fort Bragg Has a Lot of Secrets. It’s Its Own Little Cartel’

Even though there’s a bigger, more technologically advanced iteration of Ninja Gaiden coming later this year, Ragebound has set a high bar for shinobi-style action. Lovingly crafted to take the best aspects of Eighties-era gameplay and audiovisual flare, and weaving in a delightfully dumb-as-rocks story that punctuates its high-octane stages, it’s a game that feels like it was made years ago but without any baggage or flaws of archaic design. Bringing back the outlandish fun of pop culture ninja media, it stands tall as a near-perfect piece of retro escapism that serves up dopamine hits on speed dial.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound releases on July 31 for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.