girl your cheeks
Its Sunset Riders with ninjas! Got some really cool levels and bosses. I actually like it a bit more Sunset Riders
The spiritual successor to Sunset Riders takes place in a hyper-colorful ninja-tech world, and features some pretty involved storytelling for its genre. Some mechanics are a bit dodgy, but it's a fantastic co-op run-'n-gun experience.
An absolute hidden gem from the arcade era. Fun and silly from start to finish with fast paced action and great attention to detail.
I think Sunset Riders is a terrific arcade game, but this spiritual successor misses the mark. It just isn't very coherent; it feels like a weird leftover late 80's Saturday morning cartoon show: an odd collection of modern day ninjas fight dudes in vehicles and helmets across a group of barely connected levels (though the game spends effort to connect them spacially which I guess counts for something). Having them whip kunai or stars insanely fast, having them fight bosses while skiing or swimming underwater, there's no theme or world building that could tie any of it together.
And speaking of the skiing and such, it feels like more than half of the game is comprised of these spectacle driven ride-alongs. Skiing, riding a raft, riding a minecart, riding on a plane---each one is too long and amounts to a flat surface where you just blast mooks invading from the edges of the screen. There's nothing thrilling or unusual about it. When you aren't stranded on a flat, (un)moving surface, the levels are mostly bland, with little dramatic shape and none of the density or personality that made Sunset Riders such a joy. The one unambiguous improvement is a subtraction: no more first-person bonus levels.
It still controls like Sunset Riders and like a lot of Konami's work from this period the use of colour is really nice, so it isn't exactly a bad time, but from the concept through to the execution it isn't working on anywhere near the same level as the game it's building on.
And speaking of the skiing and such, it feels like more than half of the game is comprised of these spectacle driven ride-alongs. Skiing, riding a raft, riding a minecart, riding on a plane---each one is too long and amounts to a flat surface where you just blast mooks invading from the edges of the screen. There's nothing thrilling or unusual about it. When you aren't stranded on a flat, (un)moving surface, the levels are mostly bland, with little dramatic shape and none of the density or personality that made Sunset Riders such a joy. The one unambiguous improvement is a subtraction: no more first-person bonus levels.
It still controls like Sunset Riders and like a lot of Konami's work from this period the use of colour is really nice, so it isn't exactly a bad time, but from the concept through to the execution it isn't working on anywhere near the same level as the game it's building on.
me when i see a konami beatemup: "i hate you, fuck off, get run over by a car"
me when i see a konami runandgun: "please tenderize my gooch"
me when i see a konami runandgun: "please tenderize my gooch"
I'm not sure if this is as good as Sunset Riders but it's just as high-energy. It's a fast-paced run-n'-gun platformer switching set pieces at an exhilarating rate complimented by a soundtrack capturing that 90s club trance at its peak. The female Ninja also doesn't wear pants, maybe it's more aerodynamic that way?
TEMPURA!
Everyone has already said "Sunset Riders with ninjas", because that's what it is! Skull captured their randomly chosen friend, and it's up to a modern day ninja and up to three of their friends and their infinite supply of shuriken to stop them. Everything good about Sunset Riders is in this game, and any fan of that game should play this at least once.
Everyone has already said "Sunset Riders with ninjas", because that's what it is! Skull captured their randomly chosen friend, and it's up to a modern day ninja and up to three of their friends and their infinite supply of shuriken to stop them. Everything good about Sunset Riders is in this game, and any fan of that game should play this at least once.
For those of you that grew up around the 80’s or 90’s, I have a question to ask you: what was up with y’all and ninjas back around this time? Seriously, there were so many pieces of media that came out around that time centered around ninjas, like with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 3 Ninjas, Surf Ninjas, and when we get into video games, there was Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, The Last Ninja, The Ninja Warriors, and much, MUCH more! I swear, it must’ve been like Ninja Mania back then, cause no matter where you turn, it was ninjas all over the place! Not to say that I don’t like ninjas, by the way, I just don’t understand why they were all the rage back then. But anyway, the connecting thread to this random tangent is that we are reviewing Mystic Warriors: Wrath of the Ninjas today.
I hadn’t known about this game for a while until I had heard that it was going to be ported to the Switch and PS4 in late 2023, making it the first time this game was EVER ported to any other system. That’s pretty cool, and not only that, but it was made by the same team who worked on Sunset Riders, so that already had me sold on this game based on that. Thankfully, it managed to live up to the high expectations that I went in with, because like with Sunset Riders, it is absolutely fantastic, not only providing that same fast-paced gameplay and fun that the previous title pulled off so well, but it manages to look and sound great, while doing several more neat things, at the same time.
The story is Generic Arcade Plot #1285, where the evil Skull Enterprise (wow, what a great name) is attempting to take over the world, so it is up to the five ninjas, Spyros, Keima, Kojiro, Brad, and Yuri, to take them on and save the world, which works well enough for the type of game this is, the graphics are almost the same as Sunset Riders in terms of quality, but there are plenty of improved animations, character and enemy designs, and even some extra scenes present that you wouldn’t typically see in an arcade game, so that was neat to witness, the music is pretty good, fitting the tone of the game well, as well as using the appropriate instruments and sounds that go with the settings that you travel through, the control is the same as Sunset Riders as well, and it works out pretty well here, and the gameplay is… also mostly what you would expect from Sunset Riders, but hey, that is certainly not a bad thing at all.
The game is a 2D run ‘n gun game, where you take control of one of the five ninjas available to choose from, take on a set of nine stages that take place in various locations and environments, take down as many enemy goons as you physically can with your unlimited supply of ninja stars, gather plenty of different point items, health items, and powerups to assist you along your journey, and take on plenty of different generic, yet enjoyable boss characters in some very fun fights. If you have played that other game I am mentioning way too much, then you know what you are getting into with this game, but to be fair, this gameplay style still manages to be fast, fun, and frantic, being extremely satisfying to shoot down many different foes with fully-powered-up weapons.
Not only that, but there are a small number of things that do make the game stand out somewhat in comparison to that other game. For starters, you now have a life bar, letting you take multiple hits before you end up dying, so that is pretty helpful to have. In addition, you have the orbs that you can collect throughout the stages, which will act as either a screen nuke attack, or a temporary shield that you can have to help you out with further threats. And finally, there is actually a complex story moment in this game in comparison to that other one…. and by that, I mean that they implement Plot Twist #46: having an ally/love interest/whatever sacrifice themselves for the greater good, but hey, at least it is more then what that other game had. That’s really all the new features that this game has to offer, and all of these do help to make the game that bit more fun and enjoyable. It also helps that the combat is still fun, the charm, animations, and crunchy-voice-acting are wonderful to experience, and it doesn’t last too long, which is definitely the best thing one of these games can do.
Once again, I didn’t find any real issues present in the game, and thankfully in this game, there is actually some variety in the themes of the levels, so that at least solves that problem from the original game. Of course though, not everybody could potentially get into this game like I could. Since this game is too similar to that of Sunset Riders, those who didn’t enjoy that game may not get into this one either, or they may consider this way too similar to that game to properly enjoy. Not to mention, it doesn’t really do anything new for the genre at this point, so if you are looking for a fascinating, new take on the run ‘n gun, you won’t get it here. Then again, these are all extremely nitpicky complaints, one that you and I don’t care about, but I am just pointing it out for GenericMarioEnjoyer743, or whatever random online who would complain about that.
Overall, despite its lack of major change, this still manages to be a fantastic run ‘n gun game from the early 90’s, one that is sure to satisfy any die-hard fans of the genre, and will provide a great time with friends for the time that it lasts. I would definitely recommend it for those who were big fans of Sunset Riders, as well as those who love run ‘n gun games in general, because this game should give you plenty to admire and experience if you were to give it a shot. And hey, since it has finally been ported to consoles, you have no excuse to not play it now if you are a fan of either of those things. Unless, I dunno, you have real life things to take care of, like hiding that dead body or whatever. That’s probably more important.
Game #473
I hadn’t known about this game for a while until I had heard that it was going to be ported to the Switch and PS4 in late 2023, making it the first time this game was EVER ported to any other system. That’s pretty cool, and not only that, but it was made by the same team who worked on Sunset Riders, so that already had me sold on this game based on that. Thankfully, it managed to live up to the high expectations that I went in with, because like with Sunset Riders, it is absolutely fantastic, not only providing that same fast-paced gameplay and fun that the previous title pulled off so well, but it manages to look and sound great, while doing several more neat things, at the same time.
The story is Generic Arcade Plot #1285, where the evil Skull Enterprise (wow, what a great name) is attempting to take over the world, so it is up to the five ninjas, Spyros, Keima, Kojiro, Brad, and Yuri, to take them on and save the world, which works well enough for the type of game this is, the graphics are almost the same as Sunset Riders in terms of quality, but there are plenty of improved animations, character and enemy designs, and even some extra scenes present that you wouldn’t typically see in an arcade game, so that was neat to witness, the music is pretty good, fitting the tone of the game well, as well as using the appropriate instruments and sounds that go with the settings that you travel through, the control is the same as Sunset Riders as well, and it works out pretty well here, and the gameplay is… also mostly what you would expect from Sunset Riders, but hey, that is certainly not a bad thing at all.
The game is a 2D run ‘n gun game, where you take control of one of the five ninjas available to choose from, take on a set of nine stages that take place in various locations and environments, take down as many enemy goons as you physically can with your unlimited supply of ninja stars, gather plenty of different point items, health items, and powerups to assist you along your journey, and take on plenty of different generic, yet enjoyable boss characters in some very fun fights. If you have played that other game I am mentioning way too much, then you know what you are getting into with this game, but to be fair, this gameplay style still manages to be fast, fun, and frantic, being extremely satisfying to shoot down many different foes with fully-powered-up weapons.
Not only that, but there are a small number of things that do make the game stand out somewhat in comparison to that other game. For starters, you now have a life bar, letting you take multiple hits before you end up dying, so that is pretty helpful to have. In addition, you have the orbs that you can collect throughout the stages, which will act as either a screen nuke attack, or a temporary shield that you can have to help you out with further threats. And finally, there is actually a complex story moment in this game in comparison to that other one…. and by that, I mean that they implement Plot Twist #46: having an ally/love interest/whatever sacrifice themselves for the greater good, but hey, at least it is more then what that other game had. That’s really all the new features that this game has to offer, and all of these do help to make the game that bit more fun and enjoyable. It also helps that the combat is still fun, the charm, animations, and crunchy-voice-acting are wonderful to experience, and it doesn’t last too long, which is definitely the best thing one of these games can do.
Once again, I didn’t find any real issues present in the game, and thankfully in this game, there is actually some variety in the themes of the levels, so that at least solves that problem from the original game. Of course though, not everybody could potentially get into this game like I could. Since this game is too similar to that of Sunset Riders, those who didn’t enjoy that game may not get into this one either, or they may consider this way too similar to that game to properly enjoy. Not to mention, it doesn’t really do anything new for the genre at this point, so if you are looking for a fascinating, new take on the run ‘n gun, you won’t get it here. Then again, these are all extremely nitpicky complaints, one that you and I don’t care about, but I am just pointing it out for GenericMarioEnjoyer743, or whatever random online who would complain about that.
Overall, despite its lack of major change, this still manages to be a fantastic run ‘n gun game from the early 90’s, one that is sure to satisfy any die-hard fans of the genre, and will provide a great time with friends for the time that it lasts. I would definitely recommend it for those who were big fans of Sunset Riders, as well as those who love run ‘n gun games in general, because this game should give you plenty to admire and experience if you were to give it a shot. And hey, since it has finally been ported to consoles, you have no excuse to not play it now if you are a fan of either of those things. Unless, I dunno, you have real life things to take care of, like hiding that dead body or whatever. That’s probably more important.
Game #473
i can't believe i never checked this out until now, this is so good lmao
basically everything you want from a sunset riders follow-up -- better mechanics, crazier setpieces, amazing music, more cool storytelling moments. it really feels like they just went all out with it. it's hard to say that this isn't just flat-out better than sunset riders
....... that being said, i don't really think i can just say it's better than sunset riders lmao. it's hard not to feel like the ninjas and robots aesthetic is a bit trite compared to the devotion to the western theming and goofy vibes of sunset riders. i honestly can't say which one i like better, so i'll just be thankful we have two excellent games in the same spirit
basically everything you want from a sunset riders follow-up -- better mechanics, crazier setpieces, amazing music, more cool storytelling moments. it really feels like they just went all out with it. it's hard to say that this isn't just flat-out better than sunset riders
....... that being said, i don't really think i can just say it's better than sunset riders lmao. it's hard not to feel like the ninjas and robots aesthetic is a bit trite compared to the devotion to the western theming and goofy vibes of sunset riders. i honestly can't say which one i like better, so i'll just be thankful we have two excellent games in the same spirit
It reuses the same engine as Sunset Riders with everything feeling exactly like Sunset Riders except with a ninja coat of paint on everything, with the only new addition being the characters have different shot styles and the new melee system.
Sunset Riders already had a rather stiff movement system, but with the new melee system, Mystic Warriors feels pretty awful. Any enemy that comes close to you automatically triggers a melee attack which locks you in place but destroys bullets. You can do an up, down, or neutral melee attack and each of these has slightly different timings and hitboxes. This feels very janky and leads to a lot of annoying situations: 1) it's very easy to accidentally trigger a melee attack if an enemy gets anywhere close to you, and you are forced to always finish this long animation which will oftentimes force you to take damage 2) the melee attack spamming deals less damage than just point-blanking, so you have to maintain a certain distance in order to deal the most damage 3) you oftentimes have to use this melee attack to clear some of the hordes of bullets, which is especially annoying with the finicky hitboxes of the different types of melee attacks, and leads to many instances where you have to jump right into enemies and bullets aggressively, and if you are slightly off in timing or slightly out of range you just get hit by a bullet.
Aside from that, the rank system feels very aggressive, with bullets just flooding the screen from all over with no way to dodge them without remembering every enemy spawn to be in place to kill them the frame they get on screen and require extremely precise usage of the janky melee attack. The boss fights themselves (the main appeal in Sunset Riders) are dull and one-note and usually just involve abusing i-frames or just abusing the same attack loop repeatedly.
Sunset Riders already had a rather stiff movement system, but with the new melee system, Mystic Warriors feels pretty awful. Any enemy that comes close to you automatically triggers a melee attack which locks you in place but destroys bullets. You can do an up, down, or neutral melee attack and each of these has slightly different timings and hitboxes. This feels very janky and leads to a lot of annoying situations: 1) it's very easy to accidentally trigger a melee attack if an enemy gets anywhere close to you, and you are forced to always finish this long animation which will oftentimes force you to take damage 2) the melee attack spamming deals less damage than just point-blanking, so you have to maintain a certain distance in order to deal the most damage 3) you oftentimes have to use this melee attack to clear some of the hordes of bullets, which is especially annoying with the finicky hitboxes of the different types of melee attacks, and leads to many instances where you have to jump right into enemies and bullets aggressively, and if you are slightly off in timing or slightly out of range you just get hit by a bullet.
Aside from that, the rank system feels very aggressive, with bullets just flooding the screen from all over with no way to dodge them without remembering every enemy spawn to be in place to kill them the frame they get on screen and require extremely precise usage of the janky melee attack. The boss fights themselves (the main appeal in Sunset Riders) are dull and one-note and usually just involve abusing i-frames or just abusing the same attack loop repeatedly.
(played with MagneticBurn)
Sunset Riders' lesser known successor, likely due to a lack of console ports. I don't think it nails its whole vibe quite as well as that game, but it's very close. They play about the same, though this is slightly longer and has more characters to choose.
I may prefer Sunset Riders, but I'd suggest both, this one especially if you can't get enough of the former. I will say I prefer the OST in this one at least. Sunset Riders has really silly use of orchestra hits basically everywhere and it's the funniest shit ever but this one has some actual neat tunes
Sunset Riders' lesser known successor, likely due to a lack of console ports. I don't think it nails its whole vibe quite as well as that game, but it's very close. They play about the same, though this is slightly longer and has more characters to choose.
I may prefer Sunset Riders, but I'd suggest both, this one especially if you can't get enough of the former. I will say I prefer the OST in this one at least. Sunset Riders has really silly use of orchestra hits basically everywhere and it's the funniest shit ever but this one has some actual neat tunes
I'm unable to come up with anything to say here but one of the main characters is a kunoichi that doesn't wear pants and fights with her bare ass on screen because "it makes less noise" and I still can't come up with a counterargument.
Sidescroller that plays a lot like Sunset Riders but with a theme more like an over the top martial arts movie. Five characters to choose from and supports up to four players, character not selected is captured. Each character has a unique melee weapon that they use for an instant kill or higher damage attack when next to enemies. Powerups give you rapid fire or double and triple shots like Sunset Riders.