The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors | An Updated Port From The Arcades To The PS4

Hailing from a time when local Arcades were still a thing, and co-op 4 player brawlers were the trend there existed Taito's, "The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors". A game meant to be played in the company of friends on a weekend when school wasn't in session, or even during after school hours. Staying true to the Arcade experience of the late 80's that it was born from this port brings back in full the fight of three cybernetic assassins at the heart of the story as they face off against a nation's corrupt leader named Banglar, and his loyal regime. As a Ninja, a Kunoichi, and a Kamaichi the game tasks you, and your joining friends to battle the enemy as they come in from all sides, and in all kinds of forms. It's seven stages of challenging mob style gameplay, and one final fight with easy to understand mechanics that will allow you complete the entire set of operations, stylishly. 

The Ninja Saviors returns polished, and inclusive of modern upgrades for those interested in taking a trip down memory lane, or even experiencing it for the first time. The port comes complete with scanline settings meant to imitate the Arcade cabinets the game was originally featured on, but maintains the looks, and standards of modern gaming experiences with a fullscreen presentation vividly translated in such a way as to not seem as dated as it is. Complete with the package is a story playthrough on normal, and hard difficulties as well as a multiplayer mode that will allow you to team up locally with a couple of other players as you play through the same operations that the singeplayer mode has to offer. Along with the two difficulties in singleplayer comes per stage/operation time attack challenges that are unlocked after a stage is completed the first time around. Feats that will be recorded in the games online ranking leaderboards for each individual character and difficulty.

Stage playthroughs in "The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors" start off at the player select screen where you'll select from one of three available characters, initially. Two others will be unlocked through progression in singleplayer. You'll find the bulky bruiser style Ninja who uses a jet pack for mobility, and grapples with enemies as well as uses nunchucks. Also included is Kunoichi. A cybernetic female ninja with a kunai as a weapon as well as the ability to jump attack, and throw shurikens or kunai. There's those two, and lastly Kamaichi who is a cybernetic scythe armed ninja with spinning blade attacks, and basic blade attacks as well as the extra ability to launch blades from his back. Every character in the game has their own unique set of aerial, charge, throwing, and special attacks tied to the DPad directions plus the SQUARE, and other simultaneously pressed face buttons. Jumping, and dashing, which is also a key component to mastery, is done with 'X' whereas attacks and special attacks are done with SQUARE plus directional inputs. As far as grappling is concerned walking up into an enemy or throwable object will grasp said enemy or object, and can be followed up with a pressing of SQUARE and a directional input to perform a throw or grapple attack. For the enemy clearing bomb move you'll need to have a full battery, and press CIRCLE to clear the screen of enemies. It should also be noted that holding SQUARE is for blocking, and that while blocking you can press a follow-up button to somersault or do a dodge maneuver with characters like Kunoichi. Each character, regardless of individual abilities, also has a purple armor gauge or life bar on start that depletes upon hit, and a battery meter that fills back up after depletion. The battery meter in particular must be filled to a certain point both for the bomb, and the special attacks. With all of the available moves accounted for your character will perform much like a fighting game character. Choosing which ninja savior suits your play style will be up to you.

As far as the playthroughs themselves go you will be fighting the usual mob style enemies that swarm in from both sides of the screen as the action scrolls left to right, and down to up. The enemies you'll encounter range from single hit grunts to more formidable foes with more damaging weapons and abilities that will take multiple hits to destroy. Along with the mobs comes environmental hazards, and battles with end stage bosses that require a strategy to defeat. It's your standard co-op brawler experience, but themed according to the story being told through the fighting. Supposing you die along the way, and your character loses the entire armor gauge before finding a refill you'll either have to continue, and start over from the beginning of the stage or wait on your co-op buddies to push through to the end. It's a single death per character deal making it very important to avoid damage as much as possible.

The Verdict ...

This is definitely one of the nicer ports I've seen from an arcade cabinet style game. It feels more modern though in that it is fullscreen, and features the modern console options it wouldn't have had otherwise. I did like the fact that you could tweak the scanlines to make it appear more like it would have been in an arcade cabinet, and that it has replay value in the time attack playthroughs. Control-wise the game is smooth, and responsive. Feels like a modern console game through, and through. Overall it's a nice piece of gaming history brought back for new, and older generations of gamers. At the asking price I think it's alright to buy. It's not something profound, but the nostalgia factor, and the co-op could be worth it to the right person.