 I don't know about you, but I had absolutely no idea Game Boy had a Ninja Gaiden game. That's right, it's Ninja Gaiden Shadow, a game that takes place three years before the events of Ninja Gaiden for NES, or Ryu Hayabusa has to save the city from the clutches of some evil Emperor guy. Sadly though, the usual Ninja Gaiden gameplay is dialed back quite a bit, understandably so I guess considering it's Game Boy, but still it's pretty disappointing not being able to cling to walls or to collect the usual array of weapons. The jumping and falling also feels a bit floaty at times, which you have to get used to. You can hang from platforms, like you do in Ninja Gaiden 3, and they did a nice job recreating the range of motion as well for the Ryu sprite, but it still doesn't totally feel like a Ninja Gaiden game, it's still a good game, it just doesn't have that Ninja Gaiden vibe. Some of that has to do with the enemies too, there's these slow lumbering guys, these huge ass machines that fire missiles, and these other space age looking guys firing guns, and this boss that looks like Duke Nukem. The game itself doesn't suffer for it, but as a Ninja Gaiden game it just feels off. Well I should probably stop talking about what this game isn't and talk about what's really here because what's really here is still pretty dang good. You may not have power ups, but you do get this firewall projectile thing that you can use whenever you want, and you can collect up the 5 of them. You also get equipped with a grappling hook, that's a pleasant surprise. The graphics really look sharp here, right from the get go the city skyline here really looks good. Ninja Gaiden Shadow also has that classic Ninja Gaiden difficulty, like these star throwing guys here, God I hate these guys. So yeah Ninja Gaiden Shadow is worth checking out if you can find it, it's definitely a substantial game with a lot of polish, just don't go into it expecting the same functionality and the same feel as the NES games, but don't dismiss it offhand for that, it's a solid title.