Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound Review - Detailed Summary

Released on July 30, 2025

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1. Introduction

In this episode of the Kinda Funny Gamescast, hosts Andy Cortez, Tim Geddes, Blessing Adioye Jr., and Dan Reichert delve into an in-depth review of the highly anticipated Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. The discussion spans gameplay mechanics, visual artistry, difficulty levels, and comparisons to other titles within the genre.

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2. Overview of "Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound"

Andy Cortez introduces Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound as a pixel art side-scrolling entry developed by Game Kitchen, the team behind Blasphemous. The game has garnered an impressive 86 score on Metacritic, signaling strong critical acclaim.

"Ninja Gaiden Ragebound redefines the classic platformer saga in a spectacular, thrilling and challenging ninja adventure."
Andy Cortez [12:31]

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3. Gameplay Mechanics

Controls and Responsiveness

Tim Geddes praises the game's responsiveness and the variety of tools at the player's disposal, likening the experience to achieving a flow state akin to rhythm games.

"Everything is as responsive as you want it to be. There are an amount of tools in your arsenal that is very impressive and very active."
Tim Geddes [15:28]

Guillotine Boost and Flow State

The Guillotine Boost mechanic stands out as a pivotal feature, allowing players to bounce off enemies and projectiles, enhancing the fluidity of combat.

"Hyperchargers are neat, but the real star of the show is the Guillotine Boost, which lets you bounce on it."
Dan Reichert [17:06]

Blessing Adioye Jr. compares this to the Strider gameplay, emphasizing the seamless integration of dual-character mechanics.

"It's a mix between Ninja Gaiden and Strider... adding the guillotine boost is incredible."
Blessing Adioye Jr. [18:32]

Boss Fights and Challenges

Boss encounters are designed around the color-coded system, requiring players to master timing and rhythm to exploit enemy vulnerabilities.

"Boss fights are all designed around that color system... it's about waiting for the right moments... it's satisfying as hell."
Dan Reichert [26:08]

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4. Visuals and Sound

Pixel Art Style

The game boasts vibrant and smooth pixel art, with detailed backgrounds that enhance the nostalgic yet modern feel.

"I'm very impressed by the visuals... the backgrounds are fantastic, the animations are smooth."
Tim Geddes [15:28]

CRT Filter and Scanlines

A standout feature is the CRT filter, which replicates the retro display aesthetics, adding depth and authenticity to the pixel art.

"This has maybe the best CRT filter I've ever seen... the pixel art looks way better with the scan lines here."
Blessing Adioye Jr. [22:47]

Soundtrack and Audio Design

The soundtrack complements the fast-paced action, blending retro tunes with modern soundscapes to elevate the gaming experience.

"The Kick Ass soundtrack."
Andy Cortez [18:31]

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5. Difficulty and Progression

Collectibles and Side Missions

The game offers numerous collectibles, such as blue skulls, scarabs, and scrolls, which unlock side missions and additional content.

"There are a lot of secret levels and side objectives... I'm never annoyed at going back to collect missed items."
Blessing Adioye Jr. [19:36]

Talismans and Power-Ups

Players can acquire talismans that provide various benefits, enhancing gameplay but also introducing additional challenges.

"There are some talismans that give health boosts or extra damage... the checkpoint one is huge."
Blessing Adioye Jr. [44:18]

Replayability and Speedrunning Potential

The game's design encourages replayability, with mechanics that lend themselves well to speedrunning and high-score chasing.

"I can already see the future of what speed runs are going to be for this."
Andy Cortez [27:32]

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6. Comparisons to Other Games

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound draws parallels to titles like Blasphemous and The Messenger, blending challenging combat with intricate platforming.

"It's kinda mix between Ninja Gaiden and Strider... resembles Ikaruga in terms of color-focused mechanics."
Blessing Adioye Jr. [19:13]

The hosts appreciate how Ragebound maintains classic elements while introducing modern twists, setting it apart from traditional Metroidvanias.

"It's refreshing that it's not a Metroidvania... it's a throwback that's straightforward and doesn't reinvent the wheel."
Blessing Adioye Jr. [24:47]

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7. Criticisms and Areas for Improvement

Frustrating Level Sections

Certain segments, particularly those involving precise teleportation mechanics, have been highlighted as sources of frustration due to their lack of forgiveness.

"There are sections that are timed and give just the right amount of time... you have to throw a shuriken just down a hallway and miss by a couple pixels."
Blessing Adioye Jr. [30:37]

Limited Abilities and Progression

The ability system, while innovative, is seen as somewhat limited, with certain upgrades feeling more like difficulty modifiers rather than true enhancements.

"The abilities are outnumbered by those that are making the game harder... it's like hard mode."
Dan Reichert [45:53]

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8. Conclusion and Ratings

The hosts collectively commend Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound for its engaging gameplay, stunning visuals, and nostalgic charm, while acknowledging areas that could benefit from refinement.

"This game is fucking awesome. It's an 8 out of 10... there's enough about it that I don't love the way how mechanics feel."
Dan Reichert [37:46]

Tim Geddes plans to provide a full review after completing the game, indicating strong ongoing interest and positive anticipation.

"I'm taking my time with it because this is one that I was like, I'm not going to really rush through it."
Tim Geddes [15:28]

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9. Future Outlook

Looking ahead, the hosts express excitement for similar titles like Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, anticipating it to potentially rival or surpass Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound in critical reception.

"I can't believe we're getting a Shinobi the same year... Hell yeah."
Dan Reichert [50:55]

With the success of Ragebound, expectations are high for upcoming titles to deliver comparable or improved experiences within the genre.

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Notable Quotes:

• "Hyperchargers are neat, but the real star of the show is the Guillotine Boost, which lets you bounce on it."
  Dan Reichert [17:06]

• "This has maybe the best CRT filter I've ever seen... the pixel art looks way better with the scan lines here."
  Blessing Adioye Jr. [22:47]

• "Boss fights are all designed around that color system... it's about waiting for the right moments... it's satisfying as hell."
  Dan Reichert [26:08]

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Final Thoughts:

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound emerges as a standout title that successfully marries retro aesthetics with modern gameplay innovations. Despite minor frustrations in certain level designs and progression mechanics, the overall consensus among the Kinda Funny hosts is overwhelmingly positive, positioning the game as a must-play for enthusiasts of the action-platformer genre.

Transcript

[Andy Cortez]

I love that it's been so long since we've hung out with Dan Reichert that a genuine question was just asked towards Bless, which is, you see that new Space Jam?

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

The new Space Jam. New Space Jam just came out three years ago. I guess the whole pandemic happened since last time.

[Tim Geddes]

But honestly, like, I feel like that just means Space Jam is a big deal to.

[Andy Cortez]

I said, I guess so.

[Tim Geddes]

Because I was like, no, yeah, yeah, I've seen it. And I'm like.

[Dan Reichert]

Always, yeah. What's really funny is I was thinking about Space Jam, a new legacy a couple of weeks ago enough that I was like, I want to watch the scene where. Where Michael B. Jordan appears. So I youtubed it just to see it again. And it, you know, didn't hit. I'm going to tell you that it didn't hit the way I thought it was going to.

[Andy Cortez]

Those leftovers have been sitting in the fridge for a while. They're not going to be as savory as they were.

[Tim Geddes]

I was going to usher that into a conversation with Dan because I was going to be like, yo, I'm pretty lenient on the Looney Tunes. And like this.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

What do you mean?

[Tim Geddes]

As in, like, I feel like the Looney Tunes could produce mid. And I'll still with it. Like, I really like Looney.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Looney Tunes always confused me, even as. Because I loved Looney Tunes and I loved, you know, Wiley Coyote and stuff. I'm really looking forward to Coyote. Versatile. Yeah. But when I was watching it in, like, the 90s, I remember thinking it would say, like, mary melodies copyright 1965 or something. It's like, is this weird that this show from the 60s is on all the time? That doesn't happen now.

[Dan Reichert]

Right?

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Like, you're not seeing stuff from the 70s. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tim Geddes]

They're showing Tom and Jerry all the time on Cartoon Network back in the day. I love Tom and Jerry. Oh, I feel. I think Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes, like, all holds up.

[Dan Reichert]

Looney Tunes holds up with a lot of those. Like, hey, remember the context of this?

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Oh, sure.

[Dan Reichert]

Probably better.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Like, wouldn't Disney, like, actual, like, Nazis? Like, wouldn't Donald Duck Hitler or something?

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, I mean, they do some real bad.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

I don't think Bugs Bunny was ever Hitler. Right.

[Dan Reichert]

I mean, here's the thing. I can't write it off that he wasn't. Okay.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Minati probably knows a lot about the Disney Hitler Association.

[Andy Cortez]

Welcome to the Funny Games.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Probably shouldn't have brought up a Hitler so soon.

[Tim Geddes]

They're no Disney you know what I mean? I feel like Disney is like the one where you got to really watch out for sure.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Funny games, guys. For Wednesday, July 30, 2025, I am Andy Cortez and I'm joined by the best baby blues in San Francisco, Tim Geddes. Forbes 30 under 30 Blessing Adioia Jr cancel Pepe Le Peu and the Taco Bell titan, Dan Reichard.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

I've had it like two times in the last week. It's not a gimmick. That's not a gimmick. That's a lifestyle. It's a shoot, brother. Hell yeah. Taco Bell. Hell yeah. The new sweet chipotle fries. Pretty good.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Yeah. Pretty solid.

[Andy Cortez]

Do they have. Is this the place that has the. Is this Taco Bell place you're speaking of? Is it the place that has the Takis fries?

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

No. So that's Wendy's. Wendy's has the Takis chicken sandwich, which I was very curious about until I watched do you know Joe is hungry on YouTube? He's an old man in Georgia that reviews fast food. I will only order new food gimmicks if he gives it over seven and he's a really hard scorer. And I think the Wendy's thing got like a 3.5 or a 4. I was like, not doing it. Not doing it. I like Takis though. Takis are solid.

[Andy Cortez]

I love Takis.

[Tim Geddes]

Hotchies Takis.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. This is the Kinda Funny Gamescast. Each and every weekday we get together to talk about the biggest reviews, previews and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the Kinda Funny membership on Patreon, YouTube, Spotify or Apple podcasts to get all of our shows ad free, watch us record them live and get a daily exclusive show. For a chance to be a part of the show, submit your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats. Want to see a bunch of super chats from y' all out there? Remember, we're a little baby 11 person business and we're hosting some incredible people in the office today. We're, we're so tiny. We're just like such a little, tiny little company. And without your all support, y', all, you know, we're dead. We keep the lights and the mics on. We're so small. Blessing a lot of lights. We knew so small.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

I gotta say, I've appeared on shows on all three of your studios.

[Dan Reichert]

Now you were, you were one of the less than a handful of people that can say that.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

The actual old spare bedroom and stuff. And I gotta say, honestly, this place just looks like.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, yeah.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Take some pride in where you work. Put some work into it. I mean, this looks like a nightmare.

[Andy Cortez]

We didn't do much prep work, unfortunately.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

No, it's unbelievably great here. I'm so jealous.

[Andy Cortez]

The kind of funny games daily before this was the Nintendo Direct predictions. That should be pretty exciting. I'm really, really stoked for tomorrow now. Yeah.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

The partner direct, right?

[Tim Geddes]

Partner Direct partner.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

What are we thinking?

[Andy Cortez]

What do you think of the partner? You think Song.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Come on.

[Tim Geddes]

Elden ring release date Expedition 33.

[Dan Reichert]

Come on, give it to me.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Oh yeah. They can do that on Switch too, right?

[Dan Reichert]

I think they can. My problem is I feel like the team's too small. I feel like they're probably just overwhelmed with success right now. That I think it might be a little too early.

[Tim Geddes]

Game With Success is such a rap album name.

[Andy Cortez]

Hell yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

I love.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

I mean they could just call up Dave Lang, get Iron Galaxy on it. They could do a port. Figure it out. Yeah, yeah, figured out. I. I can't believe how much I loved Expedition 33. I am not an RPG guy. Certainly not a turn based RPG guy. And I just heard all the. The praise for it and I tried it out and a real contender for my game of the year right now.

[Andy Cortez]

Well, you're the. You're the number one Hollow Knight fan that I know.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

You know I turned around on it. I like it now.

[Andy Cortez]

I hate you.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

That's my. People love it when I trash a game for years then come around like, oh, this game's actually pretty good. It's a crowd pleaser.

[Andy Cortez]

It's the. It's the. Nick Scar is.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

No, no, that's a good game. It turns out pretty good. I'm looking forward to Silk Song now.

[Andy Cortez]

After this, after today's games cast, there's nothing because we're recording a secret fun thing that we are super excited to show you all later down the line.

[Dan Reichert]

It's going to be insane. I can't wait for people to see this because the prep that went into what we're about to do today is more prep than we put into anything to say. But it's about to be awesome.

[Andy Cortez]

And there's a note in here that says toss to Tim.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, we didn't have this in the housekeeping because it's all kind of coming together. But Nintendo Direct is tomorrow. Of course we will be live reacting. Reacting to it. But because it is a partner showcase and because it's at 6am our time, we're not gonna be doing it live at 6am we'll do it at 10am so at the normal games daily time, we'll watch on a delay. We will stay off the Internet. We will not watch anything. The chat will be off so we won't know what's happening. We'll be live reacting.

[Andy Cortez]

Don't tweet me.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, well don't tweet at anybody.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Just leave it alone. Are you really just. Everyone's just waking up and not checking their phone?

[Dan Reichert]

Not like the people, just the people on the reaction.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Okay. Do friends know not to text you and stuff? Because I'd be worried that like, like if I can't watch like a pay per view or something while it's going on, like don't text me about aew. I'm at a wedding tonight.

[Dan Reichert]

I think the thing with this is it's rare. I mean if it was a full on Nintendo like a first party thing, I'd be pushing for us to be.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Here at 6am of course.

[Dan Reichert]

The first big Nintendo for Switch 2. Yeah, we're gonna be here. Partner showcase. I still have high expectations. I think we're gonna get some good stuff. But we're gonna watch on delay and I don't think people are gonna be texting us. Don't text me. Okay. Don't text me.

[Andy Cortez]

Tim, I was really disappointed recently when we talk about the look of physical Switch games. Physical Switch 2 games. Rather, as you know, I've been on a physical Switch binge.

[Dan Reichert]

We need to do just a full gamescast. Tom about this because I'm, I've never been more proud of anybody in my life than seeing Andy just buy all these Switch indie games physically. And I'm just like, I, I've always.

[Andy Cortez]

Loved the look of the boxes. I've always loved the look of Nintendo boxes. Granted. And when we went to, when I went to Osaka last year and seeing the, the tiny little box for Game Boy color linked Oracle of seasons, right? I'm like, God, I just, I've always loved their retail packages, right? And the same, I've always felt the same with Switch. And I finally was like, you know what? I want to buy games that really mean a lot to me, especially smaller indie titles because I just love having those more rare games. But I have bought a couple of games that are not.

[Dan Reichert]

You gotta be careful, don't slip, don't be me. Because then you just have a entire shelf that's just red.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh no, no. So Yeah, I mean, that's not even my concern because it's mainly going to be games that mean a lot to me. So I bought Mario Maker 2 because Mario Maker 2 was, I mean, what a connection here with Dan Ryker and I, Dan Riker, making levels and streaming them. And that was like kind of a big start, big jump start for my, my streaming career, I guess. But when I, you know, we talk about our disappointment with the switch 2 boxes and I recently decided to purchase Tears of the Kingdom on Switch 2. And there was a part of me that thought maybe that whole block of text won't be at the bottom. Maybe that was only for graphic purposes. Maybe that's just for thumbnail images. That block of text is at the fucking bottom, dude. It's so unnecessary.

[Dan Reichert]

But on the back. So right now the four physical Switch 2 games I have are Donkey Kong Bonanza, Mario Kart World, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. And when they're, I mean those are the obvious ones, right? I guess Cyberpunk would be the other. But I didn't get it looking at them all. Two of them. Beautiful, gorgeous. You just got the text.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Come on.

[Andy Cortez]

It's so unexpected.

[Dan Reichert]

Figure it out, Nintendo.

[Andy Cortez]

Now the spine art is where I'm, you know, leaning more towards liking these Switch two boxes more because the, the spine art for the Switch one box is blessed just red with the standard.

[Dan Reichert]

Uniform, which I do like because I like they have their like the company logo as well at the bottom. Like I like, it's just when you get too much of it, it just kind of just looks like.

[Andy Cortez]

But the spine art for the Switch two boxes, you know, you, the art continues onto the spine and sometimes it'll have the logo or just the, the uniform font saying the name of the game, but I like the way that those things change up or whatever. What, what were we talking about? I forgot what we were talking about.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Be careful about the physical stuff because it was like three years ago, I was at a flea market and I saw a really nice Mario 3 NES in box which hard to find good NES cardboard boxes in good shape. And I was like, you know what? It's one of my favorite games of all time. I'll buy my first complete inbox game. Fast forward like three years and I've got like a museum basically in my house. And like I had to do a cutoff for myself where it's like, oh yeah, the 360 PS3 Wii era is when I cut off because it's like then it's Just retro. But Switch was my one exception. And it's just like. I do like those. You have just the uniform red boxes.

[Andy Cortez]

And yeah, I ended up buying a 70 dol hyper light drifter, the. The IM 8 bit collector's edition one. And was scouring the Internet for Katana Zero on switch. Turns out it never came out physical because they were waiting for the DLC. DLC's taken six or seven years or whatever to make. Where is it? Where is it?

[Tim Geddes]

Where is it?

[Andy Cortez]

But it's gonna happen. I'm gonna get that physical. It's just a sequel at this point. It's been so long. I mean, it's probably gonna be a pretty. It's gonna be like a Silk song situation. Bought those animal well physicals yesterday.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Did you do all the crazy endings on Animal World?

[Andy Cortez]

No, because I think I had to move on to review something else. But I put a shitload of time into it.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

That's been a thing lately is these games where it's like, they're really good and you can see credits. But then if you're a real sicko, like, like blueprints, you know, you can. You can get to room 46 and everything. But then if you want to play like a hundred more hours, you can decode an entire, like, kingdom lore and stuff. It's just. I. I like it. I like having those options. But a lot of times I'll see credits and just like. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Bless. I'm gonna need you to do me a favor. My computer keeps locking me.

[Tim Geddes]

I know.

[Andy Cortez]

So if you could just read the next sections. Here's the thing.

[Tim Geddes]

I don't even. I don't have the doc.

[Dan Reichert]

I got it. If you're today's Greg WEBB. More than 17 minutes about Nintendo Switch 2's future. Thank you to our Patreon producers, Kyle Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm Twining. Today we're brought to you by Mood Factor and the Kind of Funny Survey. But we'll tell you all about that later. For now, star with the topic of the show.

[Andy Cortez]

It's just.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

It's.

[Andy Cortez]

It's saying I don't have a pin.

[Tim Geddes]

It's saying Andy's laptop is custom out right now.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

I've never seen this.

[Andy Cortez]

We're talking about Ninja Gaiden Rage Bound today. Ninja Gaiden Ragebound. I'm just going to do this off the cuff right here. Tim, you're going to be so impressed.

[Tim Geddes]

This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to open up the dock and I'M going to passing my laptop.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh man, you're the.

[Dan Reichert]

Wow.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Teamwork everybody.

[Andy Cortez]

Ninja Gaiden Ragebound. Beautiful pixel art game from the game kitchen. Who are the developers of one of my favorite games of all time and it was, you know, I think number seven or six of my list last year. Blasphemous two there. For developers of the Blasphemous series, the developed but or published by Dot Emu and Joystick, Ninja Gaiden Rage Bound is currently at an 86 on Metacritic. And let me just read a little, read a little summary for you gamers out there. A brand new side scrolling entry to the Ninja Gaiden series from the team behind Blasphemous. Ninja Gaiden Ragebound redefines the classic platformer saga in a spectacular, thrilling and challenging ninja adventure. Release date is tomorrow. Very, very excited. We've all put some time into this video game. I think Tim has beaten it.

[Dan Reichert]

I have beaten the game.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

I'll ask you a question, Tim.

[Dan Reichert]

Yes you can.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Because I assume this is kind of a smaller project. I reached apart and no spoilers here really, But I got Act 3 and it does the same thing where it's like you got to get these three things and all these levels are way longer than ones before. And so there's a part of me thinking I was getting near the end. It's like, okay, I'll do these three things and then it's like a big boss fight or something. Is this game bigger than I think?

[Dan Reichert]

No.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Oh really? I feel like I saw some headlines saying it was like 13, 14 hours.

[Dan Reichert]

Well, that, that. So that is the thing. You might just be really good.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Oh, that's probably the case.

[Dan Reichert]

That's probably the case because I am, I am also 13 hours into this as well. But there is a lot of extra content. But it's kind of like what you were just talking about. You hit credits. But there's a lot of secret levels.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

There's the side stuff which I don't know if it's. Do you have to do something? Is that what the scrolls are? Because like there's three collectibles in these levels. There's like skulls, there's like the scarabs and then there's like a scroll. Is the scroll what is unlocking those side missions? Okay, yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

And there's a large amount of those side missions. They're, they're good, great challenges. They just feel like more levels, which I think is, is awesome.

[Andy Cortez]

But the game's reviewing really, really well so far. Super Stoked to talk about it with all of you all. I would like to kind of go down the row. Just give me a top level thought of Ninja Gaiden rage bound with how much time you put into it and where you are playing the game. Blessing, let's start with you. Ooh.

[Tim Geddes]

So I'm only about halfway through the game. This is a fun one to talk about because for me, I'm not considering this my review whatsoever. I'm just giving very light impressions. I'm going to leave the full review to Tim to break down the full thoughts.

[Andy Cortez]

How much time into it?

[Tim Geddes]

I can't tell because my Steam, I don't think my Steam clock is accurate with it. Like my Steam clock says an hour. I must have put in over an hour because I'm estimated. Yeah. Like around halfway through.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Tim Geddes]

Like, I'm. I'm at the beginning. I don't know if I want to say how many acts are in this game, but I'm at an act that would imply that I'm about halfway through the game.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Tim Geddes]

So I want to say if I'm spitballing maybe like two and a half, three hours into the game and I'm enjoying it. So far I've had the conversations with like Roger and Tim, right. Of, you know, I'm somebody who. I'm talking. I talk about 2D platformers all the time. And like, I consider platformers part of my bag. When I think about the games that I feel like I excel at and games that a genre that I absolutely love. I didn't really grow up playing like a Ninja Gaiden style game. Like there wasn't really many of these that I gravitated to very strongly. And so it's really fun hopping into this and like knowing what my skill as a gamer is. The kind of genres that I consider myself good at because I play a lot of fighting games, play a lot of like souls, likes like Andy and all that stuff. Right. And so I know the games that I'm good at and it's really fascinating seeing this game not click for me just as far as like my skill level, but also the being where I'm at in this game. I'm so excited to continue. I'm taking my time with it because this is one that I was like, I'm not going to really rush through it. I'm just going to like have this be the game that I pick up on my Steam deck just in the downtime when I want to knock out a level every now and then.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Tim Geddes]

But as I've gone through it, I am very impressed by a few things. Very impressed by the visuals of it. Of course, this is, you know, pixel art style is meant to, you know, be a retro throwback to classic Ninja Gaidens, but, you know, it is. It's doing the indie retro thing of, hey, this might not have been what these games look like on Super Nintendo, but this is what you remember them looking like. You know, it is vibrant, it is colorful, the backgrounds are fantastic, the animations are smooth. I love looking at this game. I also love playing this game. I think, you know, it. Everything is as responsive as you want it to be. There is a. There are an amount of tools in your arsenal that is like, very impressive and very active. You know, I think one of the analogs I can give to it would be playing a rhythm game as far as, like, you got your parry, you got, you know, different abilities you can do. And the game has set up each level to kind of like if you're able to hit a flow with it and hit every single thing that you're trying to do in a line, like, you're gonna hit a flow state that's gonna be unlike anything else you've ever experienced. So I'm gonna let you guys talk more about that. But I love that aspect.

[Andy Cortez]

Majority of time on Steam Deck, you.

[Dan Reichert]

Only got Steam Deck codes. I don't think they gave codes for any other system.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah, rotate between like my PC proper instead.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Okay. Yeah, it's great on Steam Deck. It's awesome.

[Tim Geddes]

It's fantastic.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

You talk about that kind of that flow state and everything, and it really reminds me of that mechanic in the messenger of like, where you can kind of just like bounce off projectiles like the Guillotine Boost in this. And it feels great. It's. You can either use LB or you can just do a double jump thing. And it just does that like kind of little. That little sonic ring around you that makes bounce off.

[Dan Reichert]

While you talk about that, I got a couple pull quotes from some other reviews from different outlets and a line that made me actually laugh out loud reading it because I just didn't expect this coming from Will Borger from IGN, who gave it a 9. Hyperchargers are neat, but the real star of the show is the Guillotine Boost, which lets you bounce on it.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

On what?

[Dan Reichert]

And by it, I mean just about anything. Once you're in the air, you can jump again when you're about to make contact with an enemy or projectile to both attack and then bounce off them for another jump. An enemy jumping at you. Bounce on it. A weird pumpkin headed dude throwing axes at you. Bounce on him. A boss charging across the screen at you. Bounce on his head. Fireballs everywhere. Bounce on them, my child. Bounce on it.

[Andy Cortez]

Dan Reichard, how much time have you put into Ninja Gaiden Rage Bound and have you know, where are you at with your thoughts so far?

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

I'm starting Act 4 right now. I'm probably about like five hours in. I've been doing the side missions as they come up and for me it's great because like, it's a blasphemous. I know you love it, but like, I am not particularly great at kind of the, the from style Dark Souls type combat. I can get through it usually by cheesing and leveling up too much and stuff like that. But you know, the Perry type stuff and everything. Like, I sucked at Seiro, I sucked at Blasphemous. But like with Blasphemous, I couldn't get over how great that pixel art was. It was incredible. So this is kind of the best option for me because it's got that beautiful pixel art. But I was an NES kid, you know, I grew up on the old Ninja Gaidens and everything. And so this is perfect. It's this art style that I love with gameplay that feels more familiar to me.

[Andy Cortez]

The Kick Ass soundtrack.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Oh, soundtrack's incredible. It also, in ways, it almost reminds me of a mix between Ninja Gaiden and Strider. You know, it's not pure Ninja Gaiden. It's not just trying to go one to one on the old NES ones. It's got a bit of that Strider feel to it. It's got the classic climbing walls and everything. But adding the guillotine boost is incredible. The whole the way that it mixes the two characters. Because at first I, you know, I didn't follow a lot of pre release stuff for this, so I didn't know the gimmick of like these two characters are utilizing both their abilities at the same time. So the first couple missions are like, you're this guy, you're this girl. And then it's like, oh, now I can kind of put this whole piece together here.

[Andy Cortez]

That's where it really starts to sing.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Yeah, it really starts singing. It almost has that like Ikaruga style thing of like, okay, so this character has is blue, this one's pink. So you know which attack.

[Dan Reichert]

Great comparison.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Yeah. Forgetting the hyperturns, the kind of color focused stuff and everything. And then the boss fights I just love because it's my favorite type of boss fight because pretty much every one of them, I get my ass kicked the first time. Second time, I definitely get a little further, maybe get to the second or third phase, and it's like I understand these attacks. And by the third, fourth, fifth time, it's like I know these patterns. I feel like, you know, I'm seeing the matrix. I'm able to. You were the kind of parry everything. Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Facing you.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Yeah. Like, there's that time where it's like you die the last time. You're like, I've got it now. I'm going to kill it this next time. And, like, not even get hit. And there's all those side objectives and missions and stuff. Like. Like, you know, the challenges on each level, like, don't fall into a pit on this one. Yeah. Secret rooms, all the collectibles and everything. I'm never annoyed at going back, like, oh, I missed one blue skull in this level. I will happily go back and play. They're pretty breezy levels for the most part. Yeah, it's. I'm really, really impressed by this.

[Andy Cortez]

I have another pull quote here from Leo Faronin from Screen Rant, who gave a Ninja Garden Ragebound an 8, who says, ultimately, consider me a believer for strict Ninja Gaiden and Shadow of the Ninja purists. I might still refer to 2021's excellent Cyber Shadow, which was a really good game. This is me talking. Not the quote anymore, but awful. Final level. Like, man, that level. That game just really fell apart in the final level. But Ninja Gaiden Ragebound smartly updates the classic jump and slash format in a way that often feels modern and clever, with satisfyingly smooth movement controls throughout. We just need a proper leaderboard to show off our sharpening skills. And I totally agree with that. I would love to see some. I love. That was like. I think my biggest takeaway from playing Wheel Worlds was seeing Greg on the Ladyborn be. I gotta be his ass. You know, Tim Geddes, you have played the most of this game. You've beaten Ninja Gaiden Ragebound. Where are you at with it? Where did you play? I guess on Steam Deck.

[Dan Reichert]

Primarily played on Steam Deck. What are your thoughts? And NPC. But they. They only gave us PC codes. I played. I'd say 80. Nah, it's not right. Maybe 60% on Steam Deck and 40% on my TV. Both ran flawlessly. Great, great experience. I have heard that from the developer that the Switch version is capped at 30. So switch doesn't sound like the best way to play the game. But that's so bizarre.

[Tim Geddes]

Is that Switch 1 or Switch 2?

[Andy Cortez]

There's only a Switch 1 version, I think.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah. So. And they did say, like the Switch 2, it'll run better on Switch 2, but they didn't say what that means.

[Andy Cortez]

The explode time. Too much.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

But the thing about this, it's like, you know, you might look at you like, what? Why? Why is that a problem? This game is gorgeous. And there so much going on and there are so many layers and so many effects. Like, I'm not a game developer, I don't know the actual words to use here, but when I think back to the Super Nintendo and all the different chips that it had to like, make its games look fancy, right, like the, the FX chip or like all the other chips, this feels like it has every chip possible in it. It is pulling off every single cool visual effect we've ever seen in this type of game.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

It feels like, you know, the gameplay does kind of harken Back to like 16 bit era, but the quality of the pixel art, it's like there was a brief period with like PlayStation and Saturn, Sega Saturn, where it's like everybody was so horny to get into 3D stuff and everything in the early 3D days, but there were those like, Symphony of the Nights and the occasional. It's like, oh, man. If we would have just made more pixel art on 32 bit, it would have looked amazing and we would have known this is what it would have looked like and we would have known.

[Andy Cortez]

This shit would have aged way better.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Oh, way, way better. Also with this one, I've kind of turned into a CRT dork with, you know, when I'm playing old NES stuff and everything now. So, like, for the longest time I've seen scanline options and stuff in games and I haven't done it because it's like, okay, I see what you're trying to do, but it doesn't look right. This has maybe the best CRT filter I've ever seen and I play with it on all the time. It does that slight warping around the edge, which looks really good. And the scan lines themselves, I switch back and forth a lot. I do think the pixel art looks way better with the scan lines here. And I normally don't say that.

[Dan Reichert]

Dan fucking Reichert, I love you so much. Every single thing you just said, I could not agree with more. I love the idea of seeing pixel games look like they used to on crts. And it just never looks good. It always just looks like everything's darker and whatever. I think that there's been a lot of advancement made because of the adoption of OLED technology, where the color accuracy of TVs, there's a bit more uniformity. So I think that devs can come up with scanline options that actually can accurately reflect what they used to look like. And for new games like this, I was blown away by the scan lines in this. It looked so good. And it gives that. That level of depth to the characters that I was very impressed. There's been a couple other games recently that I felt this way about too. But I just. I love that we're here with the scanline stuff because for a while it felt. For a while it felt like a shitty Instagram filter.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Now it's like, oh, this feels like the way that this game was designed. I love this game. This game is a absolute dream. I. It's my favorite type of game.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Right.

[Dan Reichert]

Retro games, but made modern. And the style. And it looks how you remember it. We say that a lot. But for games like this, it is rare because we don't get many of these games. We get a lot of 2D platformers, we get a lot of Metroidvanias. We don't get to Blessings point that many 2D action platformers where it's focusing on the combat and platforming together. And it's not about getting a thing to be able to go somewhere else. You can. Every single level has the same mechanics, but it's putting those mechanics to the test and really testing your ability to get through all the obstacles as fast as possible.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

It's weird that it's almost refreshing that it's not a Metroidvania because, like, Metroidvanias are one of my favorite genres, like, ever. It's just. We have. It's been an embarrassment of wrenches in the last five or ten years of great Metroidvanias. So to have this one hearken back very faithfully to, like, get through the. Get through the level, fight the boss onto the next level, it's like that is a throwback in a way that's like, okay, we don't need to reinvent the wheel with every throwback.

[Tim Geddes]

And that's like, to the point of, you know, me taking my time with it and treating it as a game where I'm like, all right, I got a free 10 minutes. Let me pick up my Steam deck, knock out a level real quick, and then.

[Andy Cortez]

And it's mean and it just. It's sharp and it's to the point.

[Dan Reichert]

That's what it is. And it's just like those old games. It's made to be replayed like this. The reason I have so many hours in it is like I just keep going back and replaying the levels. Even some of them that I've 100 percentage because it's such a joy to experience and look at. And I am very impressed with what they were able to pull off here. I am so happy it's not a Metroidvania like I. I'm now I want to give Blasphemous a shot. I haven't. But like this art style is so good. This team is so talented. But this game just really, really rules. It's not perfect. I'll just get it out of the way right now. I give it an 8 out of 10. It's a great game. I really, really want to give it a nine. But there's enough about it that I don't love the way how mechanics feel. Like Dan was saying, there are two characters. One is blue coated one is pink coated. Blue has a sword, pink has the shirt. So it's projectile. And this game has an amazing system where certain enemies will have blue circle or pink circle around them and you need to attack them with the corresponding color.

[Andy Cortez]

Feels like Guitar Hero in a lot of ways.

[Dan Reichert]

Exactly.

[Andy Cortez]

You see the color theme come by, you're all right, hit the pink button.

[Dan Reichert]

And when you get. But when you do that, you get a hypercharge ability that allows you to kill any enemy in one hit. But not the bosses, but any that'll do major damage to bosses.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

And some environmental things.

[Dan Reichert]

Exactly. To get through a wall or something like that. And it's this huge attack and it's very well paced. It's very rhythm game where if you see a pink circle in front of you, that kind of tells you all right, they're trying to hypercharge me because there's a big enemy coming up. And that happens constantly. So you kind of get into this beautiful flow state of pink, blue, blue, pink, pink, blue, blue. And like you can chain them together and if you get them all right, you're just one shotting everybody breezing through the level. And it feels so damn satisfying. And they teach you that system so well that when you get to the boss fights that are awesome, some of them aren't as impressive as the others. The final boss in particular I was a little let down by. But overall had a great time with them. The boss Fights are all designed around that color system so their phases and what you're doing, like you can attack them. It's going to take you a long time to get their health down. It's all about waiting for the right moments, for the color circles to pop up, to find that and to make sure that you're getting the rhythm right in the boss fights. And it is satisfying as hell.

[Andy Cortez]

I love that you can. I can already see the future of what speed runs are going to be for this because you not. You don't even always have to wait for one of those color things to pop up to get hypercharge. You can hold down the attack button. You sacrifice a chunk of your health, maybe 15%. It's not a massive amount, but you can hypercharge yourself and then go in for that big ass hit that's gonna make the boss fall down and, you know, get super susceptible to more and more hits. And I can already see speedrunners like, all right, you're going to do that four times manually and then use it whenever the actual thing kind of gets prompted into the level.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

One recurring thing that did kind of annoy me. Not my favorite segments are the parts where you will get into this cocoon type thing. And that is where you will, like the pink character you'll fully assume control of in almost like a spirit form. And it's a lot of kind of. It's almost always optional stuff where it's like you're going around to get one of the collectibles. But it's a lot of stuff where it's like you have to hit these things perfectly with your size to kind of warp. And it can be kind of disorienting and a little chaotic, like in a too much kind of way.

[Dan Reichert]

And that is exactly the part that brings the score down for me is there's a lot of those sections and those sections just don't feel quite as perfect as the rest of the game feels, which makes them stand out a lot. They're not bad by any means, but they just kind of are more frustrating than they need to be. Mainly because it has a. They're timed and they give you just the right amount of time to get through the section. And a lot of the game when you're playing as the ninja, Kenji, I think his name is Kenji, it's platforming and climbing on the walls. You can essentially climb on anything, like horizontal or vertical. It's very forgiving. When you're her, it is not forgiving at all. And it's all about kind of matching up your shuriken to throw it at an enemy which will then teleport you to where that enemy is and lining up your shuriken with the little teleportation things. It just doesn't feel quite as like what I forgiving as it needs to.

[Andy Cortez]

What I wanted those sections to be so badly when they were first introduced I thought, oh, they're introducing something like this to a game that's already kind of awesome and I'm already digging this flow. This is going to be the traversal style levels that we loved about Prince of Persia Lost Crown, the Path of Pain levels in Hollow Knight. Like all those super precise precision stuff. And that's the stuff I really, really love. And I just, I wish that they could kind of like go in the lab and kind of like tweak some things a little bit more. Yeah.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

And there are some parts who like you're talking about the teleporters and there were a million times I would die because I just barely missed the teleporter. But worse than that is you're, you're kind of the time limitation factor in this is your health. So you've got like a blue bar above your head and if you get these little blue orbs, it is completely required that you hit these things to extend your timer. Otherwise you're not going to make it by the end. And so those are even tinier than the teleporter things. So there are times where you have to like throw a sigh like right down like a little hallway thing to hit a blue thing and if you just go like a couple pixels off, you're, you know, restart. So not terrible.

[Dan Reichert]

It's not terrible. It's just, it's frustrating in a way that it feels like it's not my fault. And talking about the bosses, it's like there are bosses that took me like 20 something tries but I was still like, I'm going to do this. I know what I'm doing wrong. It feels good. But ah, those times when I was like even three failures I'm like, I'm over this. And then there'd be like certain because a lot of them are optional. Some are not optional. But the, the ones that are to like to get the extra little tokens or whatever the hell you're getting the scarabs and stuff. I wanted to 100 it. I wanted to complete everything and I gave up a couple of runs and I'm just like, this just isn't fun to me. I'm going to keep going to find the fun.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Do you know if so like I like it in games where you know, Bonanza does this where let's say you know, you go into one of those side things where there's three bananas and you miss the middle banana. You can go in there again, get the second banana back out to the layer and it saves it if you want to go back in 100%. Do you know if you go back and you get the second to four scarabs, can you exit out or do you have to finish the level?

[Dan Reichert]

I don't know.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Yeah, I'm curious. I like it when games are like yeah, you got it and you proven.

[Andy Cortez]

You can be the Mario 3D world style.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Not sure if the progression actually works like that. I'm excited to keep talking more about Ninja Gaiden Rage Bound. But first let's hear a word from our sponsors.

[Dan Reichert]

This episode's brought to you by Mood. Let me tell you about the online cannabis company that's revolutionizing how we deal with life's challenges. From sleepless nights to stress filled days, Mood.com has created an entire line of functional gummies that target specific health concerns with 100 federally legal THC blends. They'll deliver them discreetly right to your doorstep and you can get 20% off your first [e-mail] with promo code kindafunny. I've been having a great time trying out their different gummies and am loving how each one feels. And each one is crafted using federally legal cannabis grown on small family owned American farms. No pesticides, no BS and they can ship to most states in the us. Best of all, not only does Mood stand behind everything with an industry leading 100 day satisfaction gas guarantee, but as I mentioned, listeners get 20% off their first order with code kindafunny. So head to mood.com, browse their amazing selection of functional gummies and find the perfect gummy for whatever you are dealing with. And remember to use promo code Kinda Funny at checkout to save 20% on your first order. That's mood.commood.com promo code kinda Funny this episode's brought to you by Factor. Summer is here baby. That means more summer, more light, but it should not mean more hours inside cooking. That's where Factor comes in. Factor's chef crafted dietitian approved meals are ready in just two minutes. Taking the hassle out of eating. Well, multiple people here at Kinda Funny have been loving their experience with Factor and you can too. Factor meals arrive fresh and ready to eat perfect for any active lifestyle over summer and beyond. With 45 weekly menu options, you can pick gourmet meals that fit your summer go gains and goals. Choose from options like Calorie Smart, Protein plus Keto and more. Factor powers your day sun up to sundown with nutritious breakfast on the go, lunches, premium dinners and guilt free snacks and desserts. Factor has your whole day covered. Enjoy more this summer. Get Factor if you want all the flavor and none of the fuss, get started@factor meals.com kinda funny 50 off and use code kinda funny 50 off to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. That's code kinda funny 50 off@factor meals.com kinda Funny 50 off for 50% off plus free shipping we need you it's been a few years since we've done a big ol audience survey to determine.

[Andy Cortez]

Who watches our stuff, where you watch.

[Dan Reichert]

It, what sorts of products you're open to seeing. In terms of sponsors, we've boiled this down to a handful of simple questions that shouldn't take you more than 45 minutes to complete. Oh, and all of your answers will be completely anonymous and we want you.

[Andy Cortez]

To be as honest as possible.

[Dan Reichert]

Head over to kind of funny.com survey to participate. Thanks.

[Andy Cortez]

Remember to get y' all super chats in. Gonna read a quick one from Alex Fraser before we throw to Tim for some more Ninja guiding Ragebound Goodness. Alex Fraser with a five dollar super chat. Thank you for supporting us. Remember, get your super chats in, get your questions in. Alex says do we know why there's such a delay in Switch 2 versions or of third party games coming out? This feels like a no brainer for the new console.

[Dan Reichert]

This goes back to what they the rumors were three step plan. Yeah where it seems like a lot of the dev kits weren't out and that very few of the third parties actually had access to the Switch 2 before release and I could not believe that at the time I was like no, surely Nintendo's not going to do that. They're going to get this right and it seems like they got it wrong. But tomorrow's partner showcase hopefully will start to be the not first step, maybe second step towards solving that and changing that. But yeah, games like Ragebound not having a Switch to edition, it's also a different type of game. So I'm not sure that this necessarily would have anyways. But that is the reason when I.

[Andy Cortez]

Was on doing my Switch to box rant and kind of at one point was like what was I talking about? Why did I get here, it's because I'm really stoked for the Elden Ring physical box. But I don't want that damn text box on it. I don't. I don't want some dude in there just like hitting the T button to Photoshop and then clicking and dragging and just putting a bunch of legal bullshit.

[Dan Reichert]

So I mean, you know, this isn't necessarily the show to talk about this. Tomorrow's Nintendo Direct probably will be. But the biggest thing to prepare yourselves for is that the majority of games tomorrow are going to be game key cards. So the majority of games they talk about tomorrow are going to have that big text box and have the, the game on the.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

It's.

[Dan Reichert]

It's a disaster. It's a disaster. But for you, Andy, I wouldn't be surprised if Elden Ring didn't do that and actually follow the cyberpunk route. Maybe I'm wrong, but I. I do think that there is a good chance that it's actually game on CART for that. It also includes Shadow of the Nerd Tree Nurture.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, Tim, you had some more stuff to talk about with Ninja Gun Rage Bot. Hit me.

[Dan Reichert]

I was saying that I love this game and I truly do. It is an 8. I do not think that it is a better platform challenge game or action challenge game than a lot of things that we've gotten recently. We brought up Prince of Persia earlier. I see Wiener in the chat was saying. I say Tim gives it a 8.5 because it's not as good as Prince of Persia. I mean it's not as good as Prince of Persia. Lost ground, Prince of Persia, Lost Crown is a Metroidvania. Very different experience than this. But what Andy was saying about those like challenge levels and the platforming stuff and the way the abilities all work together in the teleporting. I think that that is like masterpiece quality in that game. That should not be a comparison to this though. This game is its own thing and this game is fucking awesome. Like it being an 8 I actually think is perfect for where. For what this game should be. Because this is a fucking video game ass video game. You are a ninja on a jet ski. Why? Cuz it's cool.

[Andy Cortez]

There's a CIA agent.

[Dan Reichert]

It is.

[Andy Cortez]

It's amazing.

[Dan Reichert]

Perfect nonsense. And like I was smiling ear to ear the entire time playing it because they just kept throwing things at me that I'm like God damn man. I wish every video game was this video game.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

There have been at least three or four times playing this. I've been like this reminds me of battle tudes. And that's a good thing. Like battle.

[Dan Reichert]

Absolutely, yeah. And the, the cinematic nature of this game is so damn impressive. The visual style, the way the bosses or just giant enemies will interact with the level as you're playing through it. So like you're just doing a side scrolling thing, you're on a zip line and then there's enemies kind of chasing after you just like normal goons. And out of nowhere a giant sea serpent will jump up and just kill one of them behind you. And it's awesome. It feels like the coolest moments of Super Nintendo games. But back to back to back to.

[Andy Cortez]

Back to back to back, presentation wise, it's another level.

[Dan Reichert]

If you would have.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Great.

[Andy Cortez]

If you would have told me, hey Andy, if you have told me this yesterday, when you wake up tomorrow, Ninja God and Rage Bomb will be your highest, you know, graded score on the fantasy critic thing. I would have never believed you. I, I would, I'm definitely a little bit lower on this game and a lot of that is kind of unfair for me because I, I, I just think of what blasphemous 2 was and how I look at that game. It's kind of like a masterpiece of a Metroidvania. And I obviously this is definitely going for much more of an arcady nature. I think they nailed what they were going for here. But as I am playing this game last night, I'm like, you know, probably leaning around a seven, five, you know, maybe a seven, which is still a good score. It's a good video game. I, I think me wanting more from it is probably unfair for me and I'm willing to admit that. But I, you know, the, the sort of cliche stuff it does, writing wise, it, it's, it. This feels like an 80s action movie video game. An 80s action movie where you are like, like you were saying, Tim, you're just a ninja and you're having this kind of back and forth with this other kind of spirit. Ninja demon spirit.

[Dan Reichert]

It's doing, it's Black Spider Clan.

[Andy Cortez]

It's doing what it needs to do. I just would the, the scores to be this high but thankfully for me.

[Dan Reichert]

People love it more than I as somebody that loves this game and beat it. I'm so shocked they're this high too. Like I, I am very, very impressed that I got an 86 metacritic. I, I think that it might be a little high, but that's fine. It's, it's resonating with the people that have been waiting for this type of game. And again, this type of game doesn't come around that often. Like major shout out to the messenger because it is an example of this genre. And that game freaking kicks ass.

[Andy Cortez]

I love that game.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

I do like that it is first the narrative and cutscenes and characters and stuff. It is very old school in the story, but like it plays it straight. Where I feel like in the last 10 years or so there's been so much of that. It's an old reference now, but like a Far Cry Blood Dragon thing where it's like, hey, remember the 80s, like breaking the fourth wall type stuff like oh yeah, I'm a ninja, bad dude. Exactly. That type of humor which like it had its day and then it got really overdone, I think. And this just plays it straight, you know. Yeah, because like especially like the old NES Ninja Gaidens had the cinematic quality to them that like, especially on the nes you didn't see just those very like anime style cutscenes with the awesome music and everything. Like this just feels like that. And it plays it straight.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah. And that, I honestly think that that is like such an important thing because it adds so much to what makes this game special. Because if they were like winking at the camera, just being like, we know this is silly, it'd be stupid. But I keep talking about it. There's a ninja on the jet Ski and they just play it seriously and it's awesome. And they so many times in this game, if you ever asked why, the answer is because it's cool. And like you'll start to be scaling a building and you start to see that there's like the, the horizon and there's like ocean and you see the sun and as you go up the sun is starting to rise more and more and you know that by the time you get to the end of this level it is going to be the most beautiful like sunset, like sun.

[Andy Cortez]

Bleach, Amazing pixel art.

[Dan Reichert]

Amazing pixel art. And it just, this game feels like it's a reward constantly. Like the. Every single screen is the reward for beating the last screen. And I, I can't say that about many of the retro style games like this. This just achieves what it's going for. And I don't think it's going for being the best game of all time.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

I don't know if anyone here has played Contra Hardcore, but like that is like I adore that game and it does a lot of that same stuff where it's like mid level, like a building is Falling down. You see the explosion? Now it's sideways. You're running up the building. It has a lot of that like in game stuff that's like shifting the levels and stuff that. I've always loved that stuff.

[Dan Reichert]

And you should play that game one day because it's Contra, but it's anime. Like it's like an anime Contra.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Oh, wow. Yeah. Werewolf and a robot. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

It's.

[Dan Reichert]

I mean even just style wise.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Yeah, it is the. It is the best Contra. I think.

[Dan Reichert]

You know what? I am talking about a different one. I'm talking about Contra.

[Andy Cortez]

I don't know. Alien.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Which one? Shattered Soldier.

[Dan Reichert]

Something I love.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Okay. Neocontra.

[Andy Cortez]

The Contra subtitles are just the funniest. Like you just take a. Let me just grab a handful of action words and just hit Randomize Operation Galaga. See what pops up. I wanted to talk a bit about some of the talismans and power ups. Did you all feel yourselves leaning towards anything in particular that helped make your experience better?

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

It depends on the level because like there are some. If it's a bunch of like flying enemies that are above you and stuff. You know, there is that one. Like what do they call those abilities? The. The Y button abilities where it like homes in. So it's like a homing missile. And that can be really useful really quick.

[Dan Reichert]

This is hilarious that I conflated this purpose. I'm thinking of Hardcore Uprising.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

It's an XBLA game.

[Dan Reichert]

Yes. And it so amazing. Art style. Love this freaking game. Made by ARC System Works. It's our system works Art style. Yeah, but it's a Contra game. But it's not Contra. But it is. Because you're talking about contrast Hardcore Genesis. This is. The director said that the intentions to link this game to Contra Hardcore. But it's not a Contra game.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

I think Hardcore is on the Genesis. Like Switch Online. If anyone hasn't played it, check it out. It's incredible. Hello. Cool.

[Dan Reichert]

Man. I love this game.

[Andy Cortez]

This reminds me of Upright. Oh gosh. I'm blinking on the. The PS2. Einhander reminds me.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Oh wow. Sure.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. So going back to the abilities and talking about the talismans, the way the game works is you will find the currency which are like these little special skulls. And then after each level you can go to Master Muramasa and say, hey, let me buy this little thing which gives. Gives me a full health thing whenever I hit a checkpoint. Or that one's huge. It, you know, gives me 25 or 50 extra damage whenever I'm low. Health. Which ones were y' all kind of leaning towards?

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

The checkpoint one is huge. Just getting the full recharge. There's also the one where, like, you land three guillotine boosts on enemies, you know, in a row, you'll get, like, a health boost. And then as far as the big, like, what do they call the merge abilities or whatever? And hit Y plus B at the same time. Those are huge for boss fights because sometimes you just need to do damage. Like, you know, you'll get that stagger state. You'll do the thing that shoots out a bunch of, like, projectiles. But sometimes it's like, my health is the problem. And so there's one that kind of creates a healing orb around you. That's the one I've been using more recently. So, yeah, those Y +B attacks are very important.

[Dan Reichert]

I'm pretty let down by the abilities you get in this. I like what they are. I just feel the system to get them and use them is too limited for it to really make sense in this game. Because I like the abilities, but because they really wanted to just keep this game simple and not have it be this like, you're gaining skills and like.

[Andy Cortez]

Metroidvania or any skill tree, it.

[Dan Reichert]

I feel like the game's not long enough to allow you to really. I wanted multiple of the abilities at once. You know what I mean? I kind of felt the sense of like, wanting a. Wanting more progression because they were available. And I. I also understand they want. You just keep replaying and try, like, try the levels with each ability. There's also not that many abilities. And the further you get in, the more you start to realize the abilities are less about making you better at the game. More of them are about making the game harder for you. So more of them are about. It's essentially hard mode. There is a hard mode you get in the game after beating it, but it's like you die in one hit or you. It's. It's the type of, like, abilities you're.

[Andy Cortez]

Putting on yourself in Hades.

[Dan Reichert]

Exactly. For people that are like, I want this to play like the original Ninja Gaiden games, right? Having them be brutally hard.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

They have certain callbacks to, like, you know, some of my favorite, like, NES weapons, like kind of the boomerang shuriken and stuff like that. The one I'm hoping, like, I loved in the nes, the one that would, like, just created the mimic of. Of ryu and it would just, like, attack when you attack and jump when you jump. I don't. I Haven't seen it yet. I mean, you beat it.

[Andy Cortez]

Damn Elden Ring ripping off the mimic tier.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

That tier two.

[Andy Cortez]

Damn all your never meet your hero sort of thing.

[Dan Reichert]

But I just feel like that stuff is. It almost like should have been available from the start of the game. The Making it harder for yourself, like just features. Because the game, I think, is very accessible and they. They give a lot of options to just change a ton of things, which I really appreciate. And the. The abilities themselves, though, they just feel very outnumbered compared to the ones that are hurting. You are making it harder.

[Andy Cortez]

I agree.

[Dan Reichert]

And I just feel like there's not enough of them to not just give me all of them at once and make the game work with that.

[Andy Cortez]

Did you ever build up another. Did you ever build up an ultimate mid fight?

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Because during like a boss fight, I.

[Andy Cortez]

Often started off with full ultimate charge. Yep. And was never able. I. Something about the economy of what you were doing wasn't matching up with me where I'm like in any other video game, just with any sort of action adventure game or any game that requires, like, building up a bar to get to your ultimate. I, you know, you can, you know, throw a stone out the. Out of your boat and you'd be able to hit a game where it's like, all right, I start off, I'm going to use my ultimate, and then I'll build up my ultimate for, you know, maybe the second phase of the boss fight or whatever. I just was never able to do that.

[Dan Reichert]

And Barrett, can you bring up just any gameplay? Because Andy's making a really good point that I again, like, over 10 hours into this game had the exact same experience where I don't think I ever, ever filled it up enough to get no enough. So you see, it's a one off. These like, little. The. The fire, like fireballs. There's like five of them there. Why is there five? Because it really just feels like there should just be one because you never get. Get enough to recharge and use it again. I. I don't know why it's there.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

I use it like halfway through every boss fight. And I saw it as a one off, basically. Yeah. It's funny, like we're watching the kind of sea serpent boss fight here, and it does also remind me like, that guillotine boost. It's almost like in Cuphead, you know, there'd be the occasional, like, pink projectile that you. It's kind of the exact same thing where you hit jump again in midair and kind of bounce off it and feels just as good here.

[Andy Cortez]

Bounce on it.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Bounce on it is what the kids say. Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

I also just kind of wanted to have a brief complaint. And it's probably mainly just my fault, but the. The Overworld map, I got really confused at one point with the. At a certain point they give you three levels and say, attack them however you want. And I think I hadn't played the game in a while, so then I booted it up and just like, all right, I'm assuming I did all these levels. Let me just go to the very, very bottom. Oh, sure. And I did the third one without doing the first two. And again, mostly my fault, but I was just like, I already did this level. Why is it. Why do I have to do it again? Like, where's the next level? And then I didn't really notice that the two prior. I don't know, it just. It felt odd giving, like, kind of like, here's player freedom when it's like, just having go in order.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

This is an Omega man situation, you know.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Sure, sure.

[Dan Reichert]

It definitely was them trying to make it a little bit more cinematic and a little bit more like, it's not even. Yeah, but I. I agree that that screen just kind of doesn't feel well presented because it's on the left, you have a menu essentially, of just level by level. And then on the right side, it's an actual world map where you see all the things. And I like that it. The visuals of it. And I clearly, they're like that. They wanted to push that, but it is a little confusing to look at. And I would just say just look at the left side of the screen. It'll tell you. Tell you your rank if you beat the level. And if it. If there's no rank, that means you didn't beat it.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

That's what it should make it more clear, like, have it highlighted or something like that. Yeah, the. The shop economy is interesting too, because, like, you know, these scarabs, there's, you know, three to, like, six as far as I've seen in each level of these scarabs, and they're not that hard to get. So I found myself, like, able to afford, like, most of the shop at any given time, which I definitely prefer. Like, you know, I'm playing Bonanza now, too. And it's like, I do feel like every time I have a skill point, it's just like, okay, well, I really have to make a decision. Am I going for the health thing? Am I going for a Bonanza thing? This One, I just kind of felt like, okay, I guess I could just buy anything. I guess I'll just cherry pick this one and use it forever and have a surplus.

[Dan Reichert]

You know, that kind of goes back to what I was saying of just like the things you're buying, there's not that many of them that are helpful unless you're trying to make the game masochistic. And so pretty early on I'm like, well, I'm not doing that. So I have not hundreds, but a plethora of these scarabs that I'm like, I'm not even going to use them.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, yeah. One quick, one last thing before we round out the show. There is another very, very similar game coming out called Shinobi Art of Vengeance.

[Dan Reichert]

Yes.

[Andy Cortez]

What are our predictions there? Does it outscore Ninja Gaiden Rage Bound on Open Critic Metacritic?

[Dan Reichert]

That's a great question. I mean, I think that because of how high this Metacritic is, the answer is no. Like, I don't think it's going to live up to an 86 like that. This is surprisingly high. And maybe this lowers over time. Maybe other people get reviews and it changes. I can't freaking wait again. I'm living the best time of my life with these games. I can't believe we're getting a Shinobi the same year. We're getting three Ninja Games. We got two. We're getting four. We got Ragebound. What the fuck, man? Hell yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

I will say this is the developers of Streets of Rage 4, I believe.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Yes.

[Andy Cortez]

And so. And that got an 84 on Open Critic. So it could get close.

[Dan Reichert]

It's good. It could get close. Yeah. I mean, but I feel like the.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Buzz from people who have played this, like, early builds and stuff is very, very positive. So it could be close.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, there were previews that went up yesterday that were like, really high on this.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Yeah. Yeah, I'm excited about this.

[Andy Cortez]

This looks like it.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

This looks really, really damn good. Let's see. I want really quickly, before we end the show, I wanted to thank Zacky G for subscribing with prime using your Twitch Prime. Remember, if you have Amazon prime, you have Twitch prime. You subscribe for 55 months. Thank you for your support. Thank you everybody for your super chats and support and your eyes and your ears and your dollars. And thank you to the squad here for having an awesome podcast. Thank you, Dan Riker, for joining us anytime. You flew all the way out here just to talk about music on Rage.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

I know, I was excited about talking about it. So here I am. I'm gonna fly back back now. See.

[Andy Cortez]

So pumped up about that Dan Rocker. Where could people find you?

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

Giantbomb.com if you have not seen we are fully independent now and you can go to giantbomb.com join to support us. We're doing some great stuff over there. We got some really fun shows. You just had Mike Minati on earlier. Blight Club is a real highlight every week but we got the bombcast every Tuesday. We got games morning mess with Jeff Grubb every morning but Tuesday. So check it out. We're on Twitch, YouTube, everything. But very, very proud of what we are now. A small team without corporate backing and we're learning lessons that you guys have probably all learned over the years and everything. And you guys continue to be an inspiration and trailblazers in this space. And thank you for all the advice and everything and hopefully for having me on.

[Dan Reichert]

Congrats.

[Blessing Adioye Jr.]

I love being on here.

[Andy Cortez]

Absolutely. Everybody that's gonna do it for us here on the Kind of Funny Games cast, we appreciate you all hanging out with us. If you love what we do, please support us with the Kind of Funny membership on Patreon or YouTube to get all of our shows ad free, watch us record them live and get a daily exclusive show. You can catch today's kind of Funny games daily on YouTube or podcast services and know that until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you.