(To get you in the mood, load http://www.taito.co.jp/csm/title/2007/kage2/ in a tab or window and let the music play in the background.)

Taito is rocking some interesting things lately. In June, we're getting Space Invaders Extreme and Arkanoid. I'm not a huge Arkanoid fan, but I grew up with Space Invaders and this new version has me excited. Taito has added power ups and boss battles to Space Invaders Extreme as well as a new coat of paint and the budget price of $19.99, and the shmup whore that I am, cannot look away. But Taito is not ready to rest on its laurels, opting instead to revisit another franchise from years past - The Legend of Kage.



Simply put, Kage Densetsu: The Legend of Kage 2 is a throwback to the old-school ninja side scrolling action game, a genre that is sadly ignored in the current market. The first thing players will notice when starting up their DS is the abundance of sakura blossoms. What's a ninja game with sakura?

Story
A demon lord named Yojiro has decided to kill a priestess named Kirihime. The priestess is under the protection of Kage, who doesn't take kindly to this whole "kill my charge" idea. Kage sets off to eliminate Yojiro and his henchmen. Also joining the fray is Chihiro, Kirihime's sister. She's not a fan of people trying to kill her sister and decides to go after Yojiro. Two ninja, one demon lord, tons of underling ninja and henchmen. Nothing could be better.



While Kage keeps the ninja with flowing scarves cliche going, Chihiro gets extra points for having a flowing obi, despite the impracticality of such clothing. Kage is shirtless for the ladies; Chihiro has a severely short skirt of the guys. There's something for everyone.


Gameplay
The game flow is very simple - watch a cut scene, move through the level either on ground or in the tree tops, killing anything and everything that gets the idea that they can stop you, including animals. Most enemies take only one hit to kill. Each level is divided into smaller stages which occasionally have a few tougher ninjas to fight before moving to the next area. At the end of each level, a boss awaits. These are generally the stereotypes of the feudal Japanese era - priestesses, old monks that have gone bad, children with bombs (?!!!), etc. The player then kills the boss and moves on. It's that simple and that simplicity is the key to this game's charm.

Players control their chosen character with the D-pad. The Y button is the shuriken/chain attack; the A button is the sword/scythe; the B is the jump button. Characters can crouch to duck under attacks and hitting B while crouching is an offensive slide. Holding down the A will initiate a special attack that feeds on a meter on the lower left of the screen. At the beginning of the game, this is a shadow doppleganger technique that gives the player some extra power. Double tapping is a dash and the character can air dash by double tapping during a jump.

Each of the two playable characters has a unique play style. Kage has a flaming ninja-to and shuriken; Chihiro has a scythe and a chain. While here scythe has better range than Kage's sword, his shuriken reach farther than her chain. She is faster; he is stronger. It's all about balance. I prefer Chihiro - her speed in jumping is invaluable against bosses.

This game is pretty challenging. Some of the boss patterns are difficult to decipher and, once figured out, are still tough to avoid. I really like that the player can avoid enemies rather than slice through everyone; still, I generally kill all of the enemies on a stage.



The vertical screen layout of the DS works really well with this game. Stages usually stretch the height of the screen and many objects act as platforms during gameplay. Sometimes, the top screen is animated sakura falling, which adds a nice touch of art to the game.

EGM said that the game has visuals from 1991. I can think of no better compliment for the game's visual style. The animation in this game is far beyond anything from 1991, but the art style definitely has that classic, timeless look.