The Legend of Kage 2: That's pronounced "Kah-gehy"

Depending on your knowledge of classic gaming, you may or may not remember the The Legend of Kage on NES, even if you were a child of that era. The game, however, carved for itself a devoted-though-niche following that was somewhat revitalized once the game hit the Wii Virtual Console last year. The game was a competitor of the original Ninja Gaiden; it was an action game starring a Ninja that demanded quick reflexes and demanded a plethora of memorization. It also wasn't very good.

But hey, nearly two decades later, a sequel comes out of the woodwork from developer Taito, now a subsidiary of Square Enix. The Legend of Kage 2 serves as a reboot of the franchise, a game to wash away the memories of frustration that troubled anyone who suffered through the original. It's not like we knew any better back then, but we sure do now. Thankfully, Taito realized this, and decided to create the game the original should have been.


Much like an old side-scroller, the game is split into various levels in which you'll have to fight numerous enemies and jump across multiple platforms, with the stages culminating with a boss battle at the end. Your character moves very quickly, and your performance in each stage is determined by how quickly you move though it and how fast you can dispose of enemies within the time of a few seconds. In that instance, the Legend of Kage 2 takes some influence from newer action games, and successfully attempts to blend in the old with the new. The levels themselves are also pretty short, making them very portable friendly.

The game offers two playable characters, but upon seeing the description on the back cover, you might be cynical enough to think that though they differ in appearance, they play exactly the same. If you thought that, you're absolutely right. Though Kage wields a Katana and Chihiro a Kusarigama (a weapon with a sickle attached to a metal chain), they both play so similarly that you won't notice much of a difference in terms of the flow of the game.

The back cover also says that they both have different plots, which is totally false; the dialogue is different - Kage is more serious, while Chihiro remains jovial - but the story remains the same, involving the protagonists rescuing the captured princess Kirihime from the clutches of evil. There isn't much story or exposition, but you don't really want that in a portable action game.


While playing the game, you won't be able to shake the feeling that it feels like a remnant of the 16-bit era that happened to release on the DS over a decade after that generation faded away. This isn't at all a bad thing, though. Wallowing in nostalgia isn't always a bad thing, and games that feel reminiscent of that era are certainly welcome, whether they're on a console or a portable.

As previously stated, the action is very frenetic and fast-paced. Like the original, the game is very dependent on your reflexes for disposing of enemies and moving across platforms quickly. Fortunately, it doesn't rely on too much memorization, except in the case of bosses. But the game never becomes frustrating enough that you'll want to toss the DS at the wall.

That's not because the game isn't tough. There are times, especially in the latter half, where enemies will constantly swarm you, forcing you to be quick on your toes. You gain new techniques after finishing various levels, and you'll gain new moves faster depending on your ranking at the end of a stage ("S" being the highest). You're going to have to use all of them to survive later on, though being surrounded won't be too big of a deal depending on your experience with the genre. If you've played games like this before, your skills are probably already attuned to dealing with multiple opposition and projectiles at one time. Dealing with them with limited skills is guaranteed to be immensely challenging for the gamer with a distinct, masochistic streak.


But the game still remains on a sane difficulty level because of a very forgiving continue system. There aren't too many healing items laying around in a given stage, but if you happen to die, you'll only be thrown back to the beginning of the section you're currently in. If you die at a boss, you'll restart right at it. It totally depends on your perspective as to whether this is good or bad, but it undoubtedly lowers the challenge level on some points. It's as if Taito full intention was to keep it from having anything resembling the flaws of the original, and you can't blame them for that.

Not to say there aren't some aspects that can be a little problematic. The game relies on the usage of both screens for its viewpoint, similar to Yoshi's Island DS, Contra 4, and the Sonic Rush titles. Unlike those two games, if you travel into the environments residing in the top screen, they will shift onto the touch screen. The problem here is that the game doesn't allow you to see what's on the bottom afterward, meaning that if you want to shift to the lower aspect of the environments, you'll have to fall down to them blindly. Fortunately, there aren't any pits where you could fall to your death; if there were, this would be a huge mark against the game.

It's also similar to Yoshi's Island DS and Contra 4 in that there's a gap of the screen unaccounted for between the two screens. This isn't visible in the screen shots, but it can be a problem while playing, especially if you happen to be hit by a projectile while between the gap. It's not as much of a knock against this game as it is in Contra 4 because of the difficulty level.


This can also be a problem in the boss battles, where your opposition could be preparing a very damaging attack that you could fall into through no fault of your own. This issue is alleviated by the aforementioned forgiving continue system, but that doesn't mean it's not an annoyance that could have been fixed with seemingly minimal effort.

But most important of all, the game is quite a bit of fun. It also knows not to overstay its welcome, clocking in at around four to six hours, depending on how much you want to replay the levels to unlock more techniques. That time can also be occupied with creating new magic attacks for you to use during a level.

The Legend of Kage 2 probably won't be the best side-scrolling action game you'll play this year, but it's more than worth your time. It's nowhere near the most original game on the DS; in fact, it's very derivative. But for the fun it offers, and the budget price of $20, it's worth a shot if you're looking for a frenetic 2D portable action game.