Back in the ’80s and ’90s, you couldn’t move for side-scrolling action platformers packed with ninjas. Shinobi. Shadow Dancer. Bad Dudes. Taking inspiration from Hollywood’s late-’80s obsession with all things ninja, these titles became arcade smash hits and captivated a whole generation of players.
Ninjas in 2020, though? Not so much. They’re still around, but they’re nowhere near as popular, which is why Shadow Gangs has really caught our attention – it’s arguably as close as we’re going to get to a new Shinobi game these days, and seems to understand precisely what made those older coin-op hits so appealing.
Oh, and one of the game’s big-bads is a dead-ringer for Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, which seems like a pretty good bonus to us. Shadow Gangs comes to Switch on January 7th, 2021.