A remake of the NES classic Shadow of the Ninja has been teased

Shadow of the Ninja remake

Tengo Project, a subsidiary of Natsume Atari, has posted a video which seems to indicate that a remake of Shadow of the Ninja is on the way.


As reported by Gematsu, it looks like we might be getting a remake of the NES game Shadow of the Ninja, which was originally published by Natsume in 1990.

A video released by Tengo Project, a subsidiary of Natsume Atari, seems to tease the remake. The video sees Tengo Project composer Hiroyuki Iwatsuki visiting Iku Mizutani, who worked on sound design for a number of classic video games in the 1980s and 1990s, including Snatcher and Shadow of the Ninja.

Iwatsuki tells Mizutani that he is working on a remake of a classic title, and asks Mizutani to play the title music for him – which is unmistakeably the title music from Shadow of the Ninja. This is followed by several screens apparently showing key animations from the remake.

Shadow of the Ninja was known as Yami no Shigotonin Kage in Japan, and it was renamed again as Blue Shadow when it made its way to Europe in 1991. The side-scrolling action game stars a male ninja called Hayate and a female ninja called Kaede, and allows for simultaneous two player as the ninjas hack their way through a futuristic version of New York City on a mission to take down a dictator.

Although not as well known as games like Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden or Sega’s Shinobi, Shadow of the Ninja was nonetheless well received on its original release, with GamePro awarding it 23 out of 25, praising its “top of the line graphics”.

Tengoku Project’s previous revivals, such as The Ninja Saviors and Pocky & Rocky Reshrined, were excellent, so if it really is remaking Shadow of the Ninja, it should be a good one.

Read more: Remembering Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden, and its pioneering wall jump

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