If you read my previous article about Mario Kart World (written on the day of release, I believe), you might remember that I said my favourite thing to do was drive across water. I’ve since changed this opinion. Don’t get me wrong, tricking off the crest of dynamic waves caused by exploding blue shells and bob-ombs is good, chaotic fun, but the long stretches of calm water actually tend to be the low-points of your average intermission.
Right, now that I’ve retconned that outrageous take, let’s talk about how Mario Kart World is holding up four months after release to a casual player like me. I’ve seen loads of analysis online, but YouTube suggests the popular analysis and the popular analysis is made by competitive, online players. I play Mario Kart World with my daughter, I can barely remember where all the whacky rail shortcuts are supposed to be let alone hit them with anything remotely resembling consistency, and I don’t need to be constantly challenged and faced with split second decisions at all times to stay entertained. Sometimes I just want to look at a nice sunset and listen to some cool music while I strategically place banana peels on the tarmac.
Well, Mario Kart World has plenty of dazzling vistas and an awesome soundtrack to go along with them. Many of the tunes have made it onto my list of regularly played video game music pieces on YouTube, and I often find myself whistling the themes to Faraway Oasis or Cheep Cheep Falls while at work, much to the chagrin of my new manager who apparently doesn’t like whistling. Maybe she just doesn’t like my whistling. Sucks to be her, I guess.
I only played as King Boo for a bit of screenshot variety.
The actual racing gameplay of Mario Kart World is best in class, too. All of the courses are awesome, with very few tracks that come across as weak or forgettable, and this latest iteration of Rainbow Road is absolutely stunning. I was quite moved on my first play-through, dazzled by the gorgeous visuals, glorious music, and beautiful set-pieces. What an experience.
I also don’t mind the intermissions, and I guess this is where my casual nature – and my lack of interest in playing online – comes in. It’s nice to just blast through some open lanes, chucking shells at my fellow road-users and taking in the sights. Sure, I don’t always want to play them, but it’s easy enough to do a series of full courses while offline, so I really don’t see them as an issue. So far, so good, right? Right. Well, I do have some concerns, and they’re mostly to do with the open world.
I’ve always had a thing with driving games where I imagine longingly what it would be like to break free from the track and drive wherever I wish. I’m sure I’m not alone in that feeling. Whether its being fascinated by those pixelated mountains on unattainable horizons in Lotus Turbo Challenge, being compelled to veer off the track and direct my Lancia Delta into the Finnish forests in Colin McRae Rally ’04, or indeed wondering what’s beyond those colourful, ocularly endowed hills in earlier Mario Kart games. However, when I do play games that actually allow you to do this, I tend to fall off of them pretty quickly, the Forza Horizon series being an appropriate example. I guess the realised worlds, no matter how gorgeous and expansive, can never live up to our imaginations.
Look! A P that’s still blue!
I thought that Mario Kart World might be the exception – this is a big budget game made by one of Nintendo’s top level teams, after all – but it’s actually kind of empty. There’s stuff to do, like the missions and the blocks and the Peach coins, but there’s also a heck of a lot of nothing, and the missions, blocks, and coins only unlock stickers anyway. The stickers are wonderfully designed, but all you can do is look at them (and choose one for your little emblem, I think?). It’s been said many times, but it would have made way more sense if the outfits and characters were locked behind these open world aspects. The way you unlock both seems crazy to me. Why are outfits locked behind food? Why are characters locked behind the barely-seen Kamek item? Both mechanics just feel esoteric and unfinished.
Mario Kart World’s open world is beautiful, and I do enjoy driving around, finding missions, listening to the music and taking in the scenery with Daisy, the best princess of all, but it’s also a facade. There’s not really anything going on, the toads, yoshis, and shyguys wave and get in and out of their cars, but they’re not really doing anything, there are no real secrets to find, very little in the way of Easter eggs or cool hard-to-reach areas (I don’t count Daisy’s palace because it’s, well, right there), and no one to interact with outside of the occasional Chargin’ Chuck who you’ve got to hit with a green shell. No secret Blooper cave, no mysterious, caged Thwomp that the internet can theorize over, no out-of-the-way corner where a strange, creepy sound plays for no apparent reason. It’s just a bit bland, and I wanted more.
It helps if you think of it as more of a theme park than an actual functioning, populated landmass, but that still doesn’t make up for the general emptiness. Still, they’ve just added an update with a few more UFOs around the place, and they’ve apparently addressed that thing that people are upset about online with the intermissions. There’s no telling what future DLC might bring, so I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out as the game inevitably grows, and in the meantime, playing the cups and the knockout tours with my daughter is always going to be great for an hour of fun. Still, my dreams of exploring a vast, beautiful and interesting Nintendo-fied world and immersing myself in the bright colours as a form of beautiful escapism during these trying times have not come to pass.
The music often adds to the theme park vibe.
It’s still the only proper Switch 2 game I own. I’ve got Metroid Prime 4: Beyond preordered, and will hopefully be getting Yooka-Re-Playee because it looks great and is getting a proper physical release, but I’d like to have a few more excuses to turn my new Nintendo on other than using it to play Switch games. I’m a little worried that my Switch 2 collection won’t grow to epic proportions, as I refuse to buy key cards and the grand majority of third parties seem to be going with them even when they’re releasing their games physically on other consoles. That’s another rant, though, that I don’t want to get into right now. Let’s try to stay focused on the matter at hand. Mario Kart World; it’s bloody great in some ways and somewhat disappointing in others. I should’ve just said that at the start and saved everyone some time.
Sometime in the last couple of years, the planets aligned on the same night that a full moon cast an eerie light over the bamboo forests at the base of Mount Fuji, and two separate studios came up with the idea of resurrecting a classic 2D ninja franchise for modern consoles at the same time. Lizardcube dragged Joe Musashi out of the shadows with the Sega-published Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, and The Game Kitchen shone a spotlight on Ryu Hayabusa, creating the Koei Tecmo and Dotemu-published Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. Well, kind of. Ryu Hayabusa is in the game, but he’s not playable.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound came out first, but Shinobi: Art of Vengeance was the first one to get a physical release, so it was the first one I played. I was going to buy them both on Switch, but the boxed release of Shinobi was a code-in-a-box, which I soundly rejected as everyone should, so I got that one on PS5. Still, I played Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound docked on my Switch 2, and didn’t notice any particular performance issues in either game, so I think it’s still a fair fight. As such, it’s time for me to figure out which 2D ninja action game is the best, and I do this as a fan of both franchises who is old enough to have played both back when they were first released. No ninja favouritism from me!
I’m going to use the most coveted and respected review setup of all, that being the method adopted by premier 90’s periodical, Mean Machines Sega. As such, we’ll be judging each title on the following aspects; Presentation, Graphics, Sound, Playability, Lastability, and Overall. Make sense? No, not to me either, but we’ll get into that shortly, so get your tabi on and bring your kunai, it’s time to take to the shadows.
Presentation
So, what’s the difference between presentation and graphics/sound, then? I guess I’m just not on the level of those fabled Mean Machines Sega writers of old, because I don’t really get it. I’ll tell you what, I’ll use this section to talk about each title’s story setup instead. That’s kind of like presentation.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance’s story is pretty basic, with a fairly unremarkable bad guy who is leading an enormous and incredibly well-equipped army of soldiers, creatures, and demons on a steamroller journey of world domination. The bad guy, known as Lord Ruse, has somehow cheated Death (yes, the Death) out of his scythe, and so wields incredible power. Ruse’s forces hit Musashi’s village early on and burn the whole place to the ground, murdering everyone except Joe and Joe’s pregnant wife. Mr. Musashi is obviously fairly pissed, and goes on his own rampage with vengeance on his mind.
Being able to play as a ninja of the Black Spider Clan is pretty cool for Ninja Gaiden fans.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound has an interesting story hook in which main character, Kenji of the Hayabusa Clan, ends up becoming a vessel for the soul of Kumori, an equally skilled kunoichi aligned with the shady Black Spider Clan. The two must work together to defeat the minions of a powerful fiend who plans to open the veil into the human world and wreak havoc. The bad guys feel less important than those of Shinobi: The Art of Vengeance, but the relationship between Kenji and Kumori is actually pretty fun to see develop, and the game’s finale wraps up their story in a surprising way, so I think this one takes it.
Winner: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound
Graphics
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance goes for that playing-a-comic art-style that Lizardcube had previously used for Streets of Rage 4. It looked great for that game, and it looks great here, and most of the enemy designs are very memorable (I especially like the big guys with the electric gauntlet weapons).
The symbol over this unfortunate fellow’s head means that he’s ready to be executed. Finish him off, Joe!
The backgrounds can be spectacular, with highlights including the sparkling lantern festival, the gorgeous fields that the game starts in, and the rooftops of the night-time city stage. Where Shinobi: Art of Vengeance really excels though is in its animation. Joe’s movements are incredibly fluid and the battles look spectacular, and this helps you feel super cool and badass when you pull off spectacular moves while managing to avoid damage.
Do the visuals lose some personality and authenticity with the move away from pixel art, though? Possibly, and occasionally it feels like the backgrounds lack detail, but it’s a superb-looking game overall nonetheless.
Both games feature a really cool-looking bamboo forest early on.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound has more of a retro feel, opting for the familiar pixel art style. This looks great, although perhaps not as striking as Shinobi. Some of the backgrounds look awesome, especially the early-game bamboo forest and the areas in and around Mount Fuji. However, there were locations that I thought were a little bland with uninteresting colour palettes, especially the stage that’s a big construction area. I also found that Keni’s arms looked cartoonishly huge when he was holding onto the ceiling or hanging off a helicopter. Both he and Kumori’s sprites are gorgeous, though.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound gives players the option to turn off the gore, but honestly it’s pretty cartoony anyway.
Interestingly, both games have a couple of levels and a sub-section of enemies based around body horror themes, and both of them kind of fall flat when it comes to making it, well, gross enough. You know, that sort of stuff should send shivers down your spine, leave you morbidly fascinated and unable to look away despite the soul-clenching nature of what you’re seeing. For an example, look at Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master and its Hydra boss fight, as well as the stage that proceeds it. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance’s gribblies look too clean and sleek thanks to the art style. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound’s pixel art style gives the twisted horrors a bit more of a visceral nature, but they still look a bit too cartoony to be effective, even the monstrosity fought at the end of the train stage. Disappointing.
Honestly, there were times during Shinobi: Art of Vengeance where I found myself wishing it went for a pixel art style (especially in the underground laboratory level), but I think that it looks better overall. Both games look great, but Shinobi: Art of Vengeance has that extra edge. Lizarcube are winning this one, but it’s darned close.
Winner: Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
Sound
While both games sound good, and both games have great, appropriately action-packed soundtracks, only Shinobi: Art of Vengeance had any pieces that I remembered after I’d finished the game. They were the track that plays during the “Ankou Rift” sections, and the battle music from the Lantern Festival stage, if anyone is interested.
Winner: Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
Playability
Here we go, the meat and potatoes of any ninja game, or should that be the rice and tofu? Let’s get one thing cleared up straight away; Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is harder. I beat most bosses in Shinobi: Art of Vengeance on my second try, and didn’t have any real trouble until the very last showdown with Lord Ruse himself. The first boss in Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound (a giant fire bat monster demon guy) took me numerous retries, and things only got more challenging. It never felt insurmountable, though, and I persevered and finished the game in the end. Incidentally, Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn (click here for my review), is harder than either of these games.
This floating boss might not look like much, but is an absolute bitch.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a decidedly old-school action platformer that plays like an updated version of the classic Ninja Gaiden games, and it’s definitely closer to its inspiration than Shinobi. Kenji can do two quick slashes with his sword, and can fling projectiles thanks to Kumori’s assistance. The pair have access to a few equippable special weapons and abilities, and can leap from enemies, projectiles, and certain pick-ups using a mid-air attack, which becomes very important for traversal and combat as the game progresses.
Most enemies fall in one hit, but others are much tougher and require Kenji to get up close and slash away, putting himself at risk of some health bar-sapping counter-attacks. However, there’s a nifty mechanic that can help to make these big boys and girls less of a pain. Certain enemies will have visible auras, and depending on whether you defeat them with the right kind of attack, Kenji can sap this aura, super-powering his next strike, which will make short work of the tougher enemies if you play it right. This mechanic also comes up during every boss fight, and it can feel pretty good when you take out a group of tough enemies or stun a boss thanks to smart use of the available auras.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance feels much more modern and further away from the Shinobi games of old, with Joe Musashi gaining directional attacks, upgradeable combos, and a satisfying execution move. There’s a similar system of equippable items that have in-game effects, but I felt more compelled to experiment with different loadouts in Musashi’s outing. Art of Vengeance will also have players going back to earlier stages once new abilities have been unlocked in order to get to new areas, and as such it has a bit of a Metroidvania flavour. I’m a fan of the ways Lizardcube have expanded on the traditional gameplay, and it still feels like a Shinobi game despite these changes.
Moving platforms over electrified water with rotating flamethrower turrets. Good luck!
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance also has some devious platforming sections. I didn’t find the Ankou Rifts too bad (optional areas that provide combat or platforming challenges that provide Joe with a stronger weapon if you beat them all) but there were occasional optional areas in the main levels that slipped from challenging to aggravating. The most egregious example of this was a platforming section known as the “secret bunker” in the battlefield stage late in the game. That place was a nightmare, and was the only time I felt like the controls were working against me, but I beat it.
Both games have some really cool set-pieces, including levels based on moving trains, and “mounted” stages, with Shinobi having a mechanised surfboard interlude as well as another one that’s a slight spoiler, and Ninja Gaiden having a couple of sections on a scrambler bike belonging to Kumori. One later stage in Ninja Gaiden has Kenji leaping from vehicle to vehicle in a military convoy, which was a nice bit of spectacle.
You wouldn’t believe how unnaturally talented Kumori is in the saddle.
Lastly, I encountered glitches in both games. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound had Kumori riding her motorcycle backwards after a collision in one of the on-wheels stages, which was a little confusing and immersion-breaking but didn’t hurt in the long run, but there was one instance of a section of a level starting with Kenji falling through the floor and dying, even when I restarted from the last checkpoint. I had to quit the game completely and restart the level from the beginning to get past it, which was annoying.
Shinobi: The Art of Vengeance hit me with a recurring glitch where the map screen wouldn’t correctly identify where Joe was in the stage, which actually proved to be a major setback when I was searching for the last few collectibles in a stage. Also annoying.
Both games are incredibly smooth and satisfying to play, though, and are challenging in such a way that rarely falls into frustration. However, due to the sheer spectacle and “cool” factor of Shinobi’s combat, I have to hand it to Joe.
Winner: Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
Lastability
Well, the campaign in Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a lot longer. With the expansive, Metroidvania-lite levels and the backtracking Joe Musashi’s adventure will last you a fair bit longer if you’re the type to play through a campaign once and then move on. When the campaign is completed an arcade mode is unlocked where the goal is to finish each stage in a good time while locating all the collectibles and taking as little damage as possible (as well as finishing the boss off using the awesome execution mechanic). Attaining S rank is pretty challenging, and then when you add in the Ankou Rifts, an unlockable boss rush mode, and the optional secret boss, there’s plenty there for completionists to get on with.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a more focused experience, with the ranking mechanic applied from the beginning of the game. In my experience it was slightly easier to attain an S rank in Ninja Gaiden (depending on whether one of the stage’s challenges involved beating the boss without damage or something crazy like that), but I didn’t especially try for the S ranks in either game so I can’t speak with too much authority on it. Once the campaign is completed a hard mode is unlocked, and there are also secret ops missions which are challenging optional stages in the vein of Shinobi’s Ankou Rifts.
When it comes to sheer content, though, I’ve got to give this one to Mr. Musashi again.
Winner: Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
Overall
Well, it’s looking like a bit of a Shinobi whitewash at the moment, but that’s really not the case. Every single category was very close, especially the all-important playability category, and the relationship between Kenji and Kumori in Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound did add a lot of personality to win me over. Of course, Joe Musashi is a legend, and Kenji and Kumori are mere newcomers, but I really enjoyed their interactions and this iteration of Joe comes across as more of a personification of vengeance who says literally one word over the course of the entire game. That does give him a badass edge, though.
It’s just as cool as it was in 1993.
Like I said early on, both franchises mean a lot to me. I played and loved the Shinobi games as a kid on the Master System and Mega Drive, but I didn’t play any Ninja Gaiden games until the 2004 reboot and only played the classic games in retrospect. However, whereas I view the Shinobi games as great titles, 2004’s Ninja Gaiden is one of my favourite games of all time, so there’s no real favouritism here. Just based on how I feel about both games, though, I don’t think I can wrangle a plot twist and name Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound as the overall winner despite Shinobi taking most of the categories. It’s great, but Shinobi: Art of Vengeance just has that edge, a more palpable “cool” factor, and the combat is so darned satisfying.
Winner: Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
Really, though, both games are winners, and I’m just grateful to have had the opportunity to play two brand new 2D ninja action games here in 2025. Which ever game you choose to play you’re in for a fun and challenging time that has plenty of spectacular content to offer, and if you’ve got a few extra pennies, you could always double up. Support your local ninja in these trying times. Buy both!
I bought a Nintendo Switch 2 on the day of release. I’m not actually sure if I’ve ever done this before. Maybe with the PS Vita? I got really caught up in the hype for that one. Let’s hope the Switch 2 lasts a bit longer than Sony’s sleek, handheld, unwanted stepchild, shall we? The only Switch 2 launch game I was interested in was Mario Kart World (I already own Cyberpunk 2077 twice, okay?) so that was all I bought with it, and I spent most of June the 5th 2025 racing, battling, free-roaming, and unlocking and beating the Special Cup in 150cc. I like playing as Daisy, but she’s not unlocked from the start. I played as Dry Bones, Mario, and the bee for a bit before I unlocked the Queen of Princesses, and then I never looked back.
Mario Kart World handles better than Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. There, I said it. The karts are more satisfying to control and they feel more like they’re doing what you’re telling them to do. It’s probably a me problem, but I would often find myself frustratingly over-steering on tight corners while drifting in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and trundling off-road, hitting a barrier, or troubling Lakitu. In Mario Kart World when I feel like this oversteer is about to happen I can keep hold of it, and end up hugging the inside line like Travis Pastrana in a flouncy orange dress.
If you jump into that water during free roam, Lakitu will show up and ruin your fun. Only certain bodies of water are accessible. I guess he doesn’t want you to catch a cold.
Being a careful and conscientious kind of fellow, I started playing in 50CC. I do not recommend this if you’re coming from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as the controls are exactly the same and the handling is close enough that you’ll slide right back into the zone and 50CC will bore you to tears. If you saw all those previewers and YouTubers worrying about the “boring” straightaways during the build up to release, you’re going to live it if you play on 50CC. It’s for young kids and pensioners only. 100CC offers a bit of challenge and the occasional surprise, but 150CC is where it’s at. It feels fast, there’s plenty of chaos, and the other drivers will trouble you for most of the race.
Mario Kart World looks fantastic. The environments are wonderfully designed and the weather effects and skyboxes are gorgeous. As you progress through the cups the tracks really up the ante in spectacle, and there are some awesome moments. My first “okay, this is really fucking good” realisation came during the Wario Stadium circuit later in the Flower Cup that leads into Airship Fortress, and things only escalate from there, culminating in everyone’s favourite kaleidoscopic Mario Kart mainstay. Mario Kart World Rainbow Road is absolutely stunning, by the way. Transcendent, even.
A few of the P-switch missions I’ve encountered involve sliding around on these vines. You’ll tend to mess up if you try and get too fancy, so just keep the stunts to a minimum, okay?
I tried Battle Mode a couple of times. It’s fine, it’s the same as it’s always been. I like that balloon battle is knockout-based again. The arenas are all fairly large so it doesn’t feel overwhelming having 24 characters sliding around everywhere. In fact, you’ll barely see most of the back-markers during standard races, so upping the participant count to 24 seems a little superfluous. It’ll make a difference online, to be sure, but I’ve not dabbled in that yet.
The Knockout Tour is a lot of fun, but again seems geared towards multiplayer. It’s a bit of a shitter to get knocked out late on, but the mode is a good alternative if you fancy something different to standard races. Other than that, the new items seem cool, the costumes are pretty nice (but there aren’t as many as you might hope), and the new characters are cute if you can put aside any misgivings about bats and crabs and other such critters “steering” karts without arms.
Oh yeah, the Free Roam. I like the free roam, but I’m not sure of its lasting appeal. So far, though, I’ve enjoyed mooching around, finding P-switches, and undertaking the little missions. Many of them are tricky enough that you won’t beat them first time, but you can easily restart if you mess up. I’ve found a few Peach Coins and ? Panels, but they only seem to unlock stickers and I haven’t figured out what those do yet.
Would it have been better if they’d brought in some cool characters from the expanded Mario universe (Geno, Vivian, etc…) instead of sticking all these minions in karts? I think so, but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.
My absolute favourite thing to do in Mario Kart World, though, is race over water. The watery sections of tracks are genuinely spectacular, and tricking off of the crest of the waves as bob-ombs and blue shells cause mini-tsunamis is an absolute blast. Hopefully someone in power at Nintendo will see how cool the water sections of Mario Kart World are and decide to dredge up Wave Race from the depths. We can hope, right?
Jet-ski dreams aside, everyone is talking about the price of Mario Kart World. Is it worth it? That depends on what you’re giving up to afford it. If you’re paying for Mario Kart World instead of feeding your children this week, then I’d probably recommend that you rethink your purchase. If you’re sacrificing a night out on the town for it, then yeah, you’ll probably get more out of this in the long run. Mario Kart World isn’t the next step in gaming, it’s not the ultimate, endless, open world experience that justifies the price hike, it’s just a really good Mario Kart game. It’s possibly the best Mario Kart game yet. I don’t know, just buy it if you want, I guess. I’m not your mum.
