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You can still find the odd gap to slide out of in a clinch, but generally, Reshrined is more a war of attrition.Ĭaptured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked) Some enemies, such as the fire snakes or the worm-like stone hands, either slow things down or even require temporary retreat while the airship stage - which was a forced-scrolling affair in the Super Nintendo game - is here segmented by gates that can only be opened by taking out turrets. The way the stages are formed - especially the new ones, which, while superb, are arguably not quite as creatively inspired as the ones that inform the game’s opening 20 minutes - is to have obstacles that require you to camp and clear before moving on. Reshrined operates differently, weighing in at around an hour (including cutscenes) end-to-end, versus the Super Nintendo outing’s 50 minutes on a clean run. With both being superb examples of the genre, it’s difficult to say which is the more entertaining, although there’s something to be said for the 1992 game’s simplicity and brisker pace. At the same time, the original is that bit arcade-snappier, its layout offering greater room for impromptu slide negotiations, and the ability to take out most on-screen enemies fairly quickly once you have a strategy in play. Like the original, it’s not designed to be torn through: it’s a dense and strategic conflict that requires moments of digging in to clear the field lest it all get too much. The most immediate difference is that Reshrined plays a marginally slower game. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)Īs we’ve played the Super Nintendo game right up to present day - and with some conviction, we might add - we’re well-positioned to draw direct comparisons.

While there are callbacks to the original’s airship stage and torchlit castle, the structuring is altogether transformed. Here, haunted paddy fields littered with straw-thatch huts, pond demons and aggravating spirits, lead on to deep caverns and Egyptian-style tombs - all of which demand the use of your newly acquired skills. These additional properties arrive just in time for a string of never-seen-before stages (complimented by all-new musical arrangements). On the third stage, newcomer Ame-no-Uzume grants new skills, allowing you to produce an orb that auto-directs your projectiles when fired upon, and a temporary shield that requires a brief charge period. What is new, is that you’re forced to play one of five characters on different stages, each with adjusted weapon attributes, and one of whom is only available on your second completion of Story Mode. You still accrue an additional life-meter heart after each stage, and there are useful secrets scattered all over, regularly off the beaten path, within enclaves and forest glades, and quite often in the guise of stray chickens. The repel attack now does a lot more work, and is better at taking out enemies by pinging their projectiles back at them. You have a rapid-fire projectile attack, a repel defence manoeuvre that protects from incoming fire, a quick belly-slide to avoid danger, and limited smart bombs that aren’t replenished after a death. Mechanically, it remains mostly the same. When you eventually make it to the once-familiar octopus boss engagement - now a nightmare-on-raft with incredible visual bombast - it’s clear that this is a whole new ball game.

You battle roaming fire snakes with your repel attack, and balding, misshapen giants camped behind terracotta walls. Stage two, although thematically the same, shifts further still, its layout and enemies fundamentally different. Then, as you find yourself roaming up little pathways and stone steps, around bends and up against cartloads of enemies, that notion starts to fade. Reshrined’s switch-and-bait is that, when you head into the first stage, it appears a straight remake.

And, in-case you were wondering, a scan line option with a range of densities is available, as is the ability to switch between languages. These visual ingredients, brought to life with superb animation, are almost Metal Slug-esque in graphical precision. Water reflections, babbling streams, sun-bathed paddy fields and fiery village backdrops are all beautifully crafted, while the run-amok cast of Japanese mythological enemies positively bleed personality. This wasn’t lost on Tengo Project’s art team, who endeavoured - and succeeded with aplomb - to cram every inch of its freshly rendered maps with charming attention to detail. The Super Nintendo game’s distinct Japanese theme, travelling old Japan as a Shinto shrine maiden and a tanuki raccoon dog, was one of its most endearing aspects.