Cyber Shadow

While some might not enjoy this game's old-school look and gameplay, or its toughness, fans of vintage arcade games will have fun on this nostalgia trip. In Cyber Shadow, you play as a ninja named Shadow who's badly injured in an explosion. But before you can fully heal and complete your physical therapy, you're pulled out and set on a mission to save the members of your clan from the greedy Dr. Progen. To do so, you have to run and jump through a hazard-filled, side-scrolling world full of steam vents, high jumps, turrets, and creepy crawlies. Good thing Shadow has his trusty sword for hacking and slashing, as well as his equally trusty leg muscles for running and jumping.

Now, if you're not a fan of old-school arcade games from the '80s and '90s -- like, fittingly, the original Ninja Gaiden -- you won't enjoy this game's pixilated look or simple hack-and-slash, run-and-jump gameplay. The same if you're not into super-hard games, ones where you have to jump at just the right spot and where enemies have an endless supply of ammo and know just where to stand to make it really hard (though not impossible) for you to get past them without getting shot. But if you like a challenge and are either old enough to remember the era of the original NES and Sega Genesis or just have a fondness for 30-year-old arcade games, you'll appreciate this game's aesthetic and arcade gameplay. Doubly so since this isn't a new version of an old game; it's all new, and one that gets creative, though never in a break-the-genre kind of way. Which is why fans of old-school games, especially those who are old themselves, will appreciate the fast ninja action of Cyber Shadow.