‘The Messenger’ a new Ninja Gaiden-esque 2D Platformer

I'm not the biggest fan of using NES-inspired palettes in games with 16-bit level detaiil (it happens a lot with indie games) but I love classic Ninja Gaiden, and I can't wait to play this.

I'd be lying if I said it doesn't look good, but I'll likely pass. It'll surely be super hard and I've kind of grown out of that type of game.

Uhhhhh......that character model is a little too close to Ryu from the 8 bit games - including some of the attacks that he uses.....

Looks cool but I wonder if Koei Tecmo is gonna let this fly.....

TheBeardedOne said:

I'd be lying if I said it doesn't look good, but I'll likely pass. It'll surely be super hard and I've kind of grown out of that type of game.

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Yep. Same. Why is every indie game super hard?

FriedConsole said:

Yep. Same. Why is every indie game super hard?

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Nostalgia

Some love it, and all the power to them.

"Fight silly bosses"

Pft...like wh- .....oh.

Thanks for posting this. It sounds incredible.

What's with that artstyle change at the end of the trailer? Looks interesting.
Soundtrack also sounds ace.

TheBeardedOne said:

I'd be lying if I said it doesn't look good, but I'll likely pass. It'll surely be super hard and I've kind of grown out of that type of game.

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The article has a comment from the developer saying the game won't be super hard. He wants everyone to enjoy the game. There will be challenging parts of course, and there will be "challenge rooms", but the game itself won't be indie-hard.

"You can sense that commitment from the moment you first pick up the controller; The Messengerstands apart from decades of Ninja Gaiden wannabes by presenting players with the tightest controls I've ever encountered in a game of this style."

Damn, high praise from Parish. It gets harder and harder for 8-bit inspired games to stand out amongst the crowd but this is looking like a winner.

TheBeardedOne said:

I'd be lying if I said it doesn't look good, but I'll likely pass. It'll surely be super hard and I've kind of grown out of that type of game.

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Article makes it pretty clear it's not going for something as brutal as the Ninja Gaiden titles. Seems to take a more Shovel Knight approach to its inspirations than, say, Voglarr the Viking.

ReyVGM said:

The article has a comment from the developer saying the game won't be super hard. He wants everyone to enjoy the game. There will be challenging parts of course, and there will be "challenge rooms", but the game itself won't be indie-hard.

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Argot said:

Article makes it pretty clear it's not going for something as brutal as the Ninja Gaiden titles. Seems to take a more Shovel Knight approach to its inspirations than, say, Voglarr the Viking.

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Oh okay. I'd just assumed, and honestly didn't see the article link for some reason. My bad.

Some of tree level parts in the video remind me of Master System Ninja Gaiden but I imagine that's coincidental given that it wasn't mentioned in the article.

I hope "consoles" means a Switch version.

Game looks good, but I don't think I want to ever hear chiptune music again.

TheBeardedOne said:

Nostalgia

Some love it, and all the power to them.

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What does this mean? Some people like hard games, not sure what nostalgia has to do with it.

Looks great!

This looks rad, great shout OP.

Yup. Definitely looks good, and definitely buying it...apart from some disastrous development issues.

TyrantGuardian said:

What does this mean? Some people like hard games, not sure what nostalgia has to do with it.

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A lot of indie games have 8-bit, 16-bit, etc. graphics and try to capture the feeling of games on the NES and SNES. They're made with and for nostalgia. Those consoles were known for more difficult games.

TyrantGuardian said:

What does this mean? Some people like hard games, not sure what nostalgia has to do with it.

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This. And because most AAA games don't provide much challenge, it's nice that many indies do.

Looks cool and nice trailer. My kind of game for sure.

Ninja Gaiden 2 is still an all time classic for a slash and run game.

One of the main reasons is the killer soundtrack.

This game looks promising and kind of gave me a Castlevania 3 vibe, but the music was lacking for me compared to those classics. It needs a better hook.

Man, I played those NES games all the time as a kid. Still probably what I would classify as the hardest games. Definitely had a lot of fun with them though. This looks like it could be good, gonna have to follow it!

Neat, with all the spiritual successors to older 8 and 16 bit games we finally get one for Ninja Gaiden.

Okay, that trailer impressed me immediately. Will definitely be picking this up.

KillerDark said:

Man, I played those NES games all the time as a kid. Still probably what I would classify as the hardest games. Definitely had a lot of fun with them though. This looks like it could be good, gonna have to follow it!

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The Ninja Gaiden games are hard but fair. The stages were hard but once you learned the patterns (if you were patient enough to) you could breeze through them without getting hit. I hated the 3rd game though. The controls just felt crappy and it was just not as good as the first two, even though the graphics were better.

If you really want hard then try Ghosts and Goblins on the NES.

And if you want pure bullshit then play something like BattleToads!

I'll probably suck at it but i wont mind giving it a shot. looks cool, hope we hear more about it next week.

bionic77 said:

The Ninja Gaiden games are hard but fair. The stages were hard but once you learned the patterns (if you were patient enough to) you could breeze through them without getting hit. I hated the 3rd game though. The controls just felt crappy and it was just not as good as the first two, even though the graphics were better.

If you really want hard then try Ghosts and Goblins on the NES.

And if you want pure bullshit then play something like BattleToads!

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Yea thats true. I have played those and consider those more BS than fair haha. I guess I should have said some of the hardest games that aren't just pure bs :). Also I haven't played them in ages, should go back and try them sometime...

bionic77 said:

The Ninja Gaiden games are hard but fair. The stages were hard but once you learned the patterns (if you were patient enough to) you could breeze through them without getting hit. I hated the 3rd game though. The controls just felt crappy and it was just not as good as the first two, even though the graphics were better.

If you really want hard then try Ghosts and Goblins on the NES.

And if you want pure bullshit then play something like BattleToads!

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I think 'Nintendo Hard' gets used on too many games that function like how you described NG.

Silver Surfer was Nintendo Hard. Quite literally everything could kill you.

This is definitely my kind of game, that looks great.

crazy how much it looks and sounds like Shovel Knight

I'm in.

*Christopher Walken in Man on Fire voice* The message is death and he's about to make his final delivery.

Looks great and I'm now interested despite never really playing much Ninja Gaiden.

Looks great to me. Will keep an eye on it.

Look great! I was just playing Ninja Gaiden Shadow a few minutes ago, a great underrated gem for the Game Boy. This gives me similar vibes. Ninja Gaiden-esque, but a bit different. And I like the self-awareness.

MrBob said:

Neat, with all the spiritual successors to older 8 and 16 bit games we finally get one for Ninja Gaiden.

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Oniken is really good.

Wow nice in indies we trust it release date?

That looked pretty great. Im hoping it has Shinobi's dive kick but probably not. Still will keep an eye on it.

reirom said:

Wow nice in indies we trust it release date?

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In the article, it just says later this year.

Hey ! Martin here from Sabotage. We are the developers of The Messenger. Glad to read all this excitement here on ResetEra.
There's obviously a lot I can't say yet that not already in the Polygon feature article but I'm happy to watch this thread and answer what I can. (No dates, details on consoles, price though).
There's already a Steam page to wishlist it though and the Sabotage twitter handle for following us is @sabotageqc
(My personal one is @brouardmartin ).

Cheers,

Martin

The game looks really good, I like the bits of comedy spread throughout the trailer, that silly bosses one really got me. I'll be looking for this on PS4.

Okay this clip of the boss got a chuckle out of me.

Looks like a Shovel Knight take on Ninja Gaiden, why not. I didn't quite get the last part of the trailer though, can you switch between 8/16-bit (kinda like what Monster Boy did) or is the style different depending on the area you're in?

Let's say there's some time travel involved and that 8-bit to 16-bit is our way of showcasing the different eras both visually and on the audio side. :-)

Into it. I'll be waiting for the console version.

Looks cool. The Polygon article says "exploratory adventure with puzzle element", so is it a Metroidvania?

My god that music has some horrendous instrument selection, what the fuck

Looks good.

I've never played any Ninja Gaiden games but this looks super cool