The original Shadow of the Ninja had its moment, but it wasn't very long. Critics and players rightly saw it as a well-crafted and harshly challenging side-scroller back in 1990, yet it arrived in the busiest time for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was rapidly swept aside without gaining sequels or vaulting into the upper ranks of NES classics—in fact, a planned Game Boy follow-up for Shadow of the Ninja was stolen away in development by the much more popular Ninja Gaiden series.

Then came Tengo Project, a team of developers who worked on the original Shadow of the Ninja and other Natsume titles. They've had the rare opportunity to revisit and rebuild older classics with Wild Guns Reloaded and Pocky & Rocky Reshrined. In Shadow of the Ninja Reborn, however, they haven't merely remade the game. They've made something new and amazing.

Little introduction is needed: the monstrous Emperor Garuda has overrun the city of Laurasia with his high-tech forces, and the elite ninja crusaders Hayate and Kaede infiltrate his defenses to bring him down. Not bothering with dialogue or cutscenes, the heroes dash through six side-view action-platformer stages that span docks, sewers, airships, factories, rooftops, fortresses, and other Garuda territory. Most of the opposition is cybernetic and mad-scientific, with hulking spider robots and sentry drones and punk chimpanzees and all, but Shadow of the Ninja Reborn isn't above throwing in an apparently mystical falconer or haunted suit of samurai armor.

Hayate and Kaede similarly possess many mystical ninja abilities: their swords can power up to launch destructive energy arcs, and their kusarigama (those chain-sickle weapons) can extend in eight directions and gain similar attack boosts. They're also able to hover-spin through the air, hang from overhead surfaces, grip and climb walls, shadow-dash around, and stab downward at enemies—or, in an amusing move, thrust their sword into the ground and balance on the hilt. They can sacrifice their vitality for a screen-filling lightning strike, though this is a game where a health meter is best off hoarded.

And those are just their regular moves. Dozens of extra items appear throughout levels, and only a few are basic health refills like rice balls, milk, and giant cuts of steak. You'll also find ninja stars, caltrops, kunai, sickles, grenades, time bombs, clubs, spiked bats, giant swords, cleavers, flamethrowers, Gatling guns, old-fashioned cannons, vintage ninja firework tubes, rocket launchers, cyber-blades, laser cannons, surface-hugging mines, and a floating, flame-spewing sidekick robot. It's an amazing assortment that invites experimentation to see which weapons can penetrate walls, which ones are best for distant attacks, and which ones should be saved for the bosses.

That's one part of the game's consistently clever design. Each stage is stocked with intriguing challenges; some are ripped straight from the old NES game, but most of them are all new and varied. You'll have to navigate catwalks while harried by gunfire, scuttling bug-bots, and kitsune sorceresses. You'll have to dodge flamethrowers and fire demons while riding a multi-tier platform through a factory. You'll have to scale a tower where giant cannons attack you not with their blasts but with the enormous shell casings they eject. You'll have to figure out the best way to dodge, leap, grab surfaces, and take out enemies as swiftly as possible in new and intriguing ways across the game.

Shadow of the Ninja Reborn looks absolutely gorgeous. Tengo Project's previous refashioning dug into the SNES or semi-powerful arcade hardware, and a casual glance might confuse Pocky & Rocky Reshrined, Wild Guns Reloaded, and The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors with their original versions. Shadow of the Ninja Reborn invites no such mistakes. It's a new game throughout, with spectacular backgrounds that start on rainswept docks and give way to hovering airship fleets and grim fortress corridors where exposed wiring crackles and giant machines stand idle. The sprites are remarkable in their colors and animation, even down to the lowest-rung thugs.

Sometimes it's good to just find a safe spot so you can take in the firelit temples of a floating fortress that fills the sky, check the details of a glowing, spiked cityscape (perhaps inspired by Cannon Dancer/Osman), or examine the ornate, ominously vacant décor of Garuda's inner chambers. Tengo Project proved peerless at 2-D animation in their prior games, and Shadow of the Ninja Reborn might be their best effort yet, distilling decades of expertise into six levels of futuristic ninja overkill.

Sometimes the bright, hyper-detailed scenery makes it hard to tell what can hurt you. Yet it's not confusing so much as it's enticing, inviting you to see if you can dash up that wall, break that barrier, or drop down into a passage and race unharmed below an enemy patrol. Backed by catchy remixes of the original game's soundtrack, this is all a marvelous showcase for 2-D design. The only misstep might be the main character designs from Mikio Tachibana of Dynamic Production. Hayate is a standard ninja deal, and Kaede's outfit, though faithful to the original game's artwork, is off-putting in its colors and skimpiness. The game even rubs it in by giving her a cool Ninja Saviors getup for a split second at each stage's opening—right before she smoke-switches to her regular pants-free attire.

True to its origins, Shadow of the Ninja Reborn is seldom easy. Even routine enemies can do major damage, and you'll never survive a stage without learning its pitfalls and patterns. Even so, it's seldom cruel. Bosses are tough but learnable, and each level is broken into two or three sections where you can continue handily (or save your game). It may not be a long game in an era where 30-hour cinematic blockbuster quests seem standard, but Shadow of the Ninja Reborn earns its keep with firmly memorable challenges.

Tengo Project is also adept at squeezing out return trips. If you want to unlock any weapon, you'll need to have it in your arsenal when you clear the stage—and that's especially taxing for the rarer and more useful finds. Half the fun here lies in experimenting with the extra weapons, in Mega Man tradition, and finding new and quicker methods of getting through everything, whether it's tossing caltrops at a giant boss to inflict passive damage or taking advantage of the way a Gatling gun lets you levitate briefly while firing. Stages usually have one way forward, but there are side routes, shortcuts, and hidden sections that usually hide rewards.

Hayate and Kaede have subtle differences (he jumps a little quicker but she runs a little faster) and you can't freely swap between them, thus creating another reason to go back. Local multiplayer is also speedy and enjoyable, but as with their Wild Guns and Pocky & Rocky treatments, Tengo Project neglected to include any online co-op mode.

Shadow of the Ninja Reborn controls precisely, though the wall-running mechanics take a little practice. It's tough to master the difference between running up a surface and simply hanging there, yet this rarely frustrates outside of a vicious duo of machine presses in the fourth stage. It's also difficult, perhaps intentionally so, to select different weapons in the thick of fighting. It's all a button-press away, but you'll want to find a sheltered spot or seize on a brief pause in a boss battle if you want to sort through your arsenal.

Shadow of the Ninja Reborn's hook is much sharper than mere nostalgia. This isn't the game as it was or should have been; it's the glorious spectacle, unfettered by technological limitations, that you might have imagined just from looking at the game's box art or hearing its basic premise way back in 1990. It's a remarkable vision, perhaps the best ninja action game in history, and a reminder that Tengo Project's true gift isn't remaking or reimagining games. It's making games, period.