The fact that you can take several hits before dying also makes things much easier. The speed is still lightning quick, but it’s also less chaotic than the original arcade game, and feels much less cheap. Both screens on the DS are utilized, and it suits the high-flying action pretty well, and the screen gap rarely becomes an issue. There are a total of 12 stages in The Legend of Kage 2, and each is structured similarly – gigantic, open expanses for you to leap and slash through, along with some occasional platforming elements. You’ll also come across items to extend your health or magic meters. Additionally, you’ll find colored stones hidden throughout the levels – you can mix and match these stones to create a variety of magic spells (around 40 or so, which is impressive), but you can only keep a few equipped at a time. At any time, you can charge up your sword attack and summon spirit shadows, which essentially triples your firepower temporarily. There are a number of magic spells, as well. You can also perform a variety of other cool ninja moves, like running straight up walls and hanging from ceilings. There are also a variety of other attacks, like a sliding maneuver, a mid-air dash, and a running slash, which can cut down multiple foes at once with your blade. The sword swings are much more effective, with huge slashes similar to Strider, and you can execute powerful combos once you’ve progressed far enough.īy default, your characters move pretty quickly, but they can run even faster by double tapping forward. You can still leap great distances and toss shurikens quickly at any angle, but sword attacks are now far more useful. With the extra buttons on the DS, there’s now a separate button mapped to jump, which makes controlling the characters far less awkward. Playing as her is essentially the game’s hard mode. Chihiro has a kusarigama that works just like a sword, but wields a huge chain rather than shurikens, and has more magic power. Kage looks a bit more masculine than his previous outings, with his chest exposed and presenting some impressive pectorals, but he’s still equipped with shurikens and a sword.
There are now two playable characters – Kage, and his female companion Chihiro.