Ganryu 2: Hakuma Kojiro review - Strider, Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi, all in one glorious package

Ganryu 2: Hakuma Kojiro is a sequel that I never knew I wanted until I played it. As an 80s kid, I spent a lot of my time in the 80s and 90s in whatever arcade I could get into.

I have played Ganryu for the Neo Geo MVS, and it was a perfectly fine hack ‘n’ slash. It didn’t imprint itself into my brain as a must-play, but it was good.

However, Ganryu 2: Hakuma Kojiro is on a whole different level. It’s fast-paced, intense, challenging, and brings something fresh to the table. It keeps to the theme of the original game and its story while also offering new, more modern gameplay.

While parts of the game feel brutal and unfair, that’s what I came to expect from the arcade games of my youth. It’s easy for me to forgive that sort of behavior when it looks and feels like a retro arcade game, only with much better controls.

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Ganryu 2 is the sequel to a 1999 NeoGeo game

Ganryu 2 stars Miyamoto Musashi, the legendary Japanese swordsman. Taking place after Kojiro’s death, Musashi was relaxing when the spirit of Kojiro arose and said he wasn’t finished with Musashi.

It’s a ridiculous premise, but that’s precisely the kind of amazing nonsense I was expecting. Musashi sets out to meet the spirit of Kojiro and settle things once and for all.

As a result, Musashi travels through Japan, each stage being a different region, and each stage has two acts. The stages vary pretty wildly, too, from quaint Japanese towns to futuristic areas that still somehow have ninja and evil spirits in them.

Secret passages? Oh yeah, plenty of those in the game (Image via Storybird Studio)

Whether running across the ground or flying through the skies and shooting down enemies, Ganryu 2 did not disappoint when it came to actual gameplay. At least for the most part.

I appreciate the challenge, and I respect that learning boss patterns are essential to getting good at a game like this.

Some of the actual enemy patterns were absolute nonsense, though. The skulls with glowing blue fire around them, in particular, were infuriating.

They appear quickly and almost immediately dash right at the player. If they aren’t ready, it’s going to be immediate damage. Many enemies come out of awkward or weird places or attack from strange angles.

It’s something a player can learn to avoid and be prepared for, and from that angle, I get it. But it was still a very frustrating experience until I found out how a stage played. Once I had died during the same stage a few times, I was ready to get back in and slaughter my way through them.

It was certainly an exciting learning curve. Part of me is frustrated by that, but again, it feels like it’s trying to emulate the brutal nature of a classic arcade side-scroller. For that, I would say it hits the nail on the head.

Gameplay is great but does not teach anything about how the game works

Like most arcade games, Ganryu 2 does not give players real lessons on how stuff works. You have to figure out that you have a double jump, that you can wall jump, and that the player has a dash that can be done in mid-air and instant-kills many targets. It’s not a game that will hold your hand in any regard.

I love the actual gameplay and combat, though. Musashi has a variety of sword strike animations and can do a spinning slash in the air, a’la Ninja Gaiden. The game has double-tap dashing, long jumps, and crazy maneuvers to pull off.

Musashi in the sky, on a hoverbike, shooting down a ninja-piloted Zeppelin? More likely than you'd think (Image via Storybird Studio)

A lot of the actual gameplay will feel familiar to classic arcade fans. When dashing, Musashi’s attack looks like Strider Hiryu’s slicing attacks. He can spin slash like Ryu Hayabusa in Ninja Gaiden and has wall-jumping mechanics.

He throws kunai with dangerous accuracy like Shinobi, but he has a finite number of them, unfortunately. Plenty of enemies and lamps drop more kunai.

He even has a powerful ninja magic-style move like Shinobi did that decimates targets, but I didn’t use it often. It was only really in the flying boss stage because it came in the form of a massive laser.

Learning about the game as I went was honestly a joy, and even though I would often feel frustrated at some of the enemy placements, I wasn’t discouraged for long. It became easier and easier to just run through a stage, obliterating all foes, on the way to Ganryujima Island.

Ganryu 2 is visually incredible with a quality retro design

The backdrops of Ganryu 2 always looked incredible, no matter the setting (Image via Storybird Studio)

I love how Ganryu 2 looks and sounds, to be honest. It has a retro arcade look while not looking out of date. The flute and drum music in the background got me into the mood to play the game.

The stages all look unique, from the woods to a small town in central Japan. No matter where I went, I was happy with how it looked. The enemies looked fantastic, and even if the enemies or the stage itself didn’t feel logical, it was still grand to look at.

Musashi looked awesome, his sword strikes looked smooth, and while the enemy design was pretty simple, foes did not blend into the background. The only time I had an issue was in the sunset flying stage. Regular enemy bullets almost blend into the sky.

In Conclusion

Ganryu 2 is a sequel to a game many players may not remember, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth playing. It brings me great satisfaction to get a stage down, find all the secrets, the extra lives, and overcome bosses in a flashy manner.

Once you learn where an enemy will spawn, you can leap at them and destroy them as soon as they appear, and it’s incredible.

The game is relatively short once a player gets the hang of things. It’s a game I hope will have more modes or stages than it does, but there is always a chance of more content in the future.

Even if it’s short, for 15 dollars, this is worth every penny. It’s intense, action-packed, and the combat feels incredible. The controls are tight, the visuals are good, and the gameplay is fun.

I did hear there were framerate issues on the Nintendo Switch version, but I played on PC and did not encounter a single problem with the game being playable.