tl;dr: An NES-inspired action-platformer that nails the visual aesthetic but has flaws.

Oniken is a game in which you play as a ridiculously powerful mercenary named [s]Kenshiro[/s] Zaku and beat up bad guys. It's essentially a "neo-NES" game that goes far to capture the look and feel of games from that era, using lots of black filler space skillfully like later NES games tended to do to maximize color usag eand depth, and even including Ninja Gaiden-esque cutscenes with some well-done pixel art for the characters. Graphically, the game has succeeded nobly in what it set out to do, though sadly the audio doesn't quite match up; the sound effects are fine, but the music is quite drab (some of it's alright, but most is really almost surprisingly bad) and sounds a bit more like something like GXSCC that tries to emulate this kind of sound rather than something from the system itself (should've used Famitracker probably).

As far as gameplay goes, it's pretty damn solid. The "weight" of your character takes some getting used to, as he feels fairly heavy, but not in a way that's very uncomfortable after a few minutes of play. In essence it fits in fairly well with any given action-platformer of the NES's later lifespan, like your Power Blade or Shatterhand type games, although a bit simpler -- the ONLY powerups you'll find (besides the rare health pack or 1-up) are grenades, your one and only (but quite effective) sub-weapon, and a sword icon that doubles the length of your blade until you take damage - or you can press the 'berserk' button to sacrifice it early in favor of a brief attack buff. Despite the game's look and feel definitely trying to evoke classic Nintendo, the swordplay decidedly feels like Sega's Strider.

It's not a terribly long or difficult game, surprising considering the era and style it's trying to emulate; the game automatically adds each stage to a 'natural stage select' on the main menu as you pass them, there are plenty of powerups and you have a huge life bar that's slow to deplete with relatively few platforming challenges. The real difficulty comes from the bonus content that comes after you finish the game, including a lengthy, challenging, but unique new stage and two extremely taxing new modes that definitely make the game "Nintendo-hard", so keep that in mind if the game feels a bit flimsy to you, oh classic game master.

It's not perfect.. aside from the music, the story's pretty pathetic (though so fitting for the time period it's forgivable) and there's just no depth or innovation here at all. But if you're looking for a totally decent NES love-letter that does the job better than a good chunk of the modern retro-indie drivel you see out there, give Oniken a go.

[b]tl;dr:[/b] An NES-inspired action-platformer that nails the visual aesthetic but has flaws. Oniken is a game in which you play as a ridiculously powerful mercenary named [s]Kenshiro[/s] Zaku and beat up bad guys. It's essentially a "neo-NES" game that goes far to capture the look and feel of games from that era, using lots of black filler space skillfully like later NES games tended to do to maximize color usag eand depth, and even including Ninja Gaiden-esque cutscenes with some well-done pixel art for the characters. Graphically, the game has succeeded nobly in what it set out to do, though sadly the audio doesn't quite match up; the sound effects are fine, but the music is quite drab (some of it's alright, but most is really almost surprisingly bad) and sounds a bit more like something like GXSCC that tries to emulate this kind of sound rather than something from the system itself (should've used Famitracker probably). As far as gameplay goes, it's pretty damn solid. The "weight" of your character takes some getting used to, as he feels fairly heavy, but not in a way that's very uncomfortable after a few minutes of play. In essence it fits in fairly well with any given action-platformer of the NES's later lifespan, like your Power Blade or Shatterhand type games, although a bit simpler -- the ONLY powerups you'll find (besides the rare health pack or 1-up) are grenades, your one and only (but quite effective) sub-weapon, and a sword icon that doubles the length of your blade until you take damage - or you can press the 'berserk' button to sacrifice it early in favor of a brief attack buff. Despite the game's look and feel definitely trying to evoke classic Nintendo, the swordplay decidedly feels like Sega's [i]Strider[/i]. It's not a terribly long or difficult game, surprising considering the era and style it's trying to emulate; the game automatically adds each stage to a 'natural stage select' on the main menu as you pass them, there are plenty of powerups and you have a huge life bar that's slow to deplete with relatively few platforming challenges. The real difficulty comes from the bonus content that comes after you finish the game, including a lengthy, challenging, but unique new stage and two extremely taxing new modes that definitely make the game "Nintendo-hard", so keep that in mind if the game feels a bit flimsy to you, oh classic game master. It's not perfect.. aside from the music, the story's pretty pathetic (though so fitting for the time period it's forgivable) and there's just no depth or innovation here at all. But if you're looking for a totally decent NES love-letter that does the job better than a good chunk of the modern retro-indie drivel you see out there, give Oniken a go.