Back in 1993, controversial arcade fighter Mortal Kombat released onhome consoles. The SNES version replaced the gore with sweat, but wasgraphically superior to the bloody Sega Genesis port. Guess which oneeverybody liked? Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is the SNES version in this case,replacing spraying blood with blue smoke while adding co-op play,streamlining the gameplay, and introducing new chapters and characters.With all these great advances, why did Tecmo give bloodthirsty gamersan excuse to blow off this edition? It’s still rated M, so what’sreally gained out of this decision?

While the dried pools ofblood may disappoint some, Sigma 2 features many gameplay improvements.The bow and arrow has unlimited ammo so you no longer have to collectarrows, plus the streamlined controls make shooting way more appealing.It’s nice not having to track down keys to open locked doors, andthere’s a nice path indicator you can bring up if you get lost. Whileit stinks that you’re blocked from maxing your weapons completely untillate in the game, at least you don’t have to spend orbs on them anymore(you just choose one per level).

Rachel, Momiji, and Ayane’s newchapters are a fun diversion from Ryu’s quest and offer a chance toexperiment with different play styles and alternate bosses. It isslightly lame, however, that these environments are mostly backwardversions of Ryu’s stages. The co-op mode is a large collection ofplotless arena missions featuring waves of enemies and various bosscompilations. Be sure to beat the main game before you delve into thismode or you won’t have any weapons or bonus characters. Unfortunately,team play is online only; otherwise you’re stuck with an AI bot.

Sigma2 is a longer, more action-packed edition of Ninja Gaiden II, and ifyou’ve never played the original you won’t notice the missing gore.