Ninja Gaiden
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Ninja Gaiden (忍者外伝) is a series of video games by Tecmo featuring the dragon ninja, Ryu Hayabusa.
The series was originally known as Ninja Ryukenden (忍者龍剣伝 Ninja Ryūkenden, Legend of the Ninja Dragon Sword) in Japan. The word gaiden (pronounced "guy-den") in the English title means side-story in Japanese. It is speculated that Tecmo simply used gaiden since it was an easier Japanese word to pronounce than ryūkenden (r-yoo-ken-den). Reportedly, Tecmo was originally going to use the title, Ninja Dragon, in America, but it was dropped (most likely due to Data East's beat 'em up, Bad Dudes, which was originally titled Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja in the arcade). The original arcade title and early home versions of that game were known as Shadow Warriors in Europe and Australia.
The series gained popularity on the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System for its tight action-platform gameplay, catchy music and use of cinematic cutscenes that unveiled the plot. The 8-bit trilogy was enhanced for the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995. A new game, simply titled Ninja Gaiden, was released in 2004 as a 3D action game on the Xbox, developed by Team Ninja (the makers of Dead or Alive).
Arcade game
The arcade version of Ninja Gaiden (released in 1988 in North America and 1989 in Japan) was a Double Dragon-style beat 'em up, in which the player controls a nameless ninja, as he travels to various regions of America (such as San Francisco, New York and Las Vegas) to defeat an evil cult. The player has a variety of techniques, such as a flying neck throw and a back-flip. The player can obtain power-ups by throwing enemies into background objects, such as street lights and dumpsters. The player fights primarily with his bare hands, although a sword can also be used for a limited time as a power-up; he can also use environmental objects as a prop from which he can deliver more powerful kicking attacks. Although the game takes place in different environments, there are primarily only five kinds of enemies, all of which appear in every level (although some levels have extra enemy types). The game is mostly remembered for its infamous continue screen (where the player character is tied to the ground while a circular saw is moving towards him from above).While the game itself bears little or no connection to the later NES trilogy or Xbox revival (although the Xbox version does feature the same flying neck throw from the arcade game), certain aspects of it were carried over to the first NES title. The first stage in the NES game is a loose adaptation of the first stage in the arcade game and the opening cutscene in the NES game vaguely resembles the intro in the arcade version. Both games also feature Jason Voorhees look-alikes and the final boss in the arcade game vaguely resembles Bloody Malth from the NES game.
The first and best conversion was for the Commodore Amiga computer, which retained almost everything of the graphical beauty and functionality of the original game, including the two-player cooperative gameplay and the introduction.
The arcade game was later ported to the Atari Lynx and IBM PC. A port for the Sega Genesis was developed, but it was never released commercially. Additionally, an emulated version of the arcade game exists in the Xbox version's update, Ninja Gaiden: Black, as a bonus feature.
NES trilogy
The original Ninja Gaiden, a platformer, was released in 1988-89. A ninja named Ryu Hayabusa is instructed by his recently-murdered father, Ken, to go to America and recover the Demon Statues, artifacts with the power to end the world. He eventually ends up in South America battling Jaquio, the evil mastermind responsible for the attack on Ken Hayabusa.
The game introduced many of the series' staples, including the cinematic cutscenes, the boomerang-like Windmill Shuriken and the magical techniques called Ninja Arts (or Ninpo). Like all games in the series, it is noted for its difficulty (particularly the infamous Stage 6-2). To use the ninja arts, users had to collect power-ups. Each art used up a certain number of power-ups.
In the sequel, , Ryu learns of a new villain named Ashtar. Ryu must rescue Irene Lew, a former CIA agent, from Ashtar and destroy the Dark Sword, a weapon of great power. In the end, Ryu learns that Jaquio has been reborn and is the real mastermind behind Ashtar and the Dark Sword.
This game was the first to feature Spirit Clones, invincible copies of Ryu which would mimic his movements and fight by his side. Also introduced was the ability to scale walls without the need to constantly jump upwards.
The third game, titled , has what some considered to be a rather convoluted and, at times, contradictory story featuring rogue secret agents, genetic engineering and the eponymous warship. The gameplay is largely unchanged and more is unraveled about Foster, the CIA agent who sent Ryu after Jaquio in the first game and his true intentions towards the ninja. This game is often considered to be the most difficult of the original trilogy, as continues are limited this time. It appeared on the Atari Lynx, as well.
Ninja Gaiden Trilogy is a 1995 SNES collection featuring all three games. Few improvements were made, but passwords were included and the cinematic sequences were improved. The graphics were retouched and the soundtrack was updated. The third game was also made more playable with infinite continues and more reasonable damage from enemy attacks. Unfortunately, the ports suffered from slowdown, unresponsive controls and no credits. Fans also complained of censorship (i.e. a pool of blood changed from red to green, and the removal of pentagrams) and the omission of some music tracks (including removing two pieces of music from Ninja Gaiden III, and replacing any use of the first stage music in the Ninja Gaiden II cutscenes with a repeating footstep sound).
Regional differences
The differences between the Japanese and foreign editions of the NES trilogy are minor. The Japanese version of the third game (Ninja Ryukenden III) featured a password system where the player could jump to each stage by inputting symbols based on the power-ups obtained in the game, and was also significantly easier than the US version, with reduced damage and infinite continues. The name of Ryu Hayabusa's father was changed from Joe to Ken in the US version, but was changed back in the later Xbox installments.Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox
The series was revived after several years with the 2004 release of Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox. The title was developed over five years by developers Tomonobu Itagaki and Team Ninja, and eventually released to high sales and critical acclaim. An upgraded edition with new content, modes and features came out the following year under the name Ninja Gaiden Black.
The main character, Ryu Hayabusa, is also a main character in the Team Ninja's Dead or Alive fighting game series.
Other consoles
There are also appearances of Ninja Gaiden on other consoles. Sega, with permission from Tecmo, released two games, both with the name Ninja Gaiden: one for the Master System and another for the Game Gear. The Master System version has similar gameplay mechanics to the NES games, though a few changes were made such as Ryu bouncing off walls instead of clinging to them, along with a new storyline, characters and scenarios. The Game Gear version, however, was not very close to any of the other versions. It featured a smaller screen size, and the mechanics were changed quite a bit.
Tecmo also released a Game Boy version called Ninja Gaiden Shadow. It was actually a licensed edit of a proposed Shadow of the Ninja (Natsume) port. Because of this, it differs slightly from the console versions, but is still fairly faithful.
There is also a port of the first NES Ninja Gaiden for the PC Engine released only in Japan, although the game features an unlockable English mode (with a different translation than the NES game). Other differences include enhanced graphics.
The first two NES titles were also ported to DOS, being fairly faithful to the originals, though the graphics were completely redrawn, giving the characters a slightly different look. For instance, in Ninja Gaiden II, the main character sprite is orange while the "split clones" are blue, a reversal of the original design.
External links
- [Ninja Gaiden Series] at MobyGames
- [The Ninja Gaiden Homepage]
- [Ninja Gaiden at The Killer List of Video Games]
- [Defunct Games: Ninja Gaiden Review] (Atari Lynx)
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