PixlBit

This first in a series of awesome action platformers is not what you would expect

When you think of Ninja Gaiden, you probably think of the awesome and brutal NES games which star that famous video game ninja, Ryu Hyabusa. Or perhaps you think of Ninja Gaiden Black, the game that brought the series back and reinvigorated it for a new generation. But surely your mind doesn't go back to where it all began for the series: in the arcades. The Ninja Gaiden arcade game tends to get overlooked. Unlike its NES siblings, this game is a beat 'em up. It was developed and published by Tecmo in 1988; strangely enough, the opening screen says the game was produced by Strong Team (whoever they are).

So what's different with this game from the NES games? Well, everything! The story involves a nameless blue ninja who is traveling across the USA in order to defeat an evil cult (who all wear hockey masks). As mentioned before, the game is a beat 'em up, not an action platformer. It's cheap, frustrating, and repetitive. Suffice to say, it is nothing like the Ninja Gaiden that we are used to!

The controls could not be more simple: all the ninja can do is attack and jump. Although he has a sword, he never uses it; instead he kicks and punches his way through the stages. What kind of ninja doesn't use a sword that he has? When he jumps, he will automatically jump in a forward or backward arc (depending on which direction he is walking); if you hold up and jump he will jump straight up. There is one cool move that I enjoyed, and that is when you jump towards a bad guy, he will grab the bad guy and through him over his shoulder. Awesome move!

As soon as you start playing frustration will set in. This game is very very cheap. If a bad guy hits you, you cannot stop him from hitting you three times and knocking you to the ground. However, this only counts as one hit, and you have three hits total before you die. I noticed that sometimes even after you start to attack, an enemy can still catch you first and pummel you three times! The bad guys are so annoying! There's only five bad guys which repeat throughout the whole game. The dude with the log is especially annoying; you're too slow to hit him approaching him and it's nearly impossible to jump his swing. If there are too many enemies around you, the best strategy is to jump and throw them in order to focus your attention on one or two guys. Believe me, this is the only strategy if you want to make it through the game.

The setting for the game is the United States, which is funny since this game was made in Japan. So each level is a stereotypical portrayal of American culture. Level one is--ta da!--a long street in New York! Other levels include crossing the highway into the city at night and a casino (the strangest casino I've ever seen!). And for some reason, there's not a single pedestrian throughout the whole game; no innocent ladies or kids which you have to protect or anything like that, just thugs from this cult.

You only get two lives before you have to use a continue. Now I've been tearing this game apart, but let me tell you, it has the best Continue screen ever! Look at it below, and be amazed! The blue ninja is tied up and his eyes are wide open in horror as a giant saw slowly descends on his chest! If you don't continue in time, the screen goes red and its Game Over. A bit violent, but very awesome! Much more interesting than a typical Continue screen, and I appreciate that.

I failed to mention that the protagonist can do a couple cool ninja-like things. He can run up walls and objects and jump backwards off of them (it's really not that helpful though), and he can hang from poles and kick enemies while hanging. Still, this ninja doesn't impress me because he doesn't use his sword! Except in the opening, in which he uses his sword to take down some dude, but alas, we cannot use the weapon in the actual game, and that is lame.

The games does have some good graphics, and the backgrounds are decent, but the overall game is pretty terrible. Enemies and bosses are re-used throughout the game; the monotonus fighting becomes repetitive quickly, taking away any fun the game may want to offer; the attacks from the enemies feel cheap (most likely because this is an arcade game and they want your money); even the music is bland. The final boss is also pathetic; he should be ashamed to be a final boss!

I also have to note that the game is two player. Player two is a red ninja. That's great, if you can talk your friend into playing a bland, repetitive, and frustrating beat 'em up with you. Together you two can defeat the Hockey Mask Cult, or was it the Log Swinging Cult? Whatever the case, you couldn't give me enough quarters to enjoy this awful ninja game.

Final Verdict--2 Stars: Not Worth It

After playing this game, I think I know why Tecmo decided to make the NES version radically different. But there doesn't seem to have been enough time between the two versions to craft a completely different game (there's only three months between games). Whatever the case, we can all be thankful that Ninja Gaiden is not a beat 'em up series today. Tecmo went in the right direction. By the way, did you know that Tecmo's mascot during this time was a smiling bunny? Apparently, it was known as "Lucky Rabbit." It looks very creepy. Thankfully they pulled away from that. So please, stay away from this game. There's plenty of good ninja games out there to enjoy. Don't bring pain to yourself with this one.

Join me every Satruday as we take a look back at all kinds of retro games, good and bad.