Ninja Gaiden Japan

Ninja Gaiden Japan (NINJA 外伝) is a media franchise based on action video games by Tecmo featuring the ninja Ryu Hayabusa as its protagonist. The series was originally known as Ninja Ryukenden (忍者龍剣伝, Ninja Ryūkenden, “Legend of the Ninja Dragon Sword”) in Japan.

Ninja Gaiden Japan

The word “gaiden” in the North American Ninja Gaiden title means “side story” in Japanese. The original arcade version, first two Nintendo Entertainment System games and Game Boy game were released as Shadow Warriors in PAL regions. As of 2008, the series has shipped over 7.7 million copies.^{[n 1]}

The series gained popularity on the NES for its tight action-platform gameplay, catchy music and, according to G4’s X-Play, for being the first console game to have the story presented in cinematic cutscenes. The 8-bit trilogy was enhanced for the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995. Sega released two Ninja Gaiden games for the Game Gear and Master System, the latter only for PAL regions.

Ninja Gaiden Japan

The original series’ setting of said universe is a retro-futuristic version of the 1980s. A new game, 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. The Ninja Gaiden franchise is known for its high degree of difficulty, particularly the original NES version and the Xbox revival.^[3]

According to Eurogamer, the gameplay of the Strider arcade franchise was a vital influence on the modern incarnation of the Ninja Gaiden franchise.^[4]

Games – Ninja Gaiden Japan

Arcade game

Main article: Ninja Gaiden (arcade game)

The arcade version of Ninja Gaiden (released in 1988, in Japan, North America, and Europe)^[5] was a Bad Dudes-style beat ’em up, in which the player controls a nameless blue ninja (red for a second player) as he travels to various regions of the United States, to defeat an evil cult led by a descendant of Nostradamus, who is trying to fulfill his ancestor’s prophecy of the rise of an evil king in 1999. The player has a variety of techniques, such as a flying neck throw and a backflip.^[6] The player can obtain power-ups by throwing characters into background objects, such as street lights and dumpsters.

The player fights primarily with their bare hands, although a sword can be used for a limited time as a power-up; they can use overhead 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 remembered for its infamous continue screen, where the player character is tied to the ground underneath a descending circular saw.^[7]

Ninja Gaiden Japan

The original Ninja Gaiden arcade game was ported to the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Amiga, and ZX Spectrum. The Amiga version retained almost all of the graphics and functionality of the original game, including the two-player cooperative gameplay and the introduction. All these versions, developed by Ocean Software, were released in Europe as Shadow Warriors.

An MS-DOS port of the original Ninja Gaiden was also developed by Hi Tech Expressions, this time for its release in North America as Ninja Gaiden, as opposed to the other versions. However, it featured stripped down play mechanics and a low 16 colour palette. Lastly, it was ported to the Atari Lynx handheld system. An emulated version of the arcade game exists in the Xbox version’s update Ninja Gaiden Black as a bonus feature and was available through Nintendo’s Wii Virtual Console download service.

First trilogy – Ninja Gaiden Japan

Ninja Gaiden (NES)

Main article: Ninja Gaiden (NES video game)

Ninja Gaiden Japan

The first Ninja Gaiden for the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in Japan on December 9, 1988, in the United States in March 1989, and in Europe on August 15, 1991. Set in a retro-futuristic version of 1988, a ninja named Ryu Hayabusa finds a letter by his recently missing father, Ken, telling him to go to America and meet with an archaeologist Dr. Smith.

Dr. Smith tells Ryu that two statues hidden by Ryu’s father and the doctor have the power to end the world if united. Ryu ends up in South America and battles Jaquio, an evil cult leader bent on reviving the ancient demon called “Jashin” and responsible for the attack on Ken Hayabusa.

While the arcade game itself bears little or no connection to the later NES trilogy or Xbox revival, 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 feature Jason Voorhees lookalikes and the final boss in the arcade game vaguely resembles Bloody Malth from the NES game.

Ninja Gaiden Japan

The game introduced many of the series’ staples, including cinematic cutscenes, the boomerang-like Windmill Shuriken, and the magical techniques called Ninja Arts. To use the ninja arts, players must collect power-ups. Each art uses up a certain number of power-ups.

Ninja Gaiden Japan

A port was developed by Hudson for the PC Engine featuring enhanced graphics, reworked music, and rebalanced difficulty. An LCD handheld version produced by Tiger Electronics was released in 1988, which also had a sequel.

Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos

Main article: Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos

In the sequel, Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, Ryu learns of a new villain named Ashtar, Emperor of Chaos and master to Jaquio. Ryu must rescue Irene Lew, a former CIA agent, from Ashtar and destroy the Dark Sword, a weapon of great power, forged from a bone of the demon, as the Dragon Sword is forged from a fang of a dragon. In the end, Ryu learns that Jaquio has been reborn to fulfill the destiny of Ashtar and the Dark Sword.

Ninja Gaiden Japan

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.

Ninja Gaiden Japan

Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos was ported by GameTek for IBM PC compatibles and the Amiga, both for their release in North America. They include save and load, where the player’s exact position in the game can be saved at any given moment. The IBM PC version has 256 color VGA graphics.