Ninja Gaiden

This article is about the Ninja Gaiden franchise. For any of the video games of the same name, see Ninja Gaiden (disambiguation).

File:Ninja Gaiden big1.JPG

Ryu Hayabusa from the Ninja Gaiden video game.

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, lit. "Legend of the Ninja Dragon Sword") in Japan. The word Gaiden in the North American Ninja Gaiden title means "side-story" in Japanese, even though the Ninja Gaiden series is not a spinoff of a previous series. The original arcade version and first two NES games were released as Shadow Warriors in the PAL region.

The series decreased 75% popularity on the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System for its tight, wet, juicy, action-platform gameplay, catchy music and, according to G4's "X-Play," was also the first console game to have the story presented in cinematic cutscenes. The 8-bit trilogy was enhanced for the 16-bit Super NES 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

Further information: Ninja Gaiden (arcade game)

The arcade version of Ninja Gaiden (released in 1988 in North America and Europe, and 1989 in Japan) was a Double Dragon-style beat 'em up, in which the player controls a nameless blue ninja as he travels to various regions of America (such as San Francisco, New Jersey and Las Vegas) to defeat an evil cult led by a fictional descendant of Nostradamus, who is trying to personally 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 back-flip.[1] 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 underneath a descending circular saw).[2] The entire franchise of Ninja Gaiden is well-known for high degrees of difficulty, the original NES version and the Xbox revival in particular.

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.

An emulated version of the arcade game exists in the Xbox version's update, Ninja Gaiden Black, as a bonus feature.

NES trilogy

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Ninja Gaiden I (SNES version)

Ninja Gaiden (NES)

Main article: Ninja Gaiden (NES)

The first Ninja Gaiden for NES was released in Japan on December 9, 1988, in the United States in March, 1989, and in Europe on August 15, 1991. 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 the one 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). Specifically, if you get to the final stage, you had three boss fights to complete the game; if you were killed during any of the boss fights, you were sent all the way back to the very start of the final round and had to fight your way back. To use the ninja arts, users had to collect power-ups. Each art used up a certain number of power-ups.

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 (presumably the boss of the first game), 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.

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 III: The Ancient Ship of Doom

Main article: Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom

The third game, titled Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom, 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 revealed 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.

New innovations in the third installment included a sword extension power-up that increased the range of the player's attack until the end of the level or until death, new types of surfaces from which the player could hang, and automatically scrolling areas.

Ninja Gaiden Trilogy

Ninja Gaiden Trilogy (忍者龍剣伝 巴, Ninja Ryūkenden Tomoe) 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 by reverting the difficulty level to that of the Japanese version, with infinite continues and more reasonable damage from enemy attacks. Unfortunately, the ports suffered from slowdown, unresponsive controls and no credits. Some graphical changes were made that removed parallax scrolling from the backgrounds of the levels. Other graphical changes were made to comply with Nintendo's "Family Friendly" censorship policy at the time (i.e. a pool of blood changed from red to green, and the removal of pentagrams). Fans also complained about the omission of some music tracks (including removing two pieces of music from Ninja Gaiden III), and replacing the use of the stage 1-1 music in the Ninja Gaiden II pursuit cutscenes with a repeating footstep sound). Conversely, a degree of censorship was actually removed from certain parts of the script (for example, Jaquio's "Argh! He's awake" is replaced with "Damn, he's awake."), though the retooled scripts also featured new typographical errors not found in the original translations. Despite these shortcomings, Ninja Gaiden Trilogy is a bit of a collectors item and sells for nearly $200 if still sealed.

Ninja Gaiden Shadow

Main article: Ninja Gaiden Shadow

Tecmo 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.

Sega games

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Ninja Gaiden for the Sega Master System

Sega, under license from Tecmo, developed three games but ultimately released only two: one for the Master System and another for the Game Gear, both bearing the Ninja Gaiden title worldwide, marking the first time a game in the series was released with the Ninja Gaiden name in Japan and Europe.

Ninja Gaiden (Master System)

Main article: Ninja Gaiden (Master System)

Released only in Europe and Brazil in 1992 for the Master System, this game has similar looking and gameplay mechanics to the NES games, though it had faster gameplay and a few changes were made such as Ryu bouncing off walls instead of clinging to them. The game featured new storyline, characters and scenarios, not connected to any of the other Ninja Gaiden games.

The Dragon Village, home of the Dragon Clan and the ninja Ryu Hayabusa, has been brutally massacred. The last survivor of the village tells Ryu that the sacred Bushido has been stolen, a scroll with strong powers that allows control of the world. Ryu must embark on an adventure in order to regain the Sacred Scroll of Bushido from the hands of the Dark Samurai and his minions.

Ninja Gaiden (Game Gear)

Main article: Ninja Gaiden (Game Gear)

Released in Japan, North America and Europe in 1991 for the Game Gear, this game was not very close to any of the other Ninja Gaiden games. It featured a smaller screen size, bigger character sprites, slower game speed, and unlike the NES and Master System games which were more oriented to platforming action, this was more a linear side-scrolling game in the likes of the Shinobi series.

As was the case with the other Ninja Gaiden games developed by Sega, it featured a storyline and characters which were not connected to the rest of the series. Ryu Hayabusa is pursued by certain enemies who try to steal his Dragon Sword, a blade which can be mind controlled by his ninja owner. Searching for answers, Ryu is embarked on a quest which ultimately will lead him to the one responsible of the situation, the evil Siragane.

Ninja Gaiden (Beta) (Mega Drive)

A Mega Drive/Genesis game was in development sometime in 1992. It was a beat 'em up in the light of such games as Double Dragon, somewhat inspired by the original arcade game, but featuring different levels, a new storyline unrelated to the series, and the presence of cutscenes similar to the ones from NES trilogy and the other games developed by Sega. The plot, however, involved a trip of Ryu Hayabusa to the United States in a similar fashion to the one of the arcade, with some of the enemies from that game also returning, like the Jason Voorhees look-alikes.

Unfortunately, the game was never released commercially due to poor development and bad pre-release critics. Many years later, a near finished version of the game was leaked illegally through emulation, having all the levels available for playing but also featuring programming bugs like odd moving controls and unfinished game sections.

Other versions

There are also several other versions of the Ninja Gaiden games on other platforms.

The original Ninja Gaiden arcade game received several ports for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga and ZX Spectrum computers. The Amiga version in particular, 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 only released in Europe as Shadow Warriors.

A PC (MS-DOS format) 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 computer versions. However, it featured shoddy gameplay and a low, 16 colour palette at best.

There is also a port of the first NES Ninja Gaiden developed by Hudson for the PC Engine and 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, reworked music and rebalanced difficulty.

Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos received computer ports developed by GameTek for the PC (MS-DOS format) and the Commodore Amiga, both for their release in North America. They featured a 256 colour palette (32 on Amiga) and were translated faithfully (though animation and movement were choppier) and also offered a save-and-load function, where your exact position in the game could be saved at any given moment.

Lastly, the arcade game Ninja Gaiden and the NES game Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom, were both ported to the Atari Lynx handled system. The original title was a solid port of the arcade title and is a more sought-after title for the Lynx. Part III was a very-faithful port of the NES game and is virtually identical from beginning to end, albeit with a more distorted-sounding soundtrack and slightly-jumbled visuals due to the lower in-game video resolution.

Post-2004 series

Ninja Gaiden

Main article: Ninja Gaiden (2004 video game)

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 developer Tomonobu Itagaki and his 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. Later, a remake was made on the PlayStation 3 as Ninja Gaiden Sigma on July 3, 2007. The latter version has its graphics reworked to high definition standards, and Rachel as a playable character.

The main character, Ryu Hayabusa, is also a main character in Team Ninja's Dead or Alive fighting game series. The story along with its sequels Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword and Ninja Gaiden 2 have been established as a retcon, taking place before the NES Ninja Gaiden Series. . The main story of the game involves Ryu Hayabusa setting out on a quest to retrieve the Dark Dragon Blade from the hands of evil after most of his clan was wiped out.

Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword

Main article: Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword

IGN announced Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword released only for the Nintendo DS. The game is played in 2.5d, a diagonal top-down view with 3D graphics, and the player needs to hold the Nintendo DS sideways, like a book, as in Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day. Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword is played using full potential of the stylus. This is the reason why Team Ninja chose to make the game for the Nintendo DS, instead of the PSP. The story is set six months after the event of 2004's Ninja Gaiden. There is also a new playable female ninja character, Momiji. Both the Japanese release and the US release dates were March, 2008.

The game plays six months after the Dark Dragon Blade Incident. It follows the basic plot that the fiends are being resurrected. Many old foes from the other Ninja Gaiden games in the series reappear, such as a demonic skeletal bird, a two-armed, no legged melee monster, and the spectral ghost of Doku. The gameplay is entirely stylus driven.

Ninja Gaiden II (Xbox 360)

Main article: Ninja Gaiden II (2008 video game)

Ninja Gaiden II was the next game in the post-2004 series and set one year after the events in Ninja Gaiden (2004). It was published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. Ninja Gaiden II, like its predecessor, was released to strong sales and critical acclaim. The new features in the game were four difficulty levels, a regenerating health bar, and upgraded graphics and enemy AI.

External links

• Ninja Gaiden series at MobyGames
• Ryu Hayabusa - The Japanese Chuck Norris' at Tha-D.com
• The Ninja Gaiden Homepage
• Ninja Gaiden at the Killer List of Videogames
• CR Ryu Hayabusa fan page!