Ninja games!

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 9:57 pm

Someone at the begining of the thread asked if the Otogi series counted.

These are my favorite games of the current generation hardware but i don't think they really count as ninja games. Though this brings up an interesting point - i always felt that the Otogi games felt ALOT like Revenge of Shinobi on the Genesis. Theres just something very Shinobi about Otogi - part 2 especially.

On that note - ps2 Shinobi i found to be one of the best games in the series. A true challenge right up until the last boss (which is where the true challenge ends and the cheap trial-and-error gameplay begins). My only complaint about the game.

Nightshade/kunoichi blows, though. It doesn't have that asian mysticism that the other games in the series where so drenched with. Techno-secret agent-depressed and jaded Shinobi lady? I don't think so.

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 11:44 pm

circuitface wrote:Someone at the begining of the thread asked if the Otogi series counted.

Unfortunately, it doesn't. Otogi A) takes place in the Heian era, and ninjas didn't exist yet, and B) is about a court noble, not a ninja. I love the Otogi games too, but they're not ninja games.

sjewkestheloon · Post by **sjewkestheloon** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:19 am

ninja gaiden on the xbox is one of the finest ninja games ever... not only is it hard as a bastard but you can make it even harder with the hurricane packs. that bitch with a whip on hp2 still gives me nightmares.....

alma is one of the most badass bosses ever... plus you get to cave her head in lol

Dartagnan1083 · Post by **Dartagnan1083** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 2:58 am

you guys are forgeting something

http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/ninj ... efault.php

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 3:00 am

Found another, albeit pretty insigificant game. There's a Jajamaru game for the black & white Game Boy... it's a pretty dull overhead action game. Meh.

SheSaidDutch · Post by **SheSaidDutch** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 12:09 pm

Dartagnan1083 wrote:you guys are forgeting something

http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/ninj ... efault.php

Watch out for the giant frog!

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 10:49 pm

I only found out about this today:
Ninja Five-O for the GBA looks good.
It looks as if it combines elements from Ninja Gaiden & Shadow of The Ninja.

http://www.classicgaming.com/reviews/ni ... jafive.htm

Dartagnan1083 · Post by **Dartagnan1083** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 12:14 am

The classic gaming review says it combines elements of Shinobi and Strider.
Ninja Gaiden on the NES was more of a memorization fest than an action title anyway.

But yeah...Five-0 is awesome

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 12:23 am

Cthulhu wrote:Found another, albeit pretty insigificant game. There's a Jajamaru game for the black & white Game Boy... it's a pretty dull overhead action game. Meh.

oh. Another Jajamaru b & w GB game? The one that came to the US as Maru's Mission is a side scrolling platformer (which I thought was the only GB Jajamaru game). BTW, I mentioned Maru's Mission in a previous post in this very same topic...

The overhead view game was released in the US as Ninja Taro. I'm not sure if it's actually a jajamaru game, but it does look like one.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 1:42 am

ST Dragon wrote:I only found out about this today:
Ninja Five-O for the GBA looks good.
It looks as if it combines elements from Jinja Gaiden & Shadow of The Ninja.

and a whole lot of bionic commando for good measure. it is incredible by the way. one of the only gba games i would still play if i could find my copy.

Minzoku · Post by **Minzoku** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 1:51 am

Dartagnan1083 wrote:you guys are forgeting something

http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/ninj ... efault.php

Damn, that's the first game I thought of

Different link, though.

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 1:54 am

Time to resurrect this topic for a bit - there's a 15 page or so "Ninja Games" special article in the August issue of Used Games (a Japanese magazine about... well, I think you can guess

). We already covered most of what's in the article, but there are some we missed.

The "Oni" series of RPGs for the Game Boy and SNES are apparently about ninjas as well - I've seen the games for sale before but I've never tried any of 'em. I might take a look now...

Next, one of the Nobunaga's Ambition games - Nobunaga no Yabou: Soutenroku - is all about ninjas. That makes it the only ninja strategy game I'm aware of. If I can find this one cheap, I might pick it up...

If you can read Japanese, I highly, highly recommend hunting down the magazine - Amazon Japan probably has it, and local Japanese bookstores (lik ethe US Kinokuniya stores) can probably get it for you too.

TGK · Post by **TGK** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 5:05 am

This is a rather obscure one since no one mentioned it

Shonen Ninja Sasuke for SNES. It emulates perfectly on ZSNES, so go grab a rom and try it.

The gameplay is beat-em-up RPG, with the action part being almost like a manic shmup near the end, with many things happening on screen. Unlike a typical beat-em-up or platformer, the main char, whose name is Sasuke I think, is very skillful and nimble, and the game plays very fast!

There is a dozen or so ninja weapons that you can use, and a lot of ninja magic. There are different paths to finish the game and a LOT of secret, some of which involve ninja-style trapdoors and such.

And one of the boss fights with all of your techniques, and actually put up a good fight unless you level up too much.

Anyone who knows Jpnese please try this out and tell me the story, I beat the game without knowing the story, and I know there's one secret boss I didn't unlock, since I never heard one boss song from the OST in the game.

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 11:36 am

I still want to know about Kengo, the Ninja Spirit sequel - can anyone help me, PLEASE? Have googled, and can't find anything other than specs.

Fost · Post by **Fost** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 11:10 pm

Way Of The Tiger on the speccy. Based on the Gaming books (anyone remember them?).

Great music to ninja* to on the 128k version.

*what is the verb? Ninjaing?

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 11:25 pm

Marc wrote:I still want to know about Kengo, the Ninja Spirit sequel - can anyone help me, PLEASE? Have googled, and can't find anything other than specs.

Do you know the full title? Or is it just "Kengo?" Also, who made it, and what year? (Knowing the Japanese for the title would help a lot in searching for it, as nothing but the PS2 fighting game Kengo series show up if you just type in Kengo in hiragana)

Recap · Post by **Recap** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 12:40 am

Cthulhu wrote:
Marc wrote:I still want to know about Kengo, the Ninja Spirit sequel - can anyone help me, PLEASE? Have googled, and can't find anything other than specs.
Do you know the full title? Or is it just "Kengo?" Also, who made it, and what year? (Knowing the Japanese for the title would help a lot in searching for it, as nothing but the PS2 fighting game Kengo series show up if you just type in Kengo in hiragana)

Official transliteration says "Ken-Go", an Irem game from 1991, emulated for years now. Never heard it was a sequel to Ninja Spirit, thoe. Source?

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 1:21 am

Recap wrote: Official transliteration says "Ken-Go", an Irem game from 1991, emulated for years now. Never heard it was a sequel to Ninja Spirit, thoe. Source?

Thanks, just saying the year let me find a screenshot. The kanji are actually the same as the PS2 games... it just means "swordsman," basically. I don't know if the game is actually related to Ninja Spirit or not, since "kengo" is generally a term reserved for samurai. It might just be from the same team or something, and have a similar setting.

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 9:02 am

Mystic Warriors by Konami is a nother cool Ninja game....

TGK · Post by **TGK** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:05 pm

Kage (not Legend of Kage) for NES, by Natsume

you can choose a guy (blue ninja) or a girl (red ninja)

hard as hell, and with good music!

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 10:17 pm

Kage (J) is also known as Shadow of The Ninja in the US.
Awesome game with some huge end level bosses.
It borrows elements form Ninja Gaiden, Batman & Mega Man.
Coolest stage is the techno elevator level with the huge tank boss.
Natsume sure knows how to make good games.

Another cool game, is Ninja Gaiden for the Game Boy. It looks & plays more like Shadow of The Ninja (aka Kage) than the traditional Ninja Gaiden games. Mainly because you can only hang from the platforms above you.

The Final Boss is one mighty freckle kicking dude.
Well worth a try.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 10:20 pm

Kage (J) = Shadow of the Ninja (U) = Blue Shadow (E)

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 10:42 pm

I didn't know about Blue Shadow (E)!
Thanks for the tip.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 10:54 pm

Marc wrote:I still want to know about Kengo, the Ninja Spirit sequel - can anyone help me, PLEASE? Have googled, and can't find anything other than specs.

well hereis the listing on system16.com. also, not to endorse or what-not, but i believe it is running in MAME as well.

may i say that the arcade version of Ninja Spirit looks to kick some ass. anyone have the pcb? how is it?

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 11:09 pm

Ken-go is perfectly emulated in MAME, same as Ninja Spirit, so you can try it out.
I'm not sure4 if it's a sequel to Ninja Spirit though...?

Another great Ninja game that most people have forgoten about is "Tiger Road" by Capcom for the Arcades.
Also perfectly playable in MAME.

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 11:26 pm

ST Dragon wrote: Another great Ninja game that most people have forgoten about is "Tiger Road" by Capcom for the Arcades.
Also perfectly playable in MAME.

I like Tiger Road too - I played the hell out of the TG16 version - but it's not a a ninja game. The game takes place in China.

greg · Post by **greg** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 2:46 am

I'm currently playing Red Ninja for the X-Box (also for PS2). It's similar to Tenchu, but it has several cool additions. You attack with a wire, throwing your blade and such. Very cool. Unlike Tenchu, if you're spotted behind a fence, the bad guys will actually run around the fence to come attack you. Also, when they call for help, new guards will actually come to help kill you. It doesn't punish you for not stealth-killing like Tenchu does, but it still makes the game better to do so. I still haven't been able to master hanging the enemies.

Reading reviews for Red Ninja, this game doesn't get a lot of love at all. Everyone complains about the camera angles the most. Maybe I don't play enough 3D games, but I'm able to get over the camera and gameplay flaws. My only gripe is how difficult the bosses can be. Also, the bodies sometimes disappear after several minutes or so.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 1:49 pm

Hey, no one mentioned yet Ninja Hayate. Definitely a ninja game. A good one? Who knows, what I really was after was Time Gyaru

DarkWolf7 · Post by **DarkWolf7** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 2:21 pm

I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet:

Ninja Hattori-kun (Famicom)

Also,

Ninja H-games:

Kurumi-chan Ninja (PC-98)
Hagane no Oni - Kidouhohei vs Joninjagundan (Win OS)
Titi Ninja - Matenrou e Titibomber (Win OS)

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 10:39 pm

Cthulhu wrote:
ST Dragon wrote: Another great Ninja game that most people have forgoten about is "Tiger Road" by Capcom for the Arcades.
Also perfectly playable in MAME.
I like Tiger Road too - I played the hell out of the TG16 version - but it's not a a ninja game. The game takes place in China.

Yeah you're right, but the over all Eastern-Asian theme is very Ninja-like & You do fight some Ninjas if I recall right. (The Ninjas gliding down the waterfall on kites!)

The PCE version is very cool, but not a direct arcade port... rather a remake.
I haven't completed that yet.
Also availiable for he AMIGA.

Ninja Hayate is actually a Laser Disc game by TAITO 1984

http://www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/pages/nh.asp

Looks interesting & better than Space Ace & Dragon's Lair.
Must be a priceless collector's item by now.

Here are 3 more ninja games for the famicom:

Ninja Jajamaru - Ginga Daisakusen
Ninja Jajamaru Kun
Ninja Kun - Ashura no Shou

And for the SNES:

Hagane (Even though you're a Samurai Mecha thing...)
Also another Ninja game for the SNES that is overlooked is Shien The Blade Chaser (J) / Shien's Revenge (U). It plays like Crossed swords on the NEOGEO.

And here is a cool JPN site with a list of many Ninja games for various systems.
I don't recognize most of them though...

PCE:
http://www.syuriken.com/ninja_content/n ... es-pce.htm

Famicom:
http://www.syuriken.com/ninja_content/n ... mes-fc.htm

Super Famicom:
http://www.syuriken.com/ninja_content/n ... es-sfc.htm

Also I can't believe no one has mentioned:
First Samurai & Second Samurai for the AMIGA.
These are classics.