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System:
NES
Genre:
Action
Publisher:
Tecmo
Developer:
Team Ninja
Players:
1
Release date/year:
12/09/1988
Other systems:
-
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- Ninja Gaiden
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1988 Team Ninja - Tecmo - NES
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One of the first in a long standing series, and in all honesty, probably one of the best, Ninja Gaiden brings home the action of a side scrolling ninja, but not in the same fashion that you might have played in the original arcade release. As a platforming game, you spend most of your time in a quest of revenge while traveling through several stages of enemy filled, precision timing madness! Undertaking the role of Ryu Hayabusa, you are looking to find the man who killed your father. Basically, you’ll find that the game really hasn’t changed in the way that a plot line and story is presented, but you will find a load of challenge and excitement as well as good old fashioned ninja slashing along the way. Being a single-player game, and falling well away from the arcade ‘beat-em up’ style that the arcade version featured, you’ll find that the change may be just a little to challenging if you’re completely faithful to the arcade series. However, regardless of the small facial changes that you’ll find here, there is still plenty to be said about the amount of game play that you’ll find within the NES Ninja Gaiden series, and it all starts here.
The game play is run and jump action with sword slashing and some elements of other side scrolling action games that include a life bar and several stages of ninja killing action. The game more or less resembles something of a different game, in which you’re not only limited to the standard hack and slash, but you’re able to jump and stick to walls! While this may be something that sounds pretty interesting, you’ll find that this skill is both a blessing and a curse, depending on the situation that you’re trapped in at the moment. In one instance, you’ll be able to jump to a wall, and then jump back and forth between them each time in order to gain a different height and platform. However, the downside to such a skill is that if you fall into one of those numerous pits {and you will, trust me}, you’ll find that sticking to the wall is more or less an avoidance of the inevitable suicide jump, simply because there is nothing to jump back up to. Continuing onward, you have six acts of mayhem that will take you to some pretty impressive places, all of which grow in challenge until you’re either using up a continue or you’re all out {depending on your skill level}. For hack and slash action games, the challenge really doesn’t get much higher than this, unless you’re looking towards the Mega Man games, and then you’re in a completely different focus.
Control in Ninja Gaiden is to a point that you need to understand the physics of what the NES controller is really capable of. When I say this, I mean that there are instances of what I call Ghost Control that take over in places you really don’t want it to, and it can cost you a couple of lives, or even a continue depending on just what part of the stage you’re on! Really, the only part of the game that has the worst part of this control is when you’re doing the most critical jumps. Because there is no way to really turn yourself in a jump, you may find that you’re jumping just shy of the platform, or even too far past it, ending up in a wall sticking situation where the only way out is your own death. Veterans of games that feature such twitchy control should have no problem getting adjusted to it after an hour of play, but beginners to the series and this game in particular might find it to be exceptionally challenging.
Visually, the game is captivating not only for the way that the stages and the characters are all laid out, but more in the way that the ‘cinematic’ cut scenes are shown off. To give Temco the credit that is due to them, the overall design and thought as well as intricate detail put into Ninja Gaiden was quite an accomplishment considering the hardware they had to work with! Using an 8-bit system that has very little in terms of any capabilities with intricacies is a rarity with NES games, and you’ll find that Ninja Gaiden has just enough in all categories to make the grade. Stage designs range with different environments that you’ll adventure through, but what may catch your eye above all else is the way that the enemy designs are presented. Even though you may see the same enemy a few times during the different stages with the color palette swapping, you’ll still find that the game has enough to throw down visually and keep it appealing all the way through from beginning to end.
Musically, the game sports some pretty impressive in-game music that really shines through in Act Three and Act Five. With the theme keeping the game at a steady pace, and not stepping the game feeling into break-neck speed, you’ll find that Ninja Gaiden has just enough to offer anyone of the action genre, and it’s done so in good fashion. One of the complaints that most people have apparently, is that the cut-scenes just don’t seem to fit, but if you listen close enough, it’s not meant to be epic, but more or less fill in the blanks between stages and you can’t complain on that, eh? Sound effect wise, you’ll find that the game has your usual assortment of action game sounds with swishes and thuds as well as an interesting sound when you fall of the screen, or die in general!
Ninja Gaiden is the first of three games on the Nintendo Entertainment System that has plenty to offer. While the most impressive of the three, Ninja Gaiden really has nothing to offer you after the first time through, and the only challenge that you’ll find in future playing is through trying to defeat the Acts without losing all of your lives. Visuals and audio in place, as well as that good game play make the only marring on the game the shoddy control that takes more practice than it’s worth to play through for hours at a stretch! However, if you’re into good action gaming series, then you’ll find that Ninja Gaiden is the perfect place to start and is a worthy addition to your NES library.
8/10
//KasketDarkfyre
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