Ninja Gaiden: Did Someone Say Ninjas?
Written: Feb 27 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: great story and cutscenes, the gameplay is fine tuned, great pace and level design
Cons: gameplay graphics are a little rough, the game is hard!, level themes don't always fit
The Bottom Line: Tecmo had something great when it released Ninja Gaiden.
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| kjell1979's Full Review: Ninja Gaiden for Nintendo |
The World Of Tecmo
The late 80's to early 90's was a golden age for Tecmo. They had their popular Tecmo Bowl franchise that captivated many gamers. Their other franchise that carried them was the Ninja Gaiden series. These games were just as common as the gold Zelda cartridges and Mike Tyson's Punchout games. Tecmo built its reputation as a name that you could trust back then, unlike THQ or Tengen. The game's success was built on a compelling story complete with great looking cutscenes, fine tuned gameplay, and challenging levels. The original Ninja Gaiden was so successful it spawned two more sequels for the NES and one each for the Gameboy and Gamegear respectively.
What Is Ninja Gaiden?
You are Ryu Hayabusa, the son of the great dualist Ken Hayabusa. The opening scene depicts two ninjas jumping into the air and clashing. As they land, one of them falls. That man was Ryu's father. Ken also left behind a note telling of his pessimism for returning alive from the duel and tells Ryu to seek an archaeologist named Walter Smith. He also leaves Ryu his famous dragon sword. Revenge is what's on Ryu's mind as he sets off on his quest to avenge his father.
Ninja Gaiden is a side scrolling platformer for the 8-bit Nintendo (NES). You can run, jump and attack enemies with your dragon sword. You can stick to walls, jump off of them, and climb ladders. Your sword is your primary weapon. It has a limited range, but can dispense with most enemies with one swipe. You can use your sword even when jumping to attack enemies in one direction. You can die in one of 3 ways. If you fall into a pit, your health meter runs out, or if the level timer runs out then that’s it for you. However, you really don’t need to worry about the timer since you have to run fast to get through many parts. Dawdling will only get you killed in most situations.
Your sword isn't the only weapon in your arsenal. There are 5 different powerups you can obtain as you play the game. These powerups are obtained by slicing open certain powerup containers that are generously placed throughout the level. There are small throwing stars that are projectiles that fly straight forward to the edge of the screen. There are large throwing stars that come back at you like boomerangs. There is the art of the firewheel that fires a stream of fire in a 45 degree angle upwards. There is a regular firewheel that makes you invincible for 8 seconds. Finally, there's a windmill slash that allows you to attack with your sword in all directions when you jump. All but the regular firewheel require ninja points to use. You can obtain ninja points from jars located in the powerup containers. The blue jars contain 5 ninja points, which is also the same amount as the cost for most of the powerups (the exception is the small throwing star, which takes 3). The red jars contain 10. The powerup containers could hide other items as well. There are blue and red moneybags that add to your point total. There's an hourglass that freezes enemies for about 5 seconds. There's a thin jar that restores some of your life. Finally, there's a picture of you that gives you an extra life.
The enemies in the game are your primary obstacle to obtaining your goal. There are many different types of enemies in the game. This variety is not as good as advertised because a good handful of enemies do exactly the same thing. They are slow moving targets with different sprites for different areas. However, the people at Tecmo were creative with these guys and place them in areas where you have to use all your video gaming skills to get by them without getting knocked into a pit. Beyond this type of enemies, the others do offer more variety and skill. One enemy throws knives at you. Another hurls flaming sticks at you. There is a bird that homes in on you and can knock off 3 bars of life. There are also three different types of military fatigued men. One runs at you, another fires a bazooka, and the other fires a machine gun. As you get further in the game you'll see many of the same types of enemies only placed in more challenging locations. Overall the enemies, while not designed as well as they could have were enhanced due to their placement in the level. The bosses are another story. At the end of each act (a set of 2 levels), there is a boss. The earlier bosses provide very little challenge and rarely force you to use very many skills to defeat it. However as you advance through the game they become harder and harder to the point where the final boss is next to impossible. The bosses have a life meter the same size as you. While you'll never need your special abilities during a boss fight, many times they come in handy and can make the job much easier.
The level design is pretty good with one exception. As discussed before, the levels start out pretty easy, but become progressively difficult due to more skilled jumps combined with well-placed enemies. Powerup containers are also carefully placed to force you to work to reach the better powerups for an upcoming situation. Each level follows a theme. While these themes look great on their own, they don't really fit much into the storyline. For instance in one level you start out jumping along platforms on a tropical river, and the next scene you're on a snowy mountain pass. This is without a boss fight or cutscene to provide transition. It seems as if the people at Tecmo just wanted to have certain themes in their levels without regard to the story. This is more integrated as you advance throughout the story. However, being more pronounced in the beginning makes the disparity an almost comical.
The flow of the game is fast. In many instances you're forced to run throughout the entire level and make quick decisions on the fly. You're never thinking more than you're just reacting in many situations. As you progress further, you still have to work quick, but you also have to adjust your earlier habits as certain tactics will no longer work and in many instances kill you instantly. The game does a good job to keep on tweaking this as you move along. The flow of the game is always quick and frantic from the very beginning. So many times, especially in the NES days, you can go through a game simply by taking your time and thinking your way though. Ninja Gaiden changed that, instead forcing you to think quickly and react like a quarterback in a collapsing pocket.
Since this is a sidescroller, you can scroll enemies. At first this seems to be a significant bug, because you can scroll enemies that are coming up simply by backtracking a few steps. However, after thinking about it some more, I think it has become a part of the strategy of the game. If you try to scroll all your enemies, you'd probably run out of time. Besides, many enemies appear when you're forced to go into a jump. It just is part of the lore of old Nintendo games.
Graphics and Sound
The graphics on the whole are good. The character and enemy sprites are not as good as many Nintendo games. Ryu looks like an elf when he's attached to a wall and many enemies look grainy and just bland all the way around. The foreground sprites can be good in areas, but not in others. The background sprites are consistently good. The cutscenes on the other hand are spectacular. While the NES hardware cannot support full motion video like modern consoles, it does a great job nonetheless. The duel scene in the beginning drags you in and as the story advances, the cutscenes just get more and more amazing and captivating.
The sound is also top notch. While many in game sounds are recycled, they do have a great quality to them. While they are not epic like that of the old Mario, Zelda, or Punchout games, they do fit in well with the action. The music does a tremendous job of providing a theme to the action. The music is always fast paced and gives an anxious mood the game. These themes are well composed because while they are repetitive, they take a long time to get on your nerves. This is made even more important when you consider that you might be stuck on one level for about 45 minutes or so.
Controls and Challenge
The controls, while well structured, aren't as precise as they could be. Jumping is done with the A button and attacking with your sword is done with the press of the B button. The start button pauses the game and the select button is not used. Pressing up and the B button at the same time uses your special abilities. This is a great structure that utilizes as many buttons as it needs, no more no less. However, the responsiveness of these controls isn’t all that great. Controlling your jumps in particular isn't all that responsive and intuitive. Attaching to walls can be stickier and cumbersome at times. This rears its ugly head later on when you're required to use all your skills to get by certain areas. The controls don't help that and can lead to many thrown controllers.
The challenge in this game is incredible. While I give Tecmo credit for leveling the learning curve as much as it can, the sheer challenge of this game is too great for many gaming veterans. This is a shame because some of the best twists and turns of the story come towards the end, where many people may never see them. I think this hurts the game to this extent while helps it in that it makes you strive more. The game is very forgiving in that when you die you go back to the beginning of your current section of the stage rather than the beginning of the whole stage. Also when all your lives run out, you go back to the beginning of the stage rather than the whole act. Finally unlimited continues help to ease the pain of the difficulty of the later levels. Overall it's just more daunting than most games you'll come across. However, I wouldn't criticize its difficulty as much as a game like Battletoads.
Replay and Value
The replay value of this game isn't very good. Once you beat the game, you'll probably want to put it down for a while. The fine tuned gameplay will keep you interested throughout the more frustrating moments. Also the forgiving nature of this game will also help to add hours to your interest level. However, it's the game's challenge that adds the most to the replay value. The learning curve will keep people interested while providing incentive to keep playing to try and finish the game. People who are skilled enough to beat it will probably put it down, but they'll feel a better sense of accomplishment than most games. Therefore someone might be more apt to picking it up again in another year.
I would value this game at $5. For people who aren't skilled at platformers, I wouldn't get this at all. However, this game is really engaging and can provide hours of entertainment for many gamers. I found myself playing it for about an hour at my local Gamestop before I realized I was late for another appointment. While it has its weak points, that doesn't mean that it's not a classic.
Recommended:
Yes
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kjell1979
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Location: Oxford, Mass
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