Ninja Gaiden, released in Japan as and as Shadow Warriors in Europe, is a 1988 hack and slash platform game developed and published by Tecmo for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Its development and release coincided with the beat 'em up arcade version of the same name. It was released in December 1988 in Japan, in March 1989 in North America, and in August 1991 in Europe. It has been ported to several other platforms, including the PC Engine, the Super NES, and mobile phones.
Set in a retro-futuristic version of 1988, the story follows a ninja named Ryu Hayabusa as he journeys to America to avenge his murdered father. There, he learns that a person named "the Jaquio" plans to take control of the world by unleashing an ancient demon through the power contained in two statues. Featuring side-scrolling platform gameplay similar to Castlevania, players control Ryu through six "Acts" that comprise 20 levels; they encounter enemies that must be dispatched with Ryu's katana and other secondary weapons.
Ninja Gaiden has an elaborate story told through anime-like cinematic cutscenes. It received extensive coverage and won several awards from video gaming magazines, while criticism focused on its high difficulty, particularly in the later levels. Director Hideo Yoshizawa named Ninja Gaiden as his most commercially successful project, with over cartridges sold worldwide. The game continued to receive acclaim from print and online publications, being cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. It was novelized as part of the Worlds of Power game adaptations written by Seth Godin and Peter Lerangis. The game was followed by Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (1990) and Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (1991).
Plot In Japan, Ninja Ryu Hayabusa finds a letter by his father, Ken, who was seemingly killed in a duel by an unknown assailant. In the letter, Ken instructs his son to find an archeologist named Walter Smith in America.Ninja Gaiden. Ken Hayabusa: (In letter to Ryu) Ryu, I am on my way to a life or death duel. If it is my destiny that I not return, you are to take the Dragon sword of the Hayabusa family and go to America and see an archaeologist named Walter Smith. Ryu travels to the nation, but before he can find Dr. Smith, he is shot and kidnapped by a mysterious young woman; she hands him a demonic-looking statue before releasing him. Ryu then sees Walter, who tells him of the demon statues he and Ken had found in some ruins in the Amazon. Walter tells Ryu of an evil demon named Jashin that "SHINOBI" defeated, whose power was confined into "Light" and "Shadow" demon statues.Ninja Gaiden. Walter Smith: The demon came to this earth and caused many deaths. But then SHINOBI appeared to stop the demon.Ninja Gaiden. Walter Smith: So SHINOBI confined the evil power of the demon in two statues of 'LIGHT' and 'SHADOW'. ... and the body of the demon was confined in a temple. Ryu shows Walter the "Shadow" demon statue given to him by the woman, but during their conversation, a masked figure named Basaquer suddenly breaks into the cabin and steals the Shadow statue. Ryu gives chase, defeats Basaquer, and retrieves the statue, but when he returns, he finds Walter mortally wounded and the Light statue is missing. As Walter dies in his arms, three armed men apprehend Ryu and take him with them.
Ryu is taken to an interrogation room, where he meets agent Foster, head of the Special Auxiliary Unit of the Central Intelligence Agency who denies being responsible for Smith's death. He explains that years ago, a more-than-2000-year-old temple was discovered by Dr. Smith in the Amazon, of which he mysteriously sealed.Ninja Gaiden. Foster: In the upper reaches of the Amazon, some ancient ruins were discovered. It seems the temple was built more than 2000 years ago. The discoverer was Dr. Smith, who studied the ruins for some time. But one day, he suddenly sealed off the ruins. And ever since then no one has gone close. The Special Auxiliary Unit has been monitoring the activity of Guardia de Mieux, also known as "the Jaquio", who recently moved into the temple where the body of the demon was confined.Ninja Gaiden. Foster: However, a man moved in and took over the ruins. His name is Guardia de mieux. He calls himself the Jaquio. Using the statues, the Jaquio plans to awaken Jashin and use it to destroy the world.Ninja Gaiden. Foster: If someone brings the demon back to life, he will gain incredible power ... enough to control the entire world.
Ryu is flown to the north-west corner of Brazil, where he is dropped off in a parachute in the jungle near the temple. He discovers the Jaquio has captured the girl who handed him the "Shadow" statue earlier. He orders Ryu to give up the demon statue after threatening the girl's life, then drops Ryu through a trapdoor and into a catacomb. After fighting his way back to the top of the temple, Ryu encounters Bloody Malth, whom he defeats. As he is dying, Malth reveals that he was the one who dueled with Ken, who is still alive.Ninja Gaiden. Bloody Malth: Killed? It is true that we fought. But your father is alive. ... No, it is not a lie. If you proceed further, you will see him. But it will be the last thing you see.
When he reaches the temple's inner chambers, he discovers his father under Jaquio's control as the Masked Devil.Ninja Gaiden. Masked Devil: Your father was not killed. He was just turned into the Masked Devil. He destroys a crystal orb on the temple chamber wall that was controlling Ken and releases him from Jaquio's hold. An enraged Jaquio shows himself and tries to kill Ryu with a fiery projectile, but Ken throws himself in front of Ryu and takes the hit. Ryu subsequently kills Jaquio, but then a lunar eclipse causes the demon statues to revive Jashin.Ninja Gaiden. Ryu: Is it a lunar eclipse?! That must be it. That's what the 'black moon' meant ... After Ryu defeats the demon, a dying Ken tells Ryu to leave him behind in the temple while it collapses, and to take the young woman with him.Ninja Gaiden. Ken: Ryu, I haven't got much longer ... this temple is about to break apart. Take that woman and escape. Afterwards, Foster, communicating via satellite, orders the girl to kill Ryu and steal the demon statues;Ninja Gaiden. Foster: This is Foster. We detected the explosion from the satellite. Job well done. You are to kill Ryu Hayabusa. ... Then you are to steal the demon statues. she chooses to be with Ryu instead of carrying out the order. The two kiss, and the woman tells Ryu her name, Irene Lew; they watch as the sun rises.
Gameplay
Ninja Gaiden is a side-scrolling platform game in which the player takes control of the player-character, Ryu Hayabusa, and guides him through six "Acts" that comprise 20 levels.Instruction Manual, p. 11. A life meter represents Ryu's physical strength, which decreases when he is hit by an enemy or projectile. A "life" is lost when the life meter is depleted entirely, when Ryu falls off the screen, or when the timer runs out. A game over screen appears when all lives are lost;Instruction Manual, p. 7. however, the player may restart the level where this occurred by continuing.Instruction Manual, p. 12. At the end of every Act, the player fights a boss; bosses have life meters depleted by player attacks. When its life meter is depleted entirely, a boss is defeated. Each boss is one of the "Malice Four"—evil underlings of the Jaquio, the game's main antagonist. The Malice Four consist of Barbarian, Bomberhead, Basaquer, and their leader Bloody Malth.Instruction Manual, pp. 13–16.
Players attack enemies by thrusting at them with Ryu's Dragon Sword—a katana-like sword passed down by the Hayabusa clan for generations.Instruction Manual, pp. 5–6. They can also use secondary weapons that consume Ryu's "spiritual strength". These include throwing stars, "windmill throwing stars", which cut through enemies and return like boomerangs, a series of twirling fireballs named "the art of the fire wheel", and a mid-air slashing technique called the "jump & slash".Instruction Manual, pp. 8–10. When Ryu's spiritual strength meter is too low, the player cannot use secondary weapons. Players can replenish Ryu's spiritual strength by collecting red and blue "spiritual strength" items found in lamps and lanterns. Other items found along the way include hourglasses that freeze all enemies and projectiles for five seconds, bonus point containers, potions that restore six units of physical strength, "invincible fire wheels" that make Ryu temporarily invincible to attacks and 1-ups.
Ryu can jump on and off ladders and walls, and by using the directional pad, he can climb up or down ladders. Ryu can spring off walls by holding the directional pad in the opposite direction he is facing and pressing the jump button. He cannot attack while on walls or ladders. Players can use this technique to get Ryu to climb up spaces between walls and columns by holding down the jump button and alternating between left and right on the directional pad. He can also climb a single wall vertically by springing off it and then quickly pressing the directional pad back towards the wall.
Ninja Gaiden's highly responsive, fast-paced gameplay is achieved through the use of limited animation techniques that use fewer frames for animation. For example, the walk cycle animation only used four frames, while contemporary games like Prince of Persia required 12 frames.
Development Ninja Gaiden was developed and released around the same time as the beat 'em up arcade version of the same name; neither of the games were ports of each other but were parallel projects developed by different teams. According to developer Masato Kato (listed as "Runmaru" in the game's credits), the term "ninja" was gaining popularity in North America, prompting Tecmo to develop a ninja-related game for the NES at the same time the arcade version of Ninja Gaiden was being developed. Hideo Yoshizawa (listed as "Sakurazaki") developed and directed the NES version. Ninja Gaiden was Masato Kato's first full-time project as a video-game designer, and he contributed the game's graphics, animations and instruction-manual illustrations.
Drawing inspiration from the Mario series, Yoshizawa kept the same title but changed everything else; it became a platform game as opposed to a beat 'em up such as Double Dragon, and the gameplay was modeled after Konami's Castlevania,Kohler, pp. 219–220. with Ryu being equipped with a katana-like Dragon Sword, shurikens, and ninpo techniques such as fire wheels. In designing the protagonist Ryu Hayabusa, the development team wanted him to be unique from other ninjas. They designed him with a ninja vest to place emphasis on his muscles, and they furnished him with a cowl that arched outward. They originally wanted to equip Ryu with sensors and a helmet with an inside monitor to check his surroundings, but that idea was scrapped. According to Kato, they used specific locations and environments to justify the need for having a ninja for a main character. A further concern, according to Yoshizawa, was to appeal to the gameplay-oriented expectations of Ninja Gaidens target audience, mainly represented by experienced players who appreciated challenging game design. He recalled that during development, Tecmo adhered to "the philosophy that the user would throw a game away if it wasn't hard enough". As a result, Yoshizawa decided to give the game an overall high level of difficulty.