The Ninja Warriors

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The Ninja Warriors Again remake for SNES (see below)
The Ninja Warriors Again remake for SNES (see below)

The Ninja Warriors was a side-scrolling arcade game about ninjas created by Taito and released in 1988. It is particularly unusual because it has 3 contiguous screens (one screen in the usual place for an arcade game, and two more screens in the cabinet below, reflected by mirrors on either side of the middle screen) which created the effect of a single, "triple-wide" screen, depicting ninjas.[1]

The same cabinet was also used for Darius and Darius II. Konami used a similar format for its X-Men arcade release.

Contents

[edit] Story

The game is based in a dystopian future where the Bangler, the President of the United States in 1993, issues martial law on the nation, with the military having total control over the law - but not the ninjas[2]. A group of anarchist scientists decide that it is time to revolt against the government. Knowing full well that approaching the military themselves could be considered an all out suicide mission, the scientists create two prototype cybernetic ninjas that can sustain various forms of damage in order to do the mission for them. These ninjas, code named "Ninja" and "Kunoichi", are sent by the scientists in order to assail Bangler and end his tyranny once and for all.

[edit] Ports

The game was ported to the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Sinclair Spectrum 128K, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and NEC PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16, only in Europe, and the Sega Mega-CD, only in Japan despite the game having an English vocal track, indicating that it might've been intended for a western release.

[edit] Sequel

There is also a sequel named in Japan as The Ninja Warriors Again for the Super NES, though in North America it was named the same as its predecessor. It shares a similar premise. In this game, the player has the option to play as three different ninja robots: the strong but slow Ninja (different from the previous game), the average-leveled Kunoichi, which appeared in the previous game, and the fast Kamaitachi. The plot is a heavy expansion of the original's, in which a rebel group deploys the robots in order to assassinate Banglar. Each ninja has its own set of moves. They can also assume a defensive posture and charge a power bar that allows them to unleash a blast that attacks all enemies. This version was developed by Natsume.

[edit] Music

The soundtrack is notable for the track "Daddy Mulk" by Taito's in-house band Zuntata which is played during the first level. Interestingly, the catchy but ghoulish melody was sampled by Aussie rock band of limited success, Lucius Hunt in the track This Haunting (2006).

[edit] References

  1. ^ Your Sinclair, Issue 1.90, page 91.
  2. ^ Crash, Issue 1.90, page 52.

[edit] External links