Ninja Master's: Haō Ninpō Chō
| Ninja Master's: Haō Ninpō Chō | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | ADK |
| Publisher(s) | SNK |
| Platform(s) | Arcade (MVS), Neo Geo, Neo-Geo CD, PlayStation 2, Neo-Geo X |
| Release date(s) | 1996 June 28 |
| Genre(s) | 2D weapon-based versus fighting |
| Mode(s) | Up to 2 players simultaneously |
| Cabinet | Upright |
| Display | Raster, 320 x 224 pixels (Horizontal), 4096 colors |
Ninja Master's: Haō Ninpō Chō (ニンジャマスターズ ～覇王忍法帳～ roughly translated as "Ninja Master's Scrolls of the Supreme Ninja Arts") is a ninja-themed competitive fighting game produced by ADK originally released in 1996 for the Neo Geo arcade and home platform.
Ninja Master's was the sixth and final fighting game produced by ADK, following the four games in the World Heroes series and Aggressors of Dark Kombat. It was later featured in the 2008 compilation ADK Tamashii for the PlayStation 2. On December 6, 2012, Ninja Master's was also released on the Neo-Geo X handheld system.
Gameplay
Ninja Master's follows the conventions of many previous 2D fighting games released for the Neo-Geo. The player must defeat their opponent in combat in a series of best-two-out-of-three matches. Characters can change between using the character's weapon or fight hand-to-hand during the middle of combat. Like the Art of Fighting series, Ninja Master's features a super meter.
Characters
- Houoh (voiced by Yoshikatsu Fujio) - a skilled exorcist who is unsure of his own powers.
- Goemon (voiced by T. Mukaiyama) - a ninja thief whose goal is to collect the largest treasures in Japan.
- Kamui (voiced by Masahiko Yano) - the rival to Sasuke. An old acquaintance of Sasuke's, Kamui hopes to destroy him after Sasuke has forsaken the clan.
- Karasu (voiced by Kouichi Koba) - a serial killer and bodyguard who is obsessed with ravens (Karasu means "Raven" in Japanese).
- Kasumi (voiced by Masami Katō) - a ninja apprentice whose grandmother prevents her from going after Nobunaga.
- Natsume (voiced by Mayumi Minoda) - an orphan who, after having a nightmare, strives to kill Nobunaga.
- Nobunaga (voiced by Masao Harada) - the final boss of the game. A tyrant brainwashed by the demon known as Haoh, Nobunaga sets out to conquer the world.
- Raiga (voiced by Masahiro Yano) - a renowned bounty hunter whose mission is to defeat Goemon.
- Ranmaru (voiced by Yasue Ishi) - the sub-boss of the game. An immortal and loyal servant to Nobunaga, Ranmaru attempts to vanquish Haoh, who possesses Nobunaga.
- Sarutobi Sasuke (voiced by Kabao Kikkawa) - the main character of the game. A ninja expert and betrayer of his own ninja clan who seeks to avenge his father's death.
- Tenho (voiced by Shinobu Sekimoto) - an old Japanese man who was abandoned in Korea at birth.
- Unzen (voiced by Masahiko Yano) - a former monk in search of the best aspect of life.
Like various ADK games, SNK Playmore also revived characters from this game in their last releases. In this case, Sasuke (the main character of this game) appears as an SNK character card in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS.
Reception
The playing style of Ninja Master's is similar to the Samurai Shodown series, but the player can also take out or put away his or her character's weapon at any time. It's an interesting addition because the characters' moves are different depending on whether they're barehanded or armed. But this concept is not fully executed, and the result is a fairly good fighter that could've been a lot more.[1]