Compared to the eight bit era modern games often feel like simple ‘press A button to win’ affairs. Most of the time when you reached the end credits you had worked your butt off to get there. There’s a good reason why the term ‘NES hard’ is used to describe tough and often unfair video games. Among them one is often placed on a pedestal for being downright offensive. This is Ninja Gaiden by Tecmo. NG is often cited for being completely unfair and often makes adult gamers throw controllers across the room in fits of childish tantrum. As I recall this title was far too difficult for me and my friends to really get into, but I have fond memories of everything before the insane spike in challenge. This is one of the few highly reputed titles on the Nintendo Entertainment System that I haven’t yet completed, and I figured that since my skills have improved it might be worth another look. I like Ninja Gaiden, but some of the mechanics are too frustrating for their own good. This is one of the many unfair games in the classic console’s library.
For such an old game the developers did a surprisingly good job with the story. You play as a ninja named Ryu Hayabusa who, after hearing word of his father’s death at the hands of a rival warrior, sets out for America armed with his family’s legendary sword. Soon into his journey he is accosted by a mysterious woman, and is tasked with meeting an archaeologist deep within the jungles of South America. The story unfolds via a series of slightly animated sequences that are presented between each stage. These have dialogue and everything. This is one of my favorite aspects of the game; it was not a common feature in this time because of the hardware limitations and the developers did a great job regardless. At its core this is a side scrolling action platformer. Ryu by default can run, jump, and slash his sword but what really sets him apart from you run of the mill protagonist is the fact that he can cling to walls. Unfortunately he can’t scale them (unless they have ladders on them) but you can jump off of these vertical surfaces. Just about every stage will have you gaining ground by leaping back and forth between walls, and the developers came up with some pretty inventive uses for this skill. Unfortunately some of these are very frustrating.
Ryu has a few abilities that can be gained via power-ups, but they all consume ninpo scrolls that you pick up from fallen enemies or destroyed objects. The first of these abilities is a standard throwing star. Ryu is a ninja after all and this makes sense. Next up is a bigger star that actually circles back like a boomerang. My favorite of the bunch however is the fireball which shoots several projectiles diagonally upwards. Lastly is the jump and slash which replaces Ryu’s standard hops with one where he flips while swinging his sword. These are very useful, but for the most part I found myself saving up these powers for the boss encounters because the right ones can make short work of any of these strong opponents. You will also find other items which cannot be used as weapons but offer bonuses such as temporary invincibility and freezing all opponents. Ryu is equipped with a life bar that depletes with each hit he takes, and once it runs out you lose a life. These are also consumed when you fall down one of the many bottomless pits.
Level designs are where the primary frustrations come in to play. Unfortunately your major concern in most situations isn’t a depleted life bar; falling down the various cliffs is the far more common occurrence. Ninja Gaiden requires surprisingly intricate platforming in almost every single one of the levels. You had better familiarize yourself with the wall jump because you’ll be using that skill at every turn. Unfortunately Ninja Gaiden does suffer from a few issues. The first of these is that the platforming is made clunky by the fact that Ryu is knocked back each time he takes damage. This is a major concern because of the fact that many ledges are tiny and you must deal with flying enemies as well as those standing in the tiny area you’re supposed to jump to. While this is alleviated slightly by the fact that you can neutralize enemy fire by slashing at projectiles with your sword it’s still a major problem. The next problem is directly related to the first. Moving just slightly off-screen causes enemies to re-spawn. Sometimes if you’re standing in the wrong place they will simply re-appear endlessly. This makes the platforming nearly impossible in some sequences where you need to jump to a ledge that’s inhabited by a foe. It’s tough to tell for sure just how close to the edge of the screen they can be before it becomes a serious problem.
I’m not a big fan of Ninja Gaiden’s graphics to be honest. Unfortunately this isn’t a particularly colorful title which leads many of the environments to be a little drab. This is acceptable for the city stage, but later you’re deep in the jungle and even in a huge looming castle and it’s all just a little boring in my opinion. Everything is very poorly outlined here which gives the overall display a slightly blurry look. Some may like this, but I’m really not a fan. The animated sequences however look fantastic by NES standards. Sure, they’re mostly just still pictures, but they’re drawn with a lot of care and it’s rare to see a game on the console that actually features anime styled characters. Unfortunately Ninja Gaiden suffers from even more flicker than most titles on the platform. In some areas it’s a struggle to figure out where the enemies are amid the chaos and disappearing frames. I was surprised to discover that I’m not a very big fan of this soundtrack. While the music is all high energy, and suits the action well there’s nothing that was particularly memorable about it to me. If I’m being perfectly honest the audio is merely average in this case.
Ninja Gaiden has a bad reputation for being one of the most impossibly difficult titles released on the Nintendo Entertainment System. That is not completely unwarranted, but despite this it was able to garner a big cult following. Unfortunately I don’t have the nostalgia that everyone else does with this title. I found it to be just above average, but a far cry from the classic title it has been heralded as. It’s worth checking out, but in my opinion doesn’t stand up as well as other action titles such as Mega Man, Castlevania or Contra.
