We dissect the ninja videogames of the 1980s…
This article comes fromDen of Geek UK.
First, thanks toLunar Jetman, I wanted to be an astronaut.
I saved my pocket money and slavishly bought everything I could.
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This game is part of the subgenre I like to call Ninja Leisure Time.
Here we find that when theyre not busy ninjing people to death, theyre BMXing and pulling gnarly tricks.
This isnt a huge challenge.
Which just makes this game all kinds of oh dear.
I wonder why that is, eh?
The instructions say you could Whizz through the night on your dream scooter and pull some rad Ninja stunts!
adding youve got to beat the clock to beat the rest so dont hang around!
and the assertion that Ninja Scooters the best!
In reality, this budget game was clearly programmed as something different and renamed before release.
If you take the word ninja out of those sentences, you lose nothing relevant.
However, this does gain some points for weirdness.
And they were right.
Kind of a terrible game but also a guilty pleasure.
And that cover artwork?
It also couldnt justify its (for the time) whopping price tag of 7.99…
The instruction booklet is shall we say?
The introductory screen explains everything : Rampant ninja related crimes these days… Whitehouse is not the exception… Are you a bad enough dude?
asks the Secret Service Agent at the start, with appropriately professional parlance.
At the end of each level, Blade and Striker turn to you and yell Im bad!
Lets go for a BURGER!
HA HA HA HA!
Its split into four training levels that are probably closer toDaley Thompsons Decathlonthan they are toKung Fu Master.
This is a little bitDuck Hunt, a little bitMissile Commandand, anti-climactically, probably the easiest level.
If Im honest, it is a little too scrappily made to fully succeed.
Which lets face it, beats the crap out of real school.
However, this frustration and those ARGH, I NEARLY DID IT!
moments along with the groovy east Asian exoticism kept me going back to this as a kid.
Well, I like you,Kai Temple.
I like you a lot.
then smash cuts to a ninja running onto a golf course, club in hand…
Beyond the incredible premise,Ninja Golfjust keeps offering up surprises.
Shadow Warriorsfrom Ocean Software was the European retitling of the firstNinja Gaidengame and its a beautiful thing.
Its up to you, the last in a line of legendary combatants, to save the city.
Dodgy premise aside,Shadow Warriorsis a very well-rendered beat-em-up game.
and a pervading atmosphere of violence and of that gritty, urban feeling that evokes early 80s New York.
So yeah, aesthetically, this is probably the best game of its era.
But where it falls down is that its almost unplayable.
Its really not an easy ride though.
The pace is so relentless that its almost impossible to come away from aShinobisession without sweat marks.
But, of course, what made me love this as a kid was the unprecedented violence levels.
The story follows Armakuni who is the last of a long line of ninjas.
What happened to the rest of his clan?
Destroyed, Im afraid, by the dread shogun Kunitoki.
at you and your ninja suit starts rapidly changing colors.
What were those idols coated with anyway?
and, thanks to an amiable difficulty level, its oddly zen to play.
Detractors argue its too easy but thats not always a bad thing as long as youre still enjoying yourself.
And I spent many, many happy hours with this one.
Every move you make has to be perfect.
The design of the warehouse is gorgeous, feeling like it was built by a brutalist Cold War M.C.
Many rooms have no point to them.
), the Avenging Angel, who has the honor of being the first ever female ninja game protagonist.
Its also every bit as playable and exciting as the original.
I mean, the whole plot revolves around a floppy disk.
You cant get more 80s than that.
If you want more ninjing, follow Craigs blogNinjas All The Way Down.
