Ninja Gaiden (NES) Playthrough

Published on Sat, Nov 18th 2023 Gaming Rectangular HD

A playthrough of Tecmo's 1989 action game for the NES, Ninja Gaiden.

Tecmo finally hit their stride in the North American NES market in early 1989 with the release of a pair of games that would go on to establish two of the biggest and most recognizable third-party names of the era – Tecmo Bowl (https://youtu.be/OhaqDiG61Mw) and Ninja Gaiden.

Ninja Gaiden (known as Shadow Warriors in PAL territories) was developed alongside the arcade title of the same name, though the games bear little resemblance to one another. Ninja Gaiden on the NES is an action-platformer, and when it first released, it was celebrated for its refined gameplay mechanics, high level of difficulty, excellent graphics and sound, and the cinematic presentation of its story.

The intro opens with a dramatic shot of an open field under a full moon. Two ninja break into a sprint and leap toward one another, blades drawn, and meet with a sharp metallic clang. As we watch one of the men slump to the ground in the distance, the narrator questions why his father had to die in such a way. In his father’s belongings, Ryu finds a letter telling him that he must bring the family's sword to an archaeologist in America. "I will get my revenge!"

What a way to kick off the adventure! That iconic sequence served as a striking introduction to the “Tecmo Theater Cinema Display," a collection of techniques used to create the plot driving cutscenes, and the game makes heavy use of this innovation throughout. These lengthy sequences bookend each of Ninja Gaiden's six acts, and they place the story at the forefront more than any other game had so far on the NES. They make up roughly half the game's playtime, and their novelty and the quality of the art and storytelling will keep you on the edge of your seat, pushing you to keep going in order to see what happens next.

Ninja Gaiden isn't all flash, though. The mechanics and controls stand with the best action games on the NES, and the first half does a nice job of easing you into the action. The game is an absolute blast to play, but be warned: Ninja Gaiden‘s reputation as one of the hardest NES games is well deserved.

The gloves come off when you hit Act V. Enemies relentlessly flood the screen, endlessly respawn, and constantly attempt to knock you back into bottomless pits. It takes some real dedication to get through the final areas, even with unlimited continues. It's especially cruel the way it sends you all the way back to stage 6-1 if you die during the final boss rush. I raged so hard at that as a kid, but I had such a feeling of accomplishment when I beat it for the first time!

Ninja Gaiden was an excellent game that set a new high bar for presentation and storytelling in the 8-bit era, and it was one of the NES library's defining classics. I love it.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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