Ninja Gaiden |
Sega Master System |
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Review by Rob "Dire 51" |
Sega/Tecmo |
Platform |
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Graphics: 7 |
Sound: 8 |
Gameplay: 9 |
Overall: 8 |
After that, U.S. Ninja Gaiden fans went hungry, not knowing that overseas, there were several NG titles that never made it here. NG games were released for the Sega Mega Drive, the PC Engine - and the Sega Master System. It's the last one I want to talk about here. Had the SMS not died in the U.S. in the early '90s, there's a chance (a slim chance) that this version would have made it to our shores. Of course it didn't - and we missed out on a pretty damned good game. Ninja Gaiden is an all new adventure - no ports or conversions here. Ryu Hayabusa has returned home to Japan, only to find that his village has been destroyed, and an artifact called the Bushido had been stolen. The Bushido, according to the game, is "an Ancient Scroll that has been handed down through generations of Dragon Ninjas. This document contains secrets about ways to summon the powers of this world. According to Ryu's ancestors whoever summoned these powers could even conquer the world." Ryu is then confronted by a sumo wrestler and a group of thugs who tell him that they destroyed the village, and are surprised to find a survivor. Ryu, of course, takes the Dragon Sword in hand and sets off to get some answers. From that point, the story is filled with your typical Ninja Gaiden twists and turns. Among them, Ryu is asked to save a samurai's daughter, and of course eventually finds out who's behind the theft of the Bushido. No, it's not Jaquio or Ashtar (or even Clancy, for that matter) - it's a new villian by the name of the Shogun of Darkness, who is trying to use unlock the powers of the Bushido to rule the world. Naturally, Ryu is the only one that can stop him.
Thankfully Sega spent time on what really counts - the actual gameplay. The control is spot-on, which is unusual for an SMS action game. The action is fast, and quite reminiscent of the NES games. The way the controls are set up is identical to the NES games, so if you're familiar with them, you'll feel right at home here. One button jumps, one button attacks, and pressing up and attack uses the special weapon if you have one. There are some gameplay changes, however... since The Ninja Gaiden Homepage has described them pretty accurately, I'm just going to quote what Deuce wrote there here:
One other thing Ninja Gaiden has in common with the other games in the series is its difficulty - it's really challenging. While it's not quite as challenging as any of the NES titles, it still puts up quite a fight. Even those annoying swooping birds from the NES games return, and they've even harder to knock out this time around. You'll spend time cursing at some of the areas in the game. Veteran Ninja Gaiden players shouldn't have too much of a problem with it, though. The question remains, though - is the game worth tracking down? I'd have to say yes. It's an extremely fun game and it's much better than a lot of the Ninja Gaiden games that have been released in the past - in fact, I'd go as far as to say that's it's better than Ninja Gaiden III, which is the worst of the three NES games. Ninja Gaiden fans and action game fans alike will find a lot to like about Ninja Gaiden, as long as they can live with the ugly graphics. |