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The Lowdown
Pros: Excellent 2D action,
great graphical overhaul,
save feature, it has a story!
Cons: Poorly remixed sound effects, slowdown and flicker equal to the
Atari
Overall Score: 81
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The Ninja Gaiden series was
a staple part of any video gamer's diet back in the day. After the days of
the NES (besides two portable incarnations) Ninja Gaiden seemed to vanish
into the shadows. The only exception was a quietly released remix of the
first three games entitled Ninja Gaiden Trilogy, which came to birth due
to the enormous success of Super Mario All Stars. Sadly, Ninja Gaiden
Trilogy didn't receive the same welcome.For those of you that don't
know the Ninja Gaiden Trilogy stars a ninja named Ryu
Hayabusa. The gameplay is fairly standard 2D action scrolling. You
move from left to right slashing through one mindless drone to the next,
while collecting power ups along the way. Power ups include ninja stars,
fireballs, the famous" invincible flame wheel attack" and later on ninja
spirits. Each level has a boss at the end, which follows a basic pattern
that you can memorize after one or two plays. Even though everything
is standard operating procedure at the time the game had a fresh feel.
First of all it had ninjas, which are popular for the target video game
demographic. Second of all the game had a story, not just some slapdash
story, but a good story. The first game opens up with Ryu finding out that
his father may be killed so Ryu dons the family sword (entitled the Dragon
sword) and leaves on a quest for revenge. The story hooked gamers in, it
gave a purpose for wiping out the endless wave of on screen enemies. It
also gave a drive to beat the level, you wanted to find out what was going
to happen next. Mix this with the presentation of in game cut scenes (no
not like the ones from Final Fantasy VII, but they're still well done with
colorful graphics) and you've got a winner on your hands.The second
game continues the story with our hero Ryu being attacked in an alley. Ryu
has a new trick up his sleeve, he can now summon ninja spirits, which are
similar to gunpods in shooting games. The clones will copy Ryu's every
move and have a cool ghostly feel to them. The clones are also invincible
which leads to some interesting strategies. The third game ups the ante in
difficulty tremendously. Ryu also loses the power to make ninja spirits,
but gains the power to upgrade his sword. However, both of the sequels run
on the same game engine and have the same feel of the first game. What
made them stand out was the increasingly interesting storyline, improved
graphics, and challenge, but not new gameplay. Fast forward to the dawn of
the SNES and almost all games have stories no matter how inane (such as
Aero the Acrobat) or epic (Final Fantasy III/VI). This already presented a
problem for this game from the start. The next generation that played this
game didn't pay as much attention to the story and more to the derivative
gameplay. The game also suffers from severe slowdown. It progressively
increases from the first game to third game. Since the number of enemies
on the screen increase in each game. The slowdown seems almost unbearable
in some levels of Ninja Gaiden III. If you don't destroy every enemy on
screen there are times where it seems like the game crashes. This is an
extremely frustrating problem that should have been corrected for the
remake. One more qualm with the game is that the sound effects are awful.
They sound like they were lifted directly from the NES incarnations. The
sound also increases from the original Ninja Gadien to the third game,
which makes it seem like the first game got less of an upgrade compared to
the third game.Even with all of these problems Tecmo still made a few
smart moves. Most superficial is the eye candy. The game is much more
pleasing to look at compared to the blocky NES graphics. The enemies,
especially the bosses, had an organic mutated feel to them, which is done
so much better with the SNES's large color palette. Tecmo also added a
password feature for the three games, which is a luxury. In the past you
would have to beat the games in one sitting, but not in this version. The
music has also been remixed from beeps and bops to some almost MIDI
sounding audio. You also get three games in this one cart for the price of
one, which is a great deal in itself.
Tecmo tried to breathe life back into the Ninja Gaiden franchise, but
this wasn't the right way to do it. Older gamers who remember the old
Ninja Gaiden games would appreciate this game as an update to old
favorites, but since a lot of them own the old games they feel no need to
buy them for a second time. While, new gamers don't seem to understand the
place Ninja Gaiden has in video game history and would shrug Ninja Gaiden
Trilogy as another 2D platformer. Due to this dichotomy this game fell
through the cracks, even though it is a decent remake of classic games.
Hard to find?
You would be more likely to see all three NES Ninja Gaiden's in one
place than to find one of these lying around a video game story. Since
Tecmo didn't push this game not a lot of copies were made, which makes
this a hard find. Mint copies of this game sell for about $50 on eBay.
Overall
This is a great remake of some classic games. Old school gamers
will appreciate them, but younger gamers may not understand the appeal. To
some extent the game is also a bargain deal because you get all three
Ninja Gaidens in one cartridge with vivid graphics and a password feature.
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