Defunct Games vs. Ninja Gaiden

Despite the title, Ninja Gaiden Shadow is not actually a Ninja Gaiden game. That's right, it is essentially a licensed edit of Shadow of the Ninja, a rather spectacular 8-bit NES game from Natsume. Tecmo did alter the game in a few ways to make this feel more like a Ninja Gaiden game, but it's painfully clear from the start that Ninja Gaiden Shadow just doesn't fit in with the rest of the franchise. On its own it's a fine game; it's just not a true Ninja Gaiden game. Oddly enough this non-Ninja Gaiden game featured the exact same cover as the NES game. Tecmo couldn't even be bothered to draw new artwork? Talk about being lazy.

Are you one of those people who loved the name "Ninja Gaiden" but always wished it played more like Sega's 1987 Shinobi? Well, you're in luck because for some odd reason Sega (under license from Tecmo) developed this portable Ninja Gaiden game that is basically just a reskinned version of Shinobi. Not that there's anything wrong with Shinobi (it was a solid action game that ended up spawning one of the greatest game sequels of all time), but nobody was looking for the great Ninja Gaiden to be turned into a linear 2D walkathon. Couple this new direction with sluggish controls, characters that are entirely too large for the screen and a complete lack of original levels and you have a portable disaster. I guess this proves once and for all that it's a good thing Sega wasn't the company in charge of making Ninja Gaiden popular.

This 8-bit Ninja Gaiden game was Sega's second attempt to get the series right, and for the most part they did a good job. Perhaps it's because I'm comparing it to the dismal Game Gear game, but I would dare to say that this Master System game is actually worth looking into. Like the NES games, this is a 2D platformer with a little (very little) story thrown in. Basically this is a Ninja Gaiden game that cuts to the chase, which is definitely a good thing. Unfortunately there are a few minor problems that keep this game from being on the same level as the first two 8-bit Ninja Gaiden games. For one thing, the bosses are terrible, they are small and pathetic. Sega really could have done so much more with these encounters. But that's easy enough to get over because the game itself is so much fun. If you're a fan of the original NES trilogy then you need to check out this weird side quest. Let's hope that Nintendo (or Sega) decides to upload this game to the Virtual Console, because this is one of the best 2D action games on the Sega Master System.

Sometimes Atari can be very confusing. Given that the original Ninja Gaiden game on the Lynx was based on the arcade game, you might think that this is more of a sequel to that. But no, Ninja Gaiden III is a port of the 8-bit NES game. And to make things even more curious, there never actually was a Ninja Gaiden II on the Lynx, so it went from a port of the arcade game to the third installment of an NES game. I have no idea what Tecmo was thinking. I know it's a bunch of years later, but if they were going to port any NES game it should have been the original Ninja Gaiden or Ninja Gaiden II. At least give us one of the good Ninja Gaiden games. But no, we get this disappointing third installment. The worst part is that this version doesn't even play well; it's sluggish and even harder than the NES version. This game is only for collectors, and even they should probably avoid this train wreck.

You would think that this Super NES compilation would be a must-own. Not only does it feature all three 8-bit Ninja Gaiden games, but gave each title a face-lift, remixed music and improved cut-scenes. They also tweaked the difficulty a bit and offered unlimited continues. So what's the problem? For some odd reason none of these remakes feel quite right. Some of the new graphics are weird, there are a few censorship problems and the game suffers from a fair amount of slowdown. This may have seemed like a deal at the time, but these days you are better off just going back and playing the first three Ninja Gaiden games the way they were meant to be played.