4 Bite-Sized Ninja NES Game Reviews

Facts:

1.    Ninjas are mammals.
2.    Ninjas fight ALL the time.
3.    The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.

A worldwide ninja mania was in full-swing throughout the 1980’s. The pajama wearing assassins took pop culture by storm, riding in on a tsunami of movies, books/magazines, cartoons, and video games. You could buy mail-order throwing stars from the back of comic books to harass your family and friends with! It was a glorious time to be alive. This fever held onto children the world over like a kung-fu death grip, and wouldn’t let go until, like, Pogs got popular or something.

Alongside ninjas, it doesn’t get much more 80’s than the Nintendo Entertainment System. As such, there were more than a few ninja-related games to choose from on that nostalgic gray box. This is far from all of them; just a mere four I’ve finished to date. Let’s check ’em out!

Kid Niki: Radical Ninja (Data East, 1987)

RADICAL! There were three Kid Niki games released for the Japanese Famicom, but the US of A only got this one. While it’s probably the least impressive of the three, it’s still good fun on its own merits. As the titular Kid Niki, players must run to the right and hit stuff. A single hit is all it takes to kill ol’ Niki, but the trade-off is that this game isn’t all that long; an experienced player can guide the Kid to the end in about 20 minutes. Apparently his weapon is a “spinning sword,” but I always thought it was like, a tatami floor panel that he uses to flip people onto their backs? I think you’d have to see it in motion to get what I mean. Regardless, Kid Niki is very simple and arcade-y gameplay-wise, but sometimes it’s nice to just play a bare bones “run ‘n’ jump” of game. Also, you just gotta love the hokey 80’s Americanization Kid Niki‘s got going for it. ATTA BOY!

Ninja Gaiden (Tecmo, 1988)

Ninja Gaiden is the most (in)famous and beloved ninja game on the NES, and for good reason; it’s amazingly, incredibly, unbelievably good. It’s also amazingly, incredibly, unbelievably hard. The music is some of the best on the system, the controls and level design deserve the endless praise they’ve received over the years, and the anime-like cutscenes between levels were unlike anything else at the time. Though Ninja Gaiden came out in 1988, it was way ahead of its time and set a precedent for all action games that came afterwards. Ninja maniacs eat it up with a spoon, and I do, too. Ninja Gaiden is one of my top favourite games on the NES!

It’s hard though. I know I’ve already said it’s hard, but unless you’ve played it for yourself there’s no way of describing its difficulty. The first five stages are tricky, but very doable with patience and practice. The sixth stage is so eye-wateringly, controller-shatteringly difficult that it’s gatekept countless people from completing this game for decades. If you can beat Ninja Gaiden 100% legitimately, Ryu Hayabusa breaks into your room to personally hand you your Official Ninja License. Then he holds a kunai knife to your throat and tries to kill you to see if you’re truly worthy of said license. This literally happened to me four years ago. Anyway, Ninja Gaiden slaps and you owe it to yourself to try it out if you like video games, but I won’t judge anyone who chooses to stop once they clear the fifth level. As long as you’re having fun, that’s all that matters, dude.

Shadow of the Ninja (Natsume, 1990)

Shadow of the Ninja is a criminally underrated NES gem where you play as a ninja – simple as that. Multiple weapons ranging from projectiles to chains, downright kickass music, and some smart level design with just the right amount of difficulty make this one a stand-out on the system. One can’t help but feel like Shadow took a lot of inspiration from Ninja Gaiden in the way your character gets around the world, but interestingly, it feels more like a blend of Mega Man and Castlevania in its level design.

Rather than relying on the unforgiving enemy placements that made Ninja Gaiden so famous, Shadow‘s levels are designed very meticulously, and it’s up to you not to get caught in the developer’s traps. The slick graphics, tight controls, and tough difficulty make it hard to put down. This is also one of the more accessible NES games in terms of availability, since it’s included on the Nintendo Switch’s NES Online, AND it’s receiving a great looking remake in the near future. Check it out!

Ninja Kid (Bandai, 1986)

The Famicom version of the arcade-like Ninja Kid was based on the decades spanning Gegege no Kitaro anime/manga franchise. One of the charm points of the Kitaro series is the long list of unsettling Japanese demons – or Yokai – that inhabit its world. Naturally, that license was stripped away in North America…but what makes Ninja Kid interesting is, even though the main character’s been changed to a non-descript ninja, it retained all of the freaky Yokai from Kitaro. As such, the enemy design was downright fascinating; until the very end of the game, new and bizarre creatures pop out from every direction trying to kill you.

Of course, Ninja Kid has a bit more than cool graphics going for it – the game’s setup is plenty interesting. Levels are chosen at random, from a variety of 4 different game modes. Once you manage to complete a level, two doors open in front of you. One safely leads back to the world map, while the other forces you to defeat a big, ugly demon in an impromptu boss fight. The tension of each levels’ end really keeps you on your toes, and it’s something I thoroughly enjoyed. Ninja Kid is the strangest game on this list, as well as the hardest to recommend – call it an acquired taste. But if you’re the kind of person who can appreciate a downright bizarre 80’s game, you’ll find something to like here.

Aaand that’s enough ninja nonsense for one post. As I complete more ninja related NES games (as there are quite a few), I’ll update this list. How long will it take to finish them all? Only time will tell…but until then, you can find me trying not to make a sound in my black pajamas and slippers. Silent but deadly.