this modern-day super ninja takes on the
most challenging missions leaving
nothing but dismembered limbs in his
wake
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
take a look back at the Ninja Gaiden
franchise this iconic beat-em-up series
originally known as legend of the ninja
Dragon Sword in Japan made its North
American arcade debut in 1988 developed
by Tecmo ninja gaiden literally
translated as ninja side-story was once
a simple Double Dragon inspired
beat-em-up in its first installment
players were introduced to Ryo Hayabusa
a blue clad ninja on a quest across
America to defeat an evil cult fighting
with his bare hands
Ryu was able to perform backflips and
flying neck throws he was even able to
gain power-ups like the use of the sort
by breaking background objects taking
place in five different environments the
arcade game
similarly featured only five types of
enemies despite its limited variety the
romp left its mark on gamers with its
intense difficulty and an infamous
continue screen that featured a tied-up
ryu being tortured with a circular saw
the next year the ninja returned to
kick-start his NES trilogy the first
game simply titled ninja gaiden had the
super ninja find a letter from his
father who had gone missing asked to
journey to America to meet an
archeologist he soon discovered that a
cult had begun seeking out two hidden
statues these had the power to revive an
ancient demon and end the world it was
this console-based entry that first
introduced many of the series is iconic
staples these included its type action
platformer gameplay boomerang like
shuriken use of magical ninja arts
catchy music and cinematic cutscenes an
instant hit Ryu returned the next year
in ninja gaiden to the dark sword of
chaos here he had to stop the Emperor of
chaos who had captured a CIA agent and
taken control of a powerful blade forged
from the bone of the demon the trilogy
quickly concluded with 1991 the ninja
gaiden 3 the ancient ship of doom the
most difficult of the series players
found themselves much weaker than in
earlier games they were also forced to
follow a convoluted story centered on a
warship a race of energy infused super
mutants an interdimensional rift genetic
engineering and secret rogue agents in
1995 the trilogy was re-released for
SNES in one game cartridge and included
such improvements as the use of
passwords and better cinematics as well
as retouched graphics and soundtrack the
third game was also given a much more
reasonable difficulty level afterwards
the series received several ports for
other systems including Sega’s Genesis
and Game Gear it even received a Game
Boy exclusive spin-off entitled ninja
gaiden shadow which was set before the
events of the other games and had
players saved New York from the forces
of an emperor that served a demon
astonishingly the franchise then laid
dormant until 2004 when it was revived
for the Xbox by developer team ninja
this game served as yet another prequel
and had the hero dawn and new armored
suit use an all-new combat system and
take on devilish puzzles here
the story was centered on the ninja
surviving the decimation of his clan and
his quest to retrieve the dark dragon
blade while getting this revenge this
soon spurred an upgraded edition called
ninja gaiden black and a high def remake
for the ps3 called Ninja Gaiden Sigma
2008 Ninja Gaiden 2 followed this
adventure which was a loose reimagining
of the events of the second NES game
incredibly well-received due in no small
part to the generous amount of
dismemberment present in the early
levels it spurred the development of its
own upgraded version called
Sigma 2 and a sequel for 2012 in an
effort to show a more human side of Rio
this latest installment will have Rio
remove his mask and descend into a
hellish realm for more slice and dice an
iconic gaming franchise that’s known for
its nearly impossible difficulty level
Ninja Gaiden continues to appeal to
hardcore gamers with the kind of extreme
violence that only a magical world-class
ninja can dish out
most challenging missions leaving
nothing but dismembered limbs in his
wake
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
take a look back at the Ninja Gaiden
franchise this iconic beat-em-up series
originally known as legend of the ninja
Dragon Sword in Japan made its North
American arcade debut in 1988 developed
by Tecmo ninja gaiden literally
translated as ninja side-story was once
a simple Double Dragon inspired
beat-em-up in its first installment
players were introduced to Ryo Hayabusa
a blue clad ninja on a quest across
America to defeat an evil cult fighting
with his bare hands
Ryu was able to perform backflips and
flying neck throws he was even able to
gain power-ups like the use of the sort
by breaking background objects taking
place in five different environments the
arcade game
similarly featured only five types of
enemies despite its limited variety the
romp left its mark on gamers with its
intense difficulty and an infamous
continue screen that featured a tied-up
ryu being tortured with a circular saw
the next year the ninja returned to
kick-start his NES trilogy the first
game simply titled ninja gaiden had the
super ninja find a letter from his
father who had gone missing asked to
journey to America to meet an
archeologist he soon discovered that a
cult had begun seeking out two hidden
statues these had the power to revive an
ancient demon and end the world it was
this console-based entry that first
introduced many of the series is iconic
staples these included its type action
platformer gameplay boomerang like
shuriken use of magical ninja arts
catchy music and cinematic cutscenes an
instant hit Ryu returned the next year
in ninja gaiden to the dark sword of
chaos here he had to stop the Emperor of
chaos who had captured a CIA agent and
taken control of a powerful blade forged
from the bone of the demon the trilogy
quickly concluded with 1991 the ninja
gaiden 3 the ancient ship of doom the
most difficult of the series players
found themselves much weaker than in
earlier games they were also forced to
follow a convoluted story centered on a
warship a race of energy infused super
mutants an interdimensional rift genetic
engineering and secret rogue agents in
1995 the trilogy was re-released for
SNES in one game cartridge and included
such improvements as the use of
passwords and better cinematics as well
as retouched graphics and soundtrack the
third game was also given a much more
reasonable difficulty level afterwards
the series received several ports for
other systems including Sega’s Genesis
and Game Gear it even received a Game
Boy exclusive spin-off entitled ninja
gaiden shadow which was set before the
events of the other games and had
players saved New York from the forces
of an emperor that served a demon
astonishingly the franchise then laid
dormant until 2004 when it was revived
for the Xbox by developer team ninja
this game served as yet another prequel
and had the hero dawn and new armored
suit use an all-new combat system and
take on devilish puzzles here
the story was centered on the ninja
surviving the decimation of his clan and
his quest to retrieve the dark dragon
blade while getting this revenge this
soon spurred an upgraded edition called
ninja gaiden black and a high def remake
for the ps3 called Ninja Gaiden Sigma
2008 Ninja Gaiden 2 followed this
adventure which was a loose reimagining
of the events of the second NES game
incredibly well-received due in no small
part to the generous amount of
dismemberment present in the early
levels it spurred the development of its
own upgraded version called
Sigma 2 and a sequel for 2012 in an
effort to show a more human side of Rio
this latest installment will have Rio
remove his mask and descend into a
hellish realm for more slice and dice an
iconic gaming franchise that’s known for
its nearly impossible difficulty level
Ninja Gaiden continues to appeal to
hardcore gamers with the kind of extreme
violence that only a magical world-class
ninja can dish out
Please follow and like us: