Ninja Combat

About Ninja Combat

Ninja Combat (1990) is Alpha Denshi's Neo Geo beat 'em up in which twin ninjas fight a shadow clan up a tower risen from the sea in New York, recruiting defeated bosses as playable characters, an arcade hit in North America.

Ninja Combat in Depth

In the year "199X", the twin ninjas Joe and Hayabusa battle the evil Kage Ichizoku, the "Shadow Family", whose Ninja Tower has risen from the ocean in the middle of New York City, to defeat the clan and its leader, the long-presumed-dead demon sorcerer Genyousai. Their journey runs over seven levels from an amusement park to the top of the tower. Shuriken are their main weapon, but they also pick up nunchaku, maces, ratchets, battle axes, spiked clubs and katana, and a somersault attack knocks down several enemies in a row. As an art of ninpo kairou, Joe can summon a fire dragon and Hayabusa a lightning strike to destroy every enemy on screen.

The heroes die if their life force runs out or time expires, and earn an extra life every 1,500 points or by picking up a gold capsule. Three of the minibosses, Musashi, Kagerow and Gembu, join the heroes when defeated and become optional playable characters, a feature several critics singled out. If the heroes win, Genyousai is destroyed and the Ninja Tower crumbles.

Making Ninja Combat

Alpha Denshi developed Ninja Combat and SNK released it in Japanese arcades on 24 July 1990, followed by the Neo Geo home version in 1991 and a Japan-only Neo Geo CD version in 1994. Game Machine listed it as Japan's eighteenth most popular arcade game in its 15 December 1990 issue, but it did better in North America, where RePlay listed it as the top-grossing software conversion kit in January 1991. Reception has been mixed. EGM's reviewers praised its audiovisual presentation and distinct fighting styles but criticised the unlimited continues, short length, easy difficulty and repetitive play, while Joystick ranked it among the best console beat 'em ups alongside Double Dragon and Final Fight. Retrospective reviews were harsher: it holds 38% on GameRankings, Eurogamer called it a "rip-off" of Shinobi, Ninja Gaiden and Streets of Rage, and IGN called it "a profoundly unappealing gameplay experience". It came to the Virtual Console in 2007 and 2008 and to Hamster's ACA Neo Geo series.