, is a side scrolling

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

, released by

Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...

in 1988 exclusively in Japan. ''Mirai Ninja'' was adapted into the Japanese live-action film of the same name, which was also produced by Namco. The game runs on

Namco System 2 Namco was a video game developer and publisher, originally from Japan. Bandai Namco Entertainment is the successor to Namco and continues manufacturing and distributing video games worldwide. For Namco games released following the 2006 merger w ...

hardware, and is the first Namco game to be adapted into a film. Character designs and directing of the film were done by

Keita Amemiya is a prolific Japanese character designer and director from Urayasu, Chiba. Amemiya is known for his distinctive fantasy designs and directorial style. Biography After graduation from the Asagaya College of Art and Design, he joined the Den ...

of ''

Zeiram , stylized as ''ZËIЯAM'' (originally marketed in English as ''Zeram''), is a 1991 Japanese science fiction film directed by Keita Amemiya. The film stars Yūko Moriyama as an alien bounty hunter named Iria, who comes to Earth to do battle with ...

'' and ''

Kamen Rider The , also known as ''Masked Rider Series'' (until Decade), is a Japanese superhero media franchise consisting of tokusatsu television programs, films, manga, and anime, created by manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori. ''Kamen Rider'' media generall ...

'' fame. Both the game and the movie were released in the same year. Although the arcade game was only released in Japan, the movie was released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

overseas by Mondo Pop, under the two titles of ''Cyber Ninja'' in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and ''Warlord'' in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. In both the film and the arcade game a man's body and soul are stolen and used as part of a demon's castle. What's left becomes a cyber-ninja named Shiranui. The player controls Mirai Ninja, who must fight various enemies and bosses by rapidly throwing

shuriken A ''shuriken'' ( ja, 手裏剣; literally: "hidden hand blade") is a Japanese concealed weapon that was used as a hidden dagger or metsubushi to distract or misdirect. They are also known as throwing stars, or ninja stars, although they were ...

s at them (and slashing them with his

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

at close range). His

life meter Health is an attribute in a video game or tabletop game that determines the maximum amount of damage or loss of stamina that a character or object can take before dying or losing consciousness. In role-playing games, this typically takes the for ...

uses

Kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

for the numbers; this was previously done in Namco's earlier Japan-only title, ''

Genpei Tōma Den is a side-scrolling hack and slash produced by Namco that was released as a coin-operated video game in 1986 in Japan. It runs on Namco System 86 hardware. Over a decade later, the game was released in America and Europe in the video game compil ...

'' (1986), for the score display. The penultimate stage, "Castle Kurosagi", also only has one way out of it.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Mirai Ninja'' on their January 1, 1989 issue as being the tenth most-successful table arcade unit of the month.

References

1988 video games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Fictional ninja Japan-exclusive video games Namco arcade games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games Video games about ninja Video games set in castles Science fiction video games Side-scrolling beat 'em ups Video games developed in Japan Video games adapted into films Hamster Corporation games {{beatemup-videogame-stub