''Ninja Spirit'', known in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

as , is a 1988

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

developed and released in arcades by

Irem is a Japanese video game console developer and publisher, and formerly a developer and manufacturer of arcade games as well. The company has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The full name of the company that uses the brand is Irem Softwar ...

. Although praised by gamers for detailed graphics, serious themes, solid controls and game plays the game also gained notoriety for harsh difficulty.

Gameplay

Tsukikage's journey takes him through seven stages, varying from

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

s, wastelands, swamps, temples, and cliffs. Each stage begins with the player slashing his way to the end until he confronts a level boss. The ninja is always armed with the

katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

named Muramasa (meaning Righteous Cloud), which can be fluidly used to attack in all directions. Extra weapons include the Uzha (meaning Swirling Leaf) (

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), the Raitake (meaning Bamboo Thunder) bombs, and the Shoryusai (meaning Rising Dragon)

kusarigama A is a traditional Japanese weapon that consists of a ''kama'' (the Japanese equivalent of a sickle or billhook) on a kusari-fundo – a type of metal chain (''kusari'') with a heavy iron weight (''fundo'') at the end. The ''kusarigama'' is said ...

. There are also several

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen ...

items, such as one unleashing multiple ninja ghosts to assist the player.

Plot

The game's hero, , is a young

ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enem ...

who lost his father to a mysterious half-man half-beast creature. The plot of ''Ninja Spirit'' is based on the quest of his way to avenge his father in an alternative

feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to Japanese Paleolithic, prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millenni ...

Ports

The game was successfully ported onto multiple platforms. The most popular port is the

TurboGrafx-16 The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC, NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth genera ...

format which includes two modes: the PC Engine mode which players lose one life only if all 5 energy points are used up (certain enemies can kill Tsukikage with one hit), and the Arcade mode, which is a more challenging mode where any attack are grounds for players to lose one ninja instantly. That version was ported to the

Nintendo Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Unix ...

on 14 May 2007, was delisted on 30 March 2012 and was available again on 17 September 2013 in Japan and on 19 September 2013 in North America and Europe. The same version was re-released on the

Nintendo Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

's Virtual Console on 14 January 2015 in Japan, 27 July 2017 in North America and 10 August 2017 in Europe.

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack for the game was released on December 21, 1988 by

Alfa Records , originally a publisher known as Alfa Music Ltd. and later succeeded by record company Alfa Music Inc., was established in 1969 by composer and record producer Kunihiko Murai. It was formed into an independent record label known as Alfa Records ...

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Ninja Spirit'' on their September 1, 1988 issue as being the fifth most-successful table arcade unit of the month, outperforming titles like '' The Main Event''. In Issue 15 of ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...

'', both ''Ninja Spirit'' and ''

Ys Book I & II is an action role-playing game compilation released by Hudson Soft and NEC for the PC Engine CD-ROM² in 1989 and TurboGrafx-CD in 1990. It consists of enhanced remakes of the first two ''Ys'' games by Nihon Falcom for the PC-8801 home computer ...

'' were the first games to receive a perfect 10 in the magazine's history. In 2010,

CraveOnline Mandatory (formerly CraveOnline Media) is a lifestyle website based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco. The site is owned by media company Evolve Media, LLC. Mandatory focuses its contents into the male- ...

featured this version in the article Top 10 Ninja Games Of All Time, commenting: "Ninja Spirit for the TurboGrafx-16 was a lot like “

Legend of Kage is a side-scrolling hack-and-slash game developed and released by Taito as an arcade video game in 1985. It was ported to the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, MSX, Sharp X1, and ZX Spectrum, Plot The player takes the ...

” on the NES, except better in every way ... both challenging and sort of relaxing at the same time."Top 10 Ninja Games Of All Time
, CraveOnline, September 18, 2008

Legacy

''Ninja Spirit'' later appeared in the Japan-only

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

title, '' Shuyaku Sentai Irem Fighter'' along with other characters from the game, as well as characters from three other Irem franchises: ''

R-Type is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and released by Irem in 1987 and the first game in the ''R-Type'' series. The player controls a star ship, the R-9 "Arrowhead", in its efforts to destroy the Bydo, a powerful a ...

'', ''

Mr. Heli ''Mr. Heli'', fully titled in Japan as is a multidirectional scrolling shooter developed and published in arcades in 1984 by Irem. It was released in North America as ''Battle Chopper''. Gameplay Players control a wacky fighter chopper named ...

'', and ''

Hammerin' Harry ''Hammerin' Harry'', known in Japan as , is a series of platforming video games developed and published by Irem in 1990 in video gaming, 1990. The titles were developed and published for the Arcade game, arcades, Nintendo Entertainment System, ...

''.

References

External links

''Ninja Spirit''
at Atari Mania * *

at ''

TurboPlay ''TurboPlay Magazine'' is a bi-monthly, U.S.-based video game magazine which was published by L.F.P. from June/July 1990 through August/September 1992. It was available via subscription only (US$9.95 per year). A total of 14 issues were released ...

'' Magazine Archives {{Authority control 1988 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Arcade video games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games Game Boy games Irem games Video games about ninja Nintendo Switch games Platform games PlayStation 4 games Side-scrolling video games TurboGrafx-16 games Video games developed in Japan Video games set in feudal Japan Virtual Console games Virtual Console games for Wii U ZX Spectrum games Single-player video games Hamster Corporation games