The Classic Arcade and Console Era (1972-1989) - Ninja Spirit
One of the greatest ninja action games ever made was also an early killer app for the TurboGrafx-16.
RELEASE DATE: 1988
DEVELOPER / PUBLISHER: Irem
BEST VERSIONS: TurboGrafx-16
PLAYABILITY TODAY: Highly playable
When NEC launched the PC Engine as the TurboGrafx-16 in North America in 1989, the company made many questionable choices which didn’t help the system to gain much of a foothold. One of the most bewildering was including Keith Courage in Alpha Zones as the pack-in game; while it superficially resembled a Mario-style platformer, the game wasn’t very good and didn’t do much to showcase what the system could actually do. While the North American TurboGrafx-16 did eventually get a great mascot in April of 1990 with the loveable caveman Bonk, those who’d invested in the platform were hungry for other games that could showcase the console’s graphical power. One of the best releases of that year for the TurboGrafx-16 was a nearly arcade-perfect port of Irem’s 1988 arcade game Ninja Spirit, and it’s good enough in either its original or console form that it’s still well worth playing today.
Ninja Spirit is sort of a cross between Taito’s The Legend of Kage and other ninja action games like Sega’s Shinobi and Shadow Dancer with a touch of Tecmo’s NES version of Ninja Gaiden thrown in for good measure. But at the same time, Ninja Spirit is very much its own game due to two very interesting mechanics. First, you have four different weapons you can cycle between: a samurai sword, a kusarigama (a chain and sickle “lassoon blade”), a spread shot of “deathstar” shurikens or powerful dynamite bombs. Each weapon begins at a basic level of power and can be upgraded once, and experimenting with each is useful for navigating different portions of each level, particularly when enemies are flying at you quickly and you need to change tactics to survive.
Second, you are able to pick up crystals to earn up to two shadow ninjas that not only follow your action but also mimic your current attack, greatly increasing your attack range and damage. Having shadows watching your back is particularly useful in the boss battles since you can position yourself in a safe space but place the invulnerable shadows in a danger zone to continue inflicting damage. The concept of the shadows was so useful, in fact, that that Tecmo utilized the same idea in the NES’s Ninja Gaiden II two years later.
While Ninja Spirit has a story – you’re a white wolf ninja named Tsukikage (“Moonlight”) setting out to slay ninja and demons in the service of “The Evil One” – it plays like a straightforward run and gun shooter, and the why of your quest is far less important than the feeling of, “oh, that’s cool!”. The game takes place across six levels that mostly scroll from left to right, but occasionally include vertical jumping or falling sections. Each of the stages is distinctive both visually and in terms of the action required, and the standout stage (which is, not coincidentally, also among the most frustrating) is a fortress where ninja pop out of the walls and attack from the under the floors as well as from the ceiling above, keeping you constantly on your toes. The bosses are also excellent, with each having large sprites, distinctive attacks and interesting patterns to learn.
Ninja Spirit’s main problem is that it’s a brutally difficult game with one-hit kills, and this is one reason the TurboGrafx-16 version adds a life bar. Even so, I recommend playing either with an emulator where you can save your state, as both otherwise are quite challenging and require a lot of trial and error. One skill you absolutely must master is bunny hopping so that you and your shadows can cover multiple horizontal lanes at once, and the other is to turn around on every fourth or fifth attack and launch a shot or two behind you – this will save you more often than you may initially realize and prevent enemies from piling up behind you.
Ninja Spirit is widely ported to PC platforms in the early 1990s and even to the Gameboy (where it’s not as bad as you might expect). I don’t recommend any of the 8-bit PC editions, though I will note the Commodore 64 port really gives its all trying to approximate the speed and frenzy of the arcade game despite the hardware’s limitations. The Amiga and Atari ST versions look much closer to the arcade version, but they’re slowed down and not nearly as challenging. The TurboGrafx-16 version, by contrast, looks as good or better than its arcade counterpart and is probably the best version of all. If you’re going to play the game on modern hardware, the Wii and Wii U both had the TG-16 version on the eShop, though they’re no longer available for purchase. HAMSTER Corporation has also made the arcade ROM available on modern consoles through its Arcade Archives series, and you can also try to track down Dotemu’s Irem Arcade Hits for Windows.
However you play Ninja Spirit, just know it’s worth the effort; It’s definitely a game any fan of ninja arcade action (which is, experience tells me, a pretty broad slice of gamers) should check out.
As Our Series Continues…
It’s time to move on to console and arcade gaming in the 1970s and 80s, and we’re going to cover it all with an exploration into hundreds more games you’ve probably never played but definitely ought to check out. Come for amazingly great early 1980s games like Warlords, Super Locomotive, Shark! Shark!, Acrobatic Dog-Fight, Mysterious Stones: Dr. John’s Adventure and Intrepid and stick around for mid-to-late 1980s greats like Peter Pack-Rat, Penguin-kun Wars, Momoko 120%, UFO Robot Dangar, Wonder Momo, Raimais, Last Alert, The Legend of Valkyrie and the arcade version of Twin Eagle: Revenge Joe’s Brother, complete with a rockin’ soundtrack with wonderfully inscrutable lyrics.
If you’ve never heard of any of those games, you’re in for a treat as we explore them one by one. And If those games are all old hat to you, don’t worry; they’re just the tip of the iceberg for what we’ll be discussing!
If you missed my series on the hundreds of 1980s PC games you probably never played, you can find the entire archive at https://greatestgames.substack.com.
Anything I don’t share here will be in my upcoming book, tentatively titled The Greatest Games You (Probably) Never Played Vol. 2. Subscribe to this newsletter so you won’t miss it!