The Classic Arcade and Console Era (1972-1989) - Mirai Ninja
Try out this maniacally speedy fusion of Shinobi by way of Sonic the Hedgehog.
RELEASE DATE: 1988
DEVELOPER / PUBLISHER: Namco
BEST VERSIONS: Arcade
PLAYABILITY TODAY: Highly playable
Have you ever wanted to be an absolute maniac? Mirai Ninja may have you covered, then, because it’s the sort of game where you can go charging forward at high speeds tossing shurikens, picking up power-ups and blitzing past enemies faster than you can kill them all. You may be tempted to play this game at a slower and more methodical pace, particularly since it has some branching paths within certain levels and plenty of enemies that are available for you to slay. But having played it myself, I absolutely encourage the maniacal path - it makes what would otherwise be a rather mediocre ninja game into a far more unique experience.
Mirai Ninja (which literally means “Future Ninja”) is an odd duck because it’s the result of Namco producing a film and an arcade game at the same time. The film, Mirai Ninja: Keigumo Kinin Gaiden, is a true turkey that wound up going direct to video in Japan. It also earned a lot of scorn from American critics when Carl Macek (of Robotech infamy) helped Beverly Hills Video Group and Streamline Pictures dub the film to release it in the US as Cyber Ninja. Suffice it to say it’s a “so bad it’s good” movie with hilariously awful special effects and Kamen Rider-caliber fighting which is not improved by the American edit.
The game follows the plot of the film more or less faithfully and takes place within an alternate future that’s part future Terminator, part Japanese Keiun period where humans and cyborgs are at war. You play as a cyborg ninja named Shiranui who’s deserted the Cyborg Ninja Army and who’s hoping to reclaim his body and his soul from the technological Castle Kurosagi. But you’re also tasked with retrieving Princess Saki of the human royal family, who’s been captured by the evil wizard Ramei Hoshi (whose face appears just before boss encounters) and who’s being guarded by Shoki, the robotic commander of the Cyborg Ninja Army.
If you’re worried about following the plot, don’t. All you need to do is run through each stage as quickly as possible, defeating any enemies who stand in front of you and watching to ensure your life bar (represented by Japanese characters that count down from 99) doesn’t dip into yellow or red and start showing a lot of flat lines (a sure sign that you’re under 40% health). You want to keep your eyes out for green power-ups, which enhance your power, and yellow power-ups, which restore your health. Otherwise, beyond running, you have two options: throw shurikens or attack enemies close-up with your sword. In some of the platforming areas, it seems to be impossible to reach enemies without taking some damage, which is frustrating. Fortunately, most enemies go down easily, and even the bosses are a pushover. Continuing unfortunately dumps you back at the beginning of the stage, but they’re so short that it’s not hard to replay them.
There are a total of 12 stages in Mirai Ninja (though two are recycled), and I do have to commend the game for some fantastic art design. Having watched bits and pieces of the movie, I was surprised at how well the game replicates the scenery and set pieces in its own visual style. The levels range from a forest to a metropolitan area to a desert to a temple to a coastal area. The only levels I loathe are the factory (levels 4 and 9), which turn into more of a platforming area. If you want to go full maniac, you can certainly blitz through them, but you’ll probably find yourself struggling the first time or two through.
While I wouldn’t call Mirai Ninja a great game based on its design or mechanics, I would say it’s a highly entertaining one thanks to some of its more bizarre elements. For example, I love the strange fusion of ancient Japan and mechanical designs, which leads to some interesting enemies and crazy encounters throughout the game. There’s also a strange power-up in the game, the silver orb, which shrinks enemies down to a tiny size for no apparent reason. The final boss battle is also fantastically silly and thus fun to play.
Namco’s games tend to be thoughtful and polished, and that’s perhaps one reason Mirai Ninja wasn’t released outside Japan despite the fact that the film was. Surprisingly, HAMSTER Corporation released this one in its Arcade Archives series, so it is playable on modern consoles!
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!
+ it got a botnet named after it 🤣
Cyber Ninja has been added straight to the front of the viewing queue.