The Ninja

Developer: Sega

Publisher: Sega

Release: 1986

Platform: Master System

Genre: Shoot ’em-up

Sitting somewhere between proto-run 'n' guns like Commando and contemporary shmups (surprisingly leaning more towards the later) the ill-named The Ninja should have deserved at least a bigger audience—if not necessarily critical appraise.

Selling an adjectiveless ninja game as the fad was rising quick and steadily (Shinobi came out one year later, Ninja Gaiden followed the next one) would be hard in any system, but Sega's MS still holds the record for the ugliest art style to ever grace Western shores, and that was truly the case here. Screenshots couldn't get the job done either, but despite not being a looker the game has a distinct visual signature that is even lifted by the clean HUD-less Sega approach at the time.

Getting past that steep entry point starts to pay when the action gets rolling. The basic premise—killing enemies with shurikens, enhancing strenght/speed with power-ups—is only the foundation for some subtle flavoring that brings a more-than-the-sum-of-the-parts taste to the final product. Auto-scrolling levels break the regular pace every now and then and are cleverly justified narrative-wise: a mountain to be climbed against an avalanche, a classic Frogger-like river chase, a stampede of horses within the castle’s gates... Even simple tricks like exchanging the floor tileset for a stone wall to create a climbing level—with vertical speed handicapped accordingly to tweak the feels—manage to pull the trick with simplicity.

Even some pseudo-isometric view is pulled with coding techniques alone

Not only that. The Ninja most likely will send an unadvised player back a couple levels in their first playthrough for some hidden scrolls hunt before moving on, but it gets away with it with more elegance than Ghosts'n Goblins: playing through it again with more of a keen eye brings the apparently straight-forward action game to a new level. More: an accuracy bonus system rewards skilled players with higher scores, making it yet another game for arcadey intials hunters—opposed to casual button mashers by a mile and a half.

Yet to be properly played or praised, The Ninja is still a testimony to how a game can be tackled and perceived in several ways solely with slick, light ideas implemented well.