Ninja Combat

• Title — Ninja Combat • Developer — Alpha Denshi • Publisher — Neo Geo CDADK • Producer — Tsutomu Maruyama • Designer — Hatsue Honbe Kazushige Hakamata Shinji Moriyama • Programmer — Eiji Fukatsu Hideo Kamoda Teruaki Shirasawa • Artist — Mitsunari Ishida Kenichi Sakanishi • Composer — Hideki Yamamoto Hiroaki Shimizu • Platforms — Arcade, Neo Geo AES, Neo Geo CD • Released — ArcadeJuly 24, 1990 Neo Geo AESJuly 1, 1991 Neo Geo CD • Genre — Beat 'em up • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Arcade System — Neo Geo MVS

• Illustration — Gameplay screenshot The journey takes the ninja heroes from an amusement park to the top of a tower. Along the way, they must survive endless attacks from the members of Kage Ichizoku and their minions. The protagonists Joe and Hayabusa use shuriken as their primary weapon, although other weapons that aid them along the way are nunchaku, maces, ratchets, battle axes, spiked clubs, and katana swords. A special somersault attack can be used to knock down multiple enemies in a row. As an art of ninpo kairou, a fire dragon (Joe) or lightning strike (Hayabusa) can be summoned to destroy all enemies on the screen. The heroes die if their life force runs out or time expires. Per 1,500 points scored or they pick up a gold capsule, they earn an extra life. There are seven levels in all.

The story, set in the year "199X", follows the twin ninja warriors named Joe (ジョー) and Hayabusa (ハヤブサ, lit. "Falcon") (not to be mistaken with Joe Musashi or Ryu Hayabusa), who are waging a battle against an evil ninja clan Kage Ichizoku (影一族, lit. "Shadow Family"). Their mission is to fight their way into the enemy home fortress, the Ninja Tower (ニンジャタワー, "Ninjatawa"), which has emerged from the ocean in the center of New York City, to once and for all defeat the Shadow Family and its leader, the long thought-dead demon sorcerer Genyousai. When defeated, three of the minibosses: Musashi (ムサシ), Kagerow (カゲロウ, lit. "Mayfly") and Gembu (ゲンブ), become allies and fight alongside Joe and Hayabusa as optional player characters. If the heroes are victorious, Genyousai is destroyed and the Ninja Tower crumbles.

Ninja Combat was originally released in Japanese arcades on July 24, 1990. Its home version was released internationally for the Neo Geo in 1991 and for the Neo Geo CD on October 31, 1994 in Japan only. The original soundtrack for both Ninja Combat and The Super Spy, along with the arranged versions by SNK Sound Team and KONNY, was published by Pony Canyon and Scitron on November 21, 1990. Ninja Combat was re-released through Nintendo's Virtual Console download service in Europe and Australia on October 26, 2007, and in North America on June 2, 2008. It is also one of the five games ported to the PlayStation 2 in the game compilation ADK Damashii in 2008. Hamster Corporation re-released the game as part of their ACA Neo Geo series for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows, Android and iOS.

Retrospectively, the Neo Geo and Wii releases hold a 38% score on the video game review aggregator GameRankings, based on three reviews. AllGames Kyle Knight heavily criticized its overall design, unacceptable graphics, audio, controls, technical issues and cheap gameplay, stating that "Ninja Combat is a poorly conceived, poorly executed game." Eurogamers Dan Whitehead claimed Ninja Combat to be a "rip-off" of other titles in the beat 'em up genre such as Shinobi (1987), Ninja Gaiden (1988) and Streets of Rage (1991), praising the graphics and ability to recruit additional characters but criticizing the collision detection, stiff animations, poor controls, lack of ideas and short length. IGNs Lucas M. Thomas called it "a profoundly unappealing gameplay experience," opining that "anything potentially innovative or interesting about Ninja Combat gets totally defeated by its terribly stiff control and overly difficult programming." Nintendo Lifes Damien McFerran criticized the visuals for being uninspired and character designs, while stating that its gameplay is not comparable to Streets of Rage or Final Fight.