The weekend is here once more, and with this third week we present our third Ninja Gaiden review. The last game in the series, Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (originally released on the NES) was the final proper Ninja Gaiden game until the recent Xbox revival of the series. Read my previous Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden II reviews if you missed them. This game is also the most drastically different. “Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?” You ask. Read the full review below, to find out.
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom
Platform: NES
Also Available On: SNES (Ninja Gaiden Trilogy), Xbox
Released: 1991
Players: 1
Genre: 2D side-scrolling action platformer
Save: In the original – None. In the SNES & Xbox versions – Password
Made By: Tecmo
Country of Origin: Japan
Ninja Gaiden III is the last game in the Ninja Gaiden trilogy released on the NES, and was the last proper Ninja Gaiden title until the recent revival of the series on the Xbox.
Unfortunately, I never played the original NES Ninja Gaiden III, so all I have to go by is the Xbox version that’s unlockable in the Xbox games Ninja Gaiden & Ninja Gaiden Black. I can however compare the game to it’s NES prequels, which I have played extensively, and videos I have viewed of the NES version of Ninja Gaiden III, so I can make some educated guesses.
The third game makes a lot of changes to the series, for better or for worse . . . Unfortunately, most of it seems to land squarely in the “for worse” category (which explains why I never heard anyone talk about the third game).
The game starts off, like all the other Ninja Gaiden titles (check out my reviews of them for more info) with an opening cinema scene, where we see Irene being chased . . . running from a ninja in a blue ninja suit . . . . could it be Ryu?! This Ryu chases her to the age of a cliff . . . and we watch as the edge of the cliff breaks off and Irene plunges to her death. It then cuts to the CIA’s review of the case, telling us that Irene is now deceased, and that Ryu is the apparent killer. It then cuts to Ryu, asking himself “Did I really kill Irene?”. The obvious answer is a resounding “No, I did not kill Irene! Someone or something using my name killed Irene . . .” And with that, Ryu heads off to the lab where she was last seen.
This intro sets things into motion pretty well, and while the scene itself is cool and uses some of the same moody music to really catch your attention, like the previous games successfully did, the cool mood will be short lived.
You’ll probably notice some not so good music that kinda destroys the mood at parts in the opening scene, and sadly, as was done with the previous Xbox Ninja Gaiden versions, the music in this game has been completely butchered. This game though is by far the worst perpetrator, and one of the worst parts of the game is it’s music. Notably absent is any truly memorable tunes, which in themselves lack any kind of tension or haunting mood, with the background music for the levels also not up to par with the previous games. That’s not to say that all the music is horrible, it’s not, and there are a few good tunes, but when compared to the previous games, the music simply doesn’t stack up.
The first thing you will notice as the game starts however is how great the graphics look. They are highly detailed for an NES game and a big improvement over the last two titles. There are lots of animations in the backgrounds of various levels, from rain to moving quicksand to bubbling lava with moving lavafalls in the background. Some levels though actually seem to have too much going on in the background, making things complicated and sometimes interfering with the platforming aspects of the game, as it can be hard to tell at times whether something is part of the background or a platform that you can actually stand on. Even so, there are lots of really cool environments with some really pretty levels in this game.
Right off the bat, in the first level, you will notice some nice additions to the gameplay. One of the biggest of which is a new hanging mechanic. All throughout the game you will come across various objects that you can jump and hang onto, which you can then cross, as Ryu moves hand-to-hand, or you can simply jump on top of whatever it is he is hanging from. Pressing down+jump while on top of an object that you can hang from will cause Ryu to drop down and hang. This actually adds a lot to the gameplay, as you will constantly be jumping and hanging, going under enemies who are on top of the platform you are hanging from, jumping up to slash them, and jumping off of the hanging objects to other platforms or walls.
You will also notice that Ryu now makes a “hiyah” sound as he cuts with his sword. And in what’s probably the second biggest addition, you will quickly gain a sword upgrade during the first level (one of the new power-ups). This upgrade makes his sword stronger and with a longer reach as he swings it horizontally instead of straight out.
But you will also notice straight away how different the game feels. Ryu’s jumps are more floaty, his running animation just seems different . . . and when you couple that with the new environments and brand new enemies, not to mention the change in music, the game simply lacks that cool Ninja Gaiden feel of the previous games. If I didn’t know better I’d say that they “Americanized” the game. IMO it’s one of those things where they’ve polished it TOO much.
Not that it is necessarily bad . . . it has it’s pluses and the game is no less fun for them, it just has lost it’s Ninja Gaiden-ness in the translation.
Luckily though, the gameplay survives through all the changes. Ninja Gaiden III is fun, despite what they’ve done to him. In ways it’s actually more enjoyable since the game is somewhat easier, even though you will still die a lot and there are many tricky sections of levels and a level or two in particular that can be quite tough.
The new enemies really test your twitch reflexes, even if they don’t look like enemies Ryu should be fighting, and they are almost all new, with nary a previous Ninja Gaiden enemy in sight.
As you get deeper in the game you will notice some other cool new additions. First off is vertical levels, that will either scroll upward or downward as you move through them, as well as a few autoscrolling levels where you will have to make your way quickly if you are to not die as the screen scrolls on it’s own (always vertically). These levels are fun and nice additions. The game also has some very cool environments, one of the last stages in particular would be right at home with the old games, and almost feels like something you’d expect out of Contra or some other alien-invested game than Ninja Gaiden.
And in another cool addition, environmental hazards have been added, specifically retracting spikes. Levels that use them are really fun, as you have to time your jumps to make it out before the spikes come up again.
Unfortunately, the storyline is not nearly as good as the last two. If you played the previous games you will enjoy the storyline more, as it involves a kind of minor character from the last two games, one who was “in the background”, and if you played the previous two you probably have a good guess as to who it is. The storyline overall though simply feels like some kind of . . . American cartoon plot. Talking about “Bio-Noids”, “Life Energy” and “transmutation”. The best word I can think of to describe it is “lame”. And while there are certainly some cool parts and the game has it’s fair share of twists, it just overall doesn’t exude the awesomeness of the previous games, mainly due to the main protagonist who simply is not as threatening as the great evils of the first two games.
The graphics in the movie scenes have improved though, and they contain more animation and more bigger, larger pictures. Looking pretty good overall.
Ninja Gaiden III though seems to get further and further away from that Ninja Gaiden feeling the deeper in the game you get. Until by the end you’re in a futuristic . . . . environment that simply feels totally out of place. Feels more like something you’d encounter in Mega Man than in Ninja Gaiden.
One addition that is very welcome is that you can now tell what is in an orb (which house power-up) without having to slash it open to reveal what’s inside. This makes it a lot easier to hold onto and collect only the items you need, and would’ve been extremely welcome in the previous games.
Ninja Gaiden III also goes a lot more into the platforming realm than the previous two games did. While all the games contain a lot of jumping and climbing, NG3 in particular has lots of jumping from platform to platform, including platforms that slide back and forth, some of which you can hang from, which can require quick timing to pass successfully, and even a level or two where you will ascend vertically, jumping from moving platform to moving platform. These can sometimes be troublesome, as there are instances when you’ll go to jump off a platform only to have Ryu keep running off the edge, often to his doom. Thankfully this isn’t a huge problem as it only seems to happen from time to time, and it can be avoided if you stop before reaching the edge, then jump.
While Ninja Gaiden III feels a lot easier than the previous games, it will take you just as long to beat, and the last level in particular is very long, though it seems to be easier to make your way through the levels without losing as much health as in the last game. The game does contain some really cool and really fun bosses, but again they are a lot easier to beat than in the last game, which as stated, can be both a blessing and a curse.
Overall, Ninja Gaiden III is a fun game, but I hesitate to call it great. It’s simply too different, even though there aren’t any flaws in the gameplay. Having said that, the additions that they did make to the game and to the gameplay, add a lot to separate it from it’s prequels and IMO it makes the game worth playing, even if the storyline sucks and it’s missing the Ninja Gaiden feel that made those games so great. My advice is to seek the game out if you are fan of Ninja Gaiden or simply enjoy platformers & action games, if only to see what it’s like, but I would not recommend this game above the two previous titles. It is far from bad though, and it is fun, and that most definitely counts for something.
Graphics: 9.0
Sound & Music: 7.0
Replay Value: 7.0
Ingenuity: 7.5
FUN FACTOR: 9.0