Game:

Ninja Combat (1990)

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Ninja Combat developed by Alpha Denshi, released in 1990. You see, Ninjas were a big thing then back in the 80's and 90's. So who didn't get excited when you played a game featuring ninjas? Hot damn, I wanted to BE a ninja when I was a kid. Although, kind of an embarrassing thing to admit out loud when people asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I said I wanted to be a ninja. It didn't go over very well.

No wonder I hated being a kid. You really couldn't BE a kid, and SAY and DO kid-like things a kid would do without being chastised for it and humiliated. Then again, you can't do adult things as an adult without being crapped on for it regardless, so I guess its all moot.

Anyway, personal musings and pointless pontificating aside, Ninja Combat is a side-scrolling beat 'em up. You play as ninjas Joe and Hayabusa (red ninja and blue ninja respectively, and no, it's not Joe Musashi from Shinobi, and no, it's not Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden that you're thinking of - although that's another arcade game we'll cover in the future). Plus they're two generic looking mofos who happened to be unrelated but look exactly alike. They don't exactly look like two dudes who'd be unique enough to get their own individual games.

Joe and Hayabusa are going up against an evil ninja clan called the Kage Ichizoku. The enemy's home base, the Ninja Tower has emerged from the middle of the ocean of New York. Hey, that's where I live! I never heard of ninja bases hidden until the seas in New York, but man, that'd be so cool if they existed in real life! The demon sorceror, Genyousai, is the Kage Ichizoku's leader. Joe and Hayabusa set out to defeat the enemy clan - but not without picking up some allies along the way.

This is one of the very few games where you can beat an enemy and upon completion of the level, they join your side and become playable. You can gain up to three allies, Musashi, Kagerow, and Gembu. This little feature reminds of another arcade game called Guardians of the Hood where beaten bosses join you and become playable. As for combat, you have your main projectile attack, being able to jump and kick, and perform a powerful special attack by holding down the A button. However, it drains life each time you use it.

Ninja Combat feels a bit unbalanced - you can only take four hits and you're dead, but the one major disadvantage is the hurtboxes. You can take damage by LITERALLY making physical contact with enemies (they don't even HAVE to be attacking you to hurt you), and also they can move faster than you. Some enemies can creep up on you and aren't stunned when you're attacking them, and kill you in seconds. This was a definite quarter muncher, alright.

Psst, here's a little fun fact: G-Mantle is in this game in one of the stages. Can you spot him? (G-Mantle was the early mascot for SNK, as mentioned in my KOF '00 video).

I first played this game in the arcade when I was still in elementary school at a local pizzeria in Queens along with two friends. It was fun for the first level - until the three of us realized a little further into the game how annoyingly hard it was. None of lasted past the second level and ended up playing Fatal Fury instead. Not much else to say here - but I'm talking to the wind, like always. See you again soon.