Ninja Golf (Atari 7800) Playthrough
160A playthrough of Atari's 1990 beat 'em up for the Atari 7800, Ninja Golf.
Played through on the normal difficulty mode.
Before games like Mecharobot Golf, Itchy & Scratchy in Miniature Golf, and Kirby's Dream Course introduced golf games with a fantasy twist to the mainstream, there was Ninja Golf.
Ninja Golf was one of the last official releases for the 7800 before Atari pulled the plug on the system, and it's one of the more obscure games in a library of titles that wasn't particularly well-known to begin with.
I wonder if any real ninja ever considered themselves consummate golfers. I somehow doubt it.
There are nine holes to play, and like in real golf, the aim is to complete each one in as few shots as possible. Once you take a shot, however, the game flips the script by becoming an arcade-style beat 'em up that borrows heavily from Kung Fu (https://youtu.be/IQjzFt8Sqpk).
A never-ending stream of technicolor ninja pour onto the screen to give chase, and you'll have to kick and ninja star your way through the hordes as you attempt to make it to your ball to line up the next shot.
The ball's flight path determines your route, and the stages you fight through change based on the terrain: fairways are littered with gophers that chuck dirt at you while giant frogs lurk in the rough. Cobras strike from the sandtraps, sharks hunt in the water hazards, and egg-dropping birds attack in the woods.
On the green you'll find a giant fire-breathing dragon guarding the hole, and if you manage to defeat him with your shuriken, you can move onto the next hole.
Ninja Golf feels like an arcade game in how easy it is to pick up and play and in the way it steadily ramps up the difficulty level. The controls feel a little loose when you're being swarmed by enemies, but they get the job done well enough so long as you aren't playing with the original 7800 joystick.
It looks nice for a 7800 game: the large sprites move around smoothly without any slowdown or flicker, and there's plenty of faked parallax-scrolling going on in the backgrounds. You would do well to hit the mute button, though. The music and sound effects are harsh and grating.
If you're a fan of the Sega Genesis, then it might interest you to know that Ninja Golf was created by BlueSky Software. They later went on to create some major hits for Sega, including Jurassic Park, Vectorman, and the World Series Baseball games.
Ninja Golf is more accessible now than it ever has been thanks to its inclusion in Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection, so if you're someone who gets a kick out of weird and unknown retro games, check it out!
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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