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Classic Game Review: Ninja Gaiden By: PoisonRamune, the Apathetic Lizardman I've been playing video games pretty much all my life. From playing my father's Atari when I was 2 and having my mother teach me to read in my preschool years with RPGs and adventure games such as Kings Quest, Ultima and Wizardy. In fact, most of my fondest childhood memories have been spent chatting with friends idly while playing the NES, SNES, TG-16 and Genesis... Now thanks to the innovation of the console emulator and the Wii virtual console service, I can experience my favorite games of my childhood once more. However, as an adult I also enjoy taking a responsible drink or smoke every now and again. Naturally, my penchant for video games and my enjoyment of good drink and smoke often are satisfied together and thus I decided to give a 2 pronged review of my classic games. One with my unadulterated feelings toward the game and one under the influence of alcohol and/or “the herb.” I hope you enjoy reading about these games as much as I did playing and writing about them. Ninja Gaiden, a great starting point for a site named, Running with Ninjas. This game brings back so many memories of 4th-5th grade, talking to my neighbor Greg about our prepubescent crushes and stupid kids in our class. It also brings back hours and hours of an uncanny frustration, the kind of frustration that leaves you thinking “if I could just get the timing of the jumps/the pattern of that monster/etc down I can get through that part...” rather than the frustration of a game that was poorly designed/programmed. With it being the first NES game with actual cut scenes its story was intriguing in '89 and still is today. Time warp back to the years 1989-1991... What were you doing? I was playing the shit out of Ninja Gaiden and living on the thread that separates life and death. As a kid this game was awesome. It had a ninja as a main character, bosses with exotic weapondry and a very memorable soundtrack. The graphic presentation was very good for 8-bit Nintendo. However, there was the infamous NES problem of having a limited color palette in games and thus certain objects would blend into the background (I'm looking at you “flat top man's” bullets and certain “lantern/item cache lamps”). The cut scenes were top notch and really kept the story together. Even though they had less animation than a standard flash cartoon they really helped the plot and kept the game from becoming just a normal platformer. Songs in the game were very mood appropriate for every setting and situation in the game. Despite the fact that it was done on a classic NES sound board the soundtrack was clear and well composed. To this day I can still recognize the tunes and occasionally catch myself humming or whistling them. The sound effects on the others hand were pretty generic and “stock,” lacking any notable “quirks.” Running, wall jumping, and using your special ninja attacks were performed flawlessly in this NES game. The controls were remarkably smooth and superior for an NES game. The game even allowed intermediate-novice players to perform the tougher games tricks (ie: “down slashing” and using the wall jump repeatedly to scale a wall). Never once have I accused any one of my many deaths in this game as the game being “cheap” or “unfair.” Every one of my follies have been either from careless playing or lack of knowing enemy patterns, nothing was random or “out of the blue” by any account. The simple controls in this game proved that greatness is sometimes found in simplicity. With your only jump, attack, and special attack (which most of the time was a simple projectile) as your only way to defeat and evade your enemies, this game was a challenge. Many times have I found myself cursing my poor reaction time or carelessness as I was knocked into a “bottomless pit” or downed from exhausting all my life. In my experiences I've found this game to be the selfish girlfriend in your video game library. It was almost like you must focus on this game and only the happenings of this game. This near total immersion that the game forced upon you was stronger than any drug or alcohol I've ever taken. Now the beer and pot part of our meal. This game was not your daddy's Ninja Gaiden playing while drunk and/or high. Every last bit of my reaction time, limited drunken patience, and sentient thought were expended during my inebriated play throughs. At times I truly felt the struggle of someone trying to save the world, running exhausted and on no personal resources. However, at certain levels of the “fade” (higher or lower depending on your personal tolerances and preferences) the game actually became quite easier to me. Almost as if the booze and/or herb was a sort of catalyst to cause me to start playing better, like some sort of “spinach” to a gamer Popeye. All in all I must say if you're the type of gamer that enjoys “getting out of his/her own head” and busting a great and challenging game on a stoney or buzzed afternoon this game is perfect for you. Final verdict:
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