Ninja Ryukenden (PC Engine) Playthrough [English]

A playthrough of Hudson's 1992 action-platformer for the NEC PC Engine, Ninja Ryukenden.

Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden (   • Ninja Gaiden (NES) Playthrough  ), known as Ninja Ryukenden in Japan and Shadow Warriors in PAL territories, was one of the NES's seminal classics, and it's a game that's still remembered fondly... and sometimes with a barely-contained sense of rage... by most anyone who played it when it was still fresh.

It marked a huge departure from the 1988 arcade release of the same name, and it ended up a much better game because of it. Instead of playing itself off as an uber-violent Double Dragon clone, the NES version of Ninja Gaiden was a fluid, fast-paced 2D platformer with a multitude of special weapons, brilliantly realized story cutscenes, and a level of difficulty that would make the best players fling controllers across the room. It was everything you could want from a big budget action game of the era, and beating it became a big point of pride for players.

While North America did see a release of a "remake" with the lackluster 1995 release Ninja Gaiden Trilogy, a lot of westerners don't seem to be aware that the trilogy version of NG1 was actually the second 16-bit remake to be made.

This 1992 Hudson release was a Japanese-exclusive release for the PC Engine, and while it does take some liberties, it does little to mess with the gameplay that made the original so good. It's also perfect for anyone who likes import games but can't read Japanese. I'm sure that you've already noticed that video shows the game in English: the game contains a code that allows you to change all of the in-game text between Japanese, English, and Chinese. The English translation is different from that in the NES game, but it compares surprisingly well in its quality.

You can switch languages by holding down buttons I and II and pushing Select at the title screen. The logo will change to reflect the current setting.

In terms of gameplay, the controls are slightly looser (jump slashes take longer to come out), the original's ridiculous enemy respawn rate has been trimmed back slightly, and the spinning ninja jump move has been nerfed, but overall, it still feels quite similar to the NES game.

Whether or not you see the updated graphics as an improvement is going to be a matter of taste. There is much more detail and color and everything was redrawn, but there will inevitably be those who prefer the look of the original. The only real negative for the visuals pops up during the game's ill-advised attempts at parallax scrolling, which are slow, choppy, and distracting until you get used to it.

The same goes for the audio. Most of the fantastic NES soundtrack has been replaced with a selection of original tunes that, while well written and catchy, don't live up to the originals. I liked the music, though, and thought it sounded much better than the Ninja Gaiden Trilogy mixes did.

If you're a fan of the NES game, you might find it worth your while to check out this novel TurboGrafx remake. I wouldn't call it better than the original, but I still enjoyed it.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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