Retro Profile: Ninja Gaiden (NES)
Sunday, November 25th, 2007 at 11:13am by Jamie
When I hear the word “ninja”, two things immediately come to mind- smoke bombs and the 80’s. Yep, those were the years when every kid wanted to be a master of ninjitsu after viewing a movie, TV show, or anime involving a man (or woman) dressed in dark colors and wielding a sword and throwing stars. Meanwhile, video game developers where also busy cooking up games of the same subject matter in the arcades.
Tecmo was one of those developers, and in 1988, they released a brawler of sorts called Ninja Gaiden. A year later, they ported the game over to the NES, but took care to change the style of gameplay for the better. They replaced the “beat ‘em up” theme with a simple “slice ‘n dice” approach and had the players concentrate their efforts on timed jumps and using some pretty nifty ninja skills.
If you ever want to know why and how Konami became so successful, just look at their arcade games of the 80’s. Not only were their games entertaining, but you could almost always bet that their arcade titles would find a way to the NES and other home consoles. Life Force was no exception to that notion, as it was ported to the NES 2 years after its debut in the arcades of America and Japan. Interestingly enough, this wasn’t a sequel to Gradius, but rather a spin-off of sorts. Even so, the core elements of what made Gradius a great game are still preserved in Life Force.
Rad Racer is a game that nearly every NES player out there has at least heard of. The funny thing is that I had played this game a lot as a little kid, but I had no idea that Square Enix (formerly Square Soft) was the developer behind it. I guess back then, I assumed that every NES game with that pixilated cover art was made solely by Nintendo and no one else. So, mistaken identities aside, Rad Racer always stands out in my mind as one of my fondest childhood memories. The best part is that many years after my first go with this game, it still hasn’t lost much of its appeal.
It’s a real shame that I didn’t play Metal Gear on the NES when I first had the chance. See, back in 1996, I briefly had a (barely functional) NES, that someone secured for me, free of charge at a second-hand store. I got about 9 or 10 games that came with this deal, and one of them was Metal Gear. However, my older brother dissuaded me from ever playing it, because he figured that I wouldn’t like it. Two years later, in 1998, I’d quickly remember the NES game that I missed out on because I started seeing commercials for Metal Gear Solid (MGS). So now, let’s fast forward to 2003. By this time, I had already completed MGS and I just got finished watching the ending to MGS2: Sons of Liberty. I felt that while I was waiting for another sequel to be made, I owed it to myself to track down a copy of the original Metal Gear. After finally finding the game and popping it into my NES, I began to see what I had missed out on.
The R-Type series is regarded by many as one of the biggest icons of the 2D Shooter. In 1991, developer Irem created Super R-Type to go alongside the launch of the Super Nintendo. It proved to be a fairly successful game, since it was basically the home console port of R-Type II. Personally, I’m a bigger fan of the Gradius series, but Super R-Type will always have a special place in my heart.
Upon seeing Flashback for the first time, I remember being shocked that the Super NES, or any 16-bit system was capable of producing a game of this caliber. Being a game that originated on PC and later ported to a good number of home consoles, all of the fluid gameplay still stayed intact. For me, I think the most impressive thing about this game was the inclusion of CG cut-scenes to help move the story along. Flashback was actually one of those games that I initially didn’t expect much from, but it ended up delivering the goods well before I got halfway through the game.
Blaster Master was one of the more fairly well known games from back in the day. The 1980’s were a time when certain features and aspects in video games could be still be called “new”. I’ll never forget back in 1990 when my brother’s best friend came over with his NES games. One if them in the bunch was Blaster Master. Never had I seen a game that featured an armored tank with the ability to shoot heavy weaponry and jump to reach higher platforms! I also notice that many games of the 80’s like toying around with the thought of radioactive things causing a bit of havoc for the main hero.
Double Dragon started out, as many brawlers did, in the arcade. Not too long afterwards, it made its way onto many console mediums. The NES, of course was one of them and it turned out to be a big success, despite some of the limitations of the programming. Technos is very well known by many gamers as the father of Double D. In fact, Technos played a major roll in helping the brawler genre to explode in popularity in the mid 80’s to the mid 90’s. I myself, vaguely remember playing this game back in the early 90’s, but I didn’t really pay the game too much attention at the time. One of the things that did stick out in my head was the music at the title screen. Go figure.
Gradius is a neat little shooter to play on the NES. It was ported over from its 1985 arcade original, and this was also Konami’s first NES game to be released in America. The funny thing is I never saw this game in our family’s NES library back in the day…although we had Contra and Double Dribble. I didn’t discover this game until the second time that I got an NES in the house in 1996. Gradius came with it and I was immediately interested in seeing the game because it had that classic Konami box art. You know–the whole “grey box with the lines on both sides” look. The artwork really jumped out at me and made me want to play it.
Kirby sucks—enemies, that is. That’s something that made the series so unique to me ever since playing Kirby’s Dreamland on the Game Boy. Well, Kirby Super Star is by far, one of my most favorite SNES games. I remember being surprised at the opening scene when you first turn the game on. It shows a 3D-rendered Kirby moving quickly across a grass field. After seeing that, I knew that I’d be hooked on this game. Now, as far as the story goes in Kirby Super Star…
Man, I still remember that night back in 1989, when my brother came home with dad from the local toy store. He was holding a small white bag with a clown’s face on it, and he was very excited about what he had in it. What was inside, of course, turned out to be Double Dribble. Minutes later, we popped it into the NES, and had a blast within the first 5 minutes of getting into the game. The first thing that jumped out at me was the presentation. I still like viewing the opening scene after you press start, and seeing the crowds flood into the stadium, while a shortened, 8-bit rendition of the nation anthem plays…and Konami even threw in a blimp and some balloons for fun.
If there was a game that really helped to define the fun that could be had on an NES, it would have to be Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. This is a game that really made our summer afternoons go by in a flash. There was nothing better than the thrill of beating down opponents who were twice your size, and having Super Mario (the referee) declare you as the winner. You play the roll of 17-year-old Little Mac. He’s a 107 pound kid from The Bronx who wants to be the next World Video Boxing Association’s (W.V.B.A.) champion. But to do that, Mac is going to have face-off with heavyweights twice his size. All the classic characters are here—Piston Honda, Bald Bull, King Hippo, Super Macho Man, and a good number of colorful characters in between them.
As a kid, nothing seemed cooler in a video game than two shirtless dudes running around with heavy weaponry and blowing up aliens that were bent on dominating the earth. I still remember when my brother and I played Contra for the first time. I was hooked from the get go. This game is all about non-stop action, and quick reflexes. You have a choice of 5 weapons in the game– Machine Gun (M), Flame Thrower (F), Laser (L), Spread (S), and Rapid (R). The spread gun is still my personal favorite. Hands down, the worst weapon was the laser or that pea shooter weapon you start out with upon losing a life.
Sometimes I can’t help but to be amazed at how good this game is, even in this day and time. Star Fox was the first Super NES game to utilize a graphics enhancer called the “Super FX Micro Chip”. The action was hot, the graphics were phenomenal, and the big explosions were a blast to see.
In a desperate attempt to recall the nostalgia of writing Retro Profiles, I’ve compiled all of Infendo’s Retro Profiles together. It seemed fitting considering the impending launch of Nintendo’s Virtual Console and my very present lack of posts. Soon, rambling retro won’t be retro at all. It will be… What do you call a retro game with new life breathed through the Virtual Console?
