Ninja Master's

Ninja Master's: Haō Ninpō Chō, (ニンジャマスターズ ～覇王忍法帖～, Ninja Master's Scrolls of the Supreme Ninja Arts), is a ninja-themed 2D fighting game produced by ADK and originally released in 1996 for the Neo Geo arcade and home platform.[1][2] Ninja Master's was the sixth and final fighting game produced by ADK, following the four games in the World Heroes series and Aggressors of Dark Kombat. It was later featured in the 2008 compilation ADK Damashii for the PlayStation 2. Ninja Master's was also re-released on the Neo-Geo X handheld system in 2012,[3] and for the Virtual Console in 2013.[4] In 2019 it was released as part of Arcade Archives developed by Japanese company Hamster. As of 2021, Ninja Master's was released worldwide[5] on Nintendo Switch[6][7] and Xbox One.[8][9] The PS4 version remains exclusive to Asia[10][11] but includes both Japanese and English releases.

Not to be confused with Ninja Master.
Ninja Master's: Haō Ninpō Chō
Japanese Neo Geo AES cover art
Developer(s)ADK[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)
  • Neo Geo CD
Producer(s)Hiroyuki Toda
Designer(s)Kazuhiro Shibata
Programmer(s)Teruaki Shirasawa
Artist(s)Kazushige Hakamata
Composer(s)Hiroaki Kujirai
Hiroaki Shimizu
Yuka Watanabe
Platform(s)
Release
  • Arcade
    • WW: 27 May 1996
    Neo Geo AES
    • JP: 28 June 1996
    • NA: 28 June 1996
    • EU: 28 June 1996
    Neo Geo CD
    • JP: 27 September 1996
Genre(s)Fighting
Mode(s)
Arcade systemNeo Geo MVS

Gameplay
Gameplay screenshot showcasing a match between Sasuke Sarutobi and Tenho.

Ninja Master's follows the conventions of many previous 2D fighting games released for the Neo Geo.[12] The player must defeat their opponent in combat in a series of best-two-out-of-three matches. Characters can change between using the character's weapon or fight hand-to-hand during the middle of combat. Like the Art of Fighting series, Ninja Master's features a super meter.

Fighters
  • Sasuke Sarutobi - the main hero of the game. A ninja expert and betrayer of his own ninja clan who seeks to avenge his father's death.
  • Houoh - a skilled exorcist who is unsure of his own powers.
  • Goemon Ishikawa - a ninja thief whose goal is to collect the largest treasures in Japan.
  • Kamui - the rival to Sasuke. An old acquaintance of Sasuke's, Kamui hopes to destroy him after Sasuke has forsaken the clan.
  • Karasu - a serial killer and bodyguard who is obsessed with ravens (Karasu means "Raven" in Japanese).
  • Kasumi Kotenkenbu - a ninja apprentice whose grandmother prevents her from going after Nobunaga. Not to be confused with the characters of same name from the later Tecmo's Dead or Alive.
  • Natsume - an orphan who, after having a nightmare, strives to kill Nobunaga. She reappears in a hack of Sega's Streets of Rage 2 called Girls' Paradise.
  • Oda Nobunaga - the final boss of the game. A tyrant brainwashed by the demon known as Haoh, Nobunaga sets out to conquer the world.
  • Raiga - a renowned bounty hunter whose mission is to defeat Goemon.
  • Ranmaru Mumiyo Kagura - the sub-boss of the game. An immortal and loyal servant to Nobunaga, Ranmaru attempts to vanquish Haoh, who possesses Nobunaga.
  • Tenho - an old Japanese man who was abandoned in Korea at birth.
  • Kongouarahan Unzen - a former monk in search of the best aspect of life.

Like various ADK games, SNK Playmore also revived characters from Ninja Master's in later releases. The main character of Ninja Master's, Sasuke, appears as an SNK character card in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Ninja Master's on their July 1, 1996 issue as being the fourteenth most-popular arcade game at the time.[21] The game received generally positive reception from critics since its release in arcades and other platforms.[20]

In a retrospective review of the Neo Geo AES version, AllGame's Kyle Knight called it "a fairly good fighter that could've been a lot more."[13] Covering the Neo Geo AES version, the four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly offered some praise for the game's special moves and the ability to fight with or without a weapon, but generally panned Ninja Master's for its failure to distinguish itself from the many previous Neo Geo fighting games and for its outdated graphics, particularly the small character sprites and lack of scaling. Shawn Smith and Ken Williams remarked that the game's mediocrity is shocking given SNK's history and the $150 price tag.[15] In contrast, a Next Generation critic found originality to be the game's biggest asset, opining that although Ninja Master's lacks the balance and smoothness of the best Neo Geo fighting games, the ability to switch between weapons and bare-handed combat in mid-fight "adds dramatically to the strategy."[17]

Consoles Plus's Maxime Roure commended the detailed sprites, fluid animations, longevity and playability.[14] MAN!AC's Andreas Knauf felt mixed in regards to the audiovisual presentation and Samurai Shodown-style character roster but criticized the jerky animations and lack of innovations.[16] In contrast, Nintendo Life's Corbie Dillard regarded Ninja Master's as one of the more unique fighting games released on Neo Geo stating due to the ability to change between two fighting styles, stating that "at times it feels like a combination of Samurai Shodown and King of Fighters rolled into one game."[18] Ken Pyle of Manci Games praised the feudal-Japan- atmosphere, fast gameplay and responsive controls but felt mixed in regards to the character roster and criticized the audio design.[19]

In 2014, HobbyConsolas identified Ninja Master's as one of the twenty best games for the Neo Geo CD.[22]

Notes
  1. Additional work by SNK

References
  1. "Dossier: Neo Geo Y SNK — Lucha VS". GamesTech (in Spanish). No. 11. Ares Informática. July 2003. p. 57.
  2. "Title Catalogue - NEOGEO MUSEUM". SNK Playmore. 2010. Archived from the original on 2018-08-28. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  3. Tach, Dave (October 22, 2012). "Neo Geo X Gold Limited Edition includes Ninja Master's game card". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on May 11, 2017. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  4. "NINJA MASTER'S HAOH-NINPO-CHO | Virtual Console (Wii) | Games | Nintendo". Nintendo. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  5. "Another forgotten Neo Geo fighter returns with SNK's Ninja Master's". Destructoid. 20 January 2019. Retrieved 2021-04-30.
  6. "ACA NEOGEO NINJA MASTER'S for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Game Details". www.nintendo.com. Retrieved 2021-04-30.
  7. Moyse, Chris (January 20, 2019). "Another forgotten Neo Geo fighter returns with SNK's Ninja Master's - Yes, the apostrophe is supposed to be there". Destructoid. Enthusiast Gaming. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  8. "Buy ACA NEOGEO NINJA MASTER'S". Microsoft Store. Retrieved 2021-04-30.
  9. "ACA NEOGEO | HAMSTER Corporation". www.hamster.co.jp. Retrieved 2021-04-30.
  10. "アケアカNEOGEO | 株式会社ハムスター". www.hamster.co.jp. Retrieved 2021-04-30.
  11. "ACA NEOGEO | HAMSTER Corporation". www.hamster.co.jp. Retrieved 2021-04-30.
  12. ZZZ (May 2, 2008). "Ninja Master's". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  13. Knight, Kyle (1998). "Ninja Master's (Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System) - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 2014-11-15. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  14. Roure, Maxime (January 1997). "Test Neogeo - Ninja Master's". Consoles + (in French). No. 61. M.E.R.7. p. 128.
  15. Smith, Shawn; Hsu, Dan; Boyer, Crispin; Williams, Ken (August 1996). "Review Crew - Neo•Geo - Ninja Masters". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 85. Ziff Davis. p. 24.
  16. Knauf, Andreas (August 1996). "Spiele-Tests – NG: Ninja Masters". MAN!AC (in German). No. 34. Cybermedia. p. 75.
  17. "Finals - Neo-Geo - Ninja Master". Next Generation. No. 22. Imagine Media. October 1996. p. 176.
  18. Dillard, Corbie (November 27, 2012). "Ninja Master's: Haō Ninpō Chō Review (Neo Geo) - Something old, something new". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Archived from the original on February 17, 2020. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  19. Pyle, Ken (June 2002). "RetroReview - Ninja Master's (Neo Geo)". Manci Games. No. 2. Manci Games, Inc. p. 40.
  20. "NF編集部にまる - ネオジオゲームㇱインレビュー: NINJA MASTER'S ～覇王忍法帖～". Neo Geo Freak (in Japanese). No. 25. Geibunsha. June 1997. pp. 124–128.
  21. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - TVゲーム機ーソフトウェア (Video Game Software)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 521. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 July 1996. p. 21.
  22. Alonso, Álvaro (February 19, 2014). "Reportaje: Los 20 mejores juegos de Neo Geo CD". HobbyConsolas (in Spanish). Axel Springer SE. Archived from the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2023-02-06.
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