A playthough of SNK and Alpha Denshi's 1991 ninja-themed beat 'em up for the Neo Geo AES, Ninja Combat.
Ninja Combat was one of the ealy Neo Geo titles developed by ADK, and the AES home version appeared just a few months after the game debuted in American arcades.
It features three people battling through 199X New York City in an effort to put a stop to an evil ninja clan leader and his minions. The plot is half-absurd, half-boiler plate, but like many early Neo Geo games, it's entertaining in large part because it is all so ridiculous.
The game plays fairly similarly to Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden arcade game with a heap load of projectiles thrown into the mix. You chose between three characters that each can fling waves of upgradable projectile weapons at the baddies in addition to the standard beat 'em up catalog of moves.
The gameplay is pretty standard, but boy is it *difficult*! The enemies come in relentless packs with little downtime, and while some of them are mindless ninja fodder, many of them are merciless when it comes to breaking throw your attacks and laying down some pain. The controls are a bit stiff and take some getting used to, but timing is all important in Ninja Combat, and until you nail now how to take advantage of openings in the enemy defense, you'll be on the receiving end of many, many frustrating game overs. The more thoroughly you learn it, the more fun it becomes, but I do think that it crosses the line into unfair territory a bit too often for its own good. I enjoyed the game, but it is a fairly acquired taste.
It is a suitably good looking game for a 1991 Neo Geo release. The character designs are a bit fugly, but they are well detailed, nicely animated, and a very colorful. The backgrounds all look great and and make the game feel like it's a bit more than a standard 16-bit title with all of their little flourishes, and the scaling effects are really cool to see. The music is there, but it doesn't really add or take away from anything - it's all standard stuff. The voice acting is pretty hilariously cringey, though.
Overall, Ninja Combat is an alright game. It's not unique or polished enough to be particularly memorable, and it lags behind other Neo Geo titles in terms of its playability and its presentation, but if you're a fan of beat 'em ups, it's worth a go. It lacks the substance and depth of games like Final Fight, Streets of Rage, and Sengoku, but I still had fun playing it. Just make sure you bring about of patience if you want to get far.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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27 сен 2024
