Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom
Encyclopedia
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom, known in Japan as is a side-scrolling platforming
video game developed and published by Tecmo. It was released in Japan on for the Famicom and in North America in August 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
. It was later ported
to the Atari Lynx by Atari
in 1993 and was re-released as part of its Ninja Gaiden Trilogy Super NES
compilation in 1995. It was released for the Wii
's Virtual Console
service in North America on . It was designed by Masato Kato
, who took over for Hideo Yoshizawa
—designer of the first two games in the NES series.
The game is the third installment of the Ninja Gaiden
trilogy, in which the events take place between the first two games in the series, Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
. The player controls Ryu Hayabusa
as he is framed for the murder of Irene Lew and investigates the circumstances behind her death. He eventually discovers a plan by CIA agent Foster and another person named Clancy to utilize an interdimensional rift
to create and control a race of energy-infused superhuman mutants. The game features similar gameplay from its previous two Ninja Gaiden titles and includes some new features such as the ability to hang overhead from pipes and sword power-up
s.
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom received mixed reviews from critics. While early reviews praised the game for its plot, gameplay, and difficulty; later reviews criticized it for having too outlandish of a plot as well as inconsistent level designs; they also criticized its difficulty level, in which the North American version was intentionally made harder than the Japanese version through limited continues, stronger enemies, and omission of a password
system. The Atari Lynx port, while receiving general praise for graphics and controls, received poor reception for its sound and for the inability for players to see characters and items, attributing it to the Lynx's small screen.
in which the player controls the player character
Ryu Hayabusa
as he investigates the events behind Irene Lew's death. In the game, Ryu can jump, hang, and climb up and down walls with the control pad; pressing the jump button while holding the control pad the direction away from the wall causes Ryu to spring off the wall. Ryu is also able to attack enemies with secondary weapons while on a wall by pressing the attack button. A new feature introduced in Ninja Gaiden III is the ability for Ryu to hang overhead from pipes or ivy; he can swing up on top or drop from them, and as with walls, he can only attack enemies while hanging with secondary weapons.
As with the previous Ninja Gaiden games, Ryu's physical strength is represented by a life meter
on the top of the screen; it decreases when Ryu gets his enemies or other dangerous objects. Throughout the levels, the player can find "Recovery Medicine" bottles that partially replenish Ryu's physical strength; as with all other items in the game, they are located in crystal balls that Ryu must slash to open. The player loses a "life" when Ryu's life meter runs out, he falls into a pit, or if the timer runs out. The game ends
when players lose all their lives, but they can continue
and resume play at the beginning of the Act in which they have lost all their lives. However, in Ninja Gaiden III, players only get five continues total before being required to restart the game from the beginning.
Ryu can defeat enemies by attacking with his Dragon Sword or by using secondary weapons which consume Ryu's "ninja power
"; such weapons include the following: "Windmill Throwing Stars
" which move back and forth like boomerang
s, "Fire Dragon Balls" which launch fireballs downward at an angle, the "Fire Wheel Art" which launches fireballs upward at an angle, the "Invincible Fire Wheel" that forms a series of rotating of fireballs around Ryu and destroys any enemy who comes into contact, and a new weapon in this series called the "Vacuum Wave Art" which hurls vacuum blades above and below Ryu simultaneously. Players can collect red and blue capsules to refill Ryu's ninja power, and they can also collect "Scrolls of the spirit of the Dragon" to increase Ryu's maximum ninja power level. Another new feature in Ninja Gaiden III is a new item called the "Dragon Spirit Sword" that increases Ryu range of his sword. At the end of each Act is a boss which has its own life meter that decreases when damaged; Ryu can defeat the boss by completely depleting its life meter. Ninja Gaiden IIIs first four bosses consist of the "bio-noids" – super-human creatures created and controlled by Foster to take over the world; they each represent the four elementals: earth, wind, fire, and water.
as an LCD handheld game. This port features five levels in which Ryu must reach the end of each level by defeating various robots with his Dragon Sword and a "ninja weapon ball". At the end of each level, Ryu fights a boss; the first four levels' bosses are the same bio-noids from the NES version, while the fifth level's final enemy is the "Giant Boss", which must be defeated to beat the game. Gameplay is similar to the NES version, in that Ryu and the bosses have life meters and that they feature similar items. Features included built-in sound which could be muted, battery backup high score, and an automatic switch-off feature in which the device shuts off after three minutes of inactivity.
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom takes place between the events of the original Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
. The story opens with Irene Lew, one of the protagonists in the first two Ninja Gaiden titles, an agent for the Central Intelligence Agency
on a mission called "Cardinal". She gets chased to the edge of a cliff by a man who looks like Ryu Hayabusa
, when the edge gives way, and Irene falls in the water to her death. Ryu is accused of Irene's murder but says it was not him, that it was somebody else who looked like him who tried to frame him. He first investigates a laboratory that Irene was investigating. After going through the laboratory, a mysterious man appears and tells Ryu to go the Castle Rock fortress, where he will give Ryu more information about Irene when he gets there.
On his way to the outer limits of Castle Rock fortress, Ryu encounters Foster, who was the head of the CIA's Special Auxiliary Unit in the first Ninja Gaiden game, via a video image. After saying that nobody has ever made it through the fortress' defenses alive, Ryu inquires out the whereabouts of Irene, in which Foster replies: "I don't know what you're talking about." Ryu vows to push on, Upon reaching the foundation of Castle Rock fortress, Ryu encounters his "original", or a person designed to look like Ryu, and finds out that is was he who killed Irene. They both thrust themselves at each other, and afterwards look-alike tells Ryu that he has gained all of his powers. The look-alike flees, saying that Foster ordered him not to eliminate Ryu quite yet.
When Ryu reaches Castle Rock fortress, he encounters the stranger whom he met after his trip to the laboratory, who reveals his name as Clancy. He tells Ryu about a project he and Foster have been working on called the "Biohazard plan". Clancy says that he can no longer work with Foster. He said Foster was designing creatures called "bio-noids" – transformed superhumans that are infused with "life energy" that flows from an interdimensional rift
that appeared after the demon from the first Ninja Gaiden game was defeated. He explained that this rift appeared at the site of the Castle Rock ruins, in which Foster rebuilt in order to harness this power. Clancy reveals that it was a bio-noid that killed Irene, and that Foster controls the bio-noids; he pleas to Ryu to stop Foster. After making his way into the fortress, he encounters Foster and the look-alike. Foster vows to eliminate Ryu and use the life energy from the rift and Ryu's secrets of the Dragon Clan to make him into an all-powerful bio-noid. Just as Foster and the look-alike advance on Ryu, Irene appears, to the amazement of both Ryu and Foster, and is armed with a machine gun; she was working with the army with regards to Foster's plan. The look-alike then transmutes into a bio-noid, which Ryu defeats.
After the defeat of the look-alike bio-noid, the door to the interdimensional rift throws wide open, and Clancy appears, telling Ryu, Irene, and Foster that they were all used as pawns in his plan to take over the ruins and claim all the life energy as his. Foster tries to follow Clancy through the door, but the energy tears him apart and is destroyed. Ryu instructs Irene to stay behind while he goes through the rift into the subspace, as he knows that he will be protected from the power that is inside. Ryu encounters the look-alike bio-noid again while inside the subspace, who was resurrected and transmuted into a super creature. After he defeats the look-alike, Ryu is instantly teleported into a room, where he meets Clancy once again. He tells Ryu that he has already claimed the life energy as his and explains the truth behind Castle Rock – that the ruins are a dimensional warship called the "Ancient Ship of Doom". He says that "these super-dimensional ruins are the foundation upon which a new world will be created", and that it will now be where all new life will originate from. The ship reappears in the real world, and Clancy then fires a test shot from the ship into the distance to demonstrate its power, which Irene watches in horror. He then drops Ryu through a trap door to the outside of the ship.
Ryu fights back to the inner chambers of the Ancient Ship of Doom, where he prepares to engage in the final showdown against Clancy, who has now transmuted into a super bio-noid. Clancy offers Ryu to have him and Irene work for him by his side wipe out the human race and usher a new age, but Ryu refuses and commences with the final battle. After transforming twice into progressively-stronger versions of himself, Clancy is defeated by Ryu, and Ryu is transported outside the warship and back to Irene; they both watch as the Ancient Ship of Doom is brought down and explodes, and they witness the crumbling of Castle Rock fortress. In the aftermath, Ryu tells Irene that Clancy's and Foster's plan have been foiled, and that mankind will live on and refuse to be part of anyone's evil plans; he adds that mankind would never stoop to a level in which they would completely destroy themselves out of mere ambition. The two watch as the sun rises and as a new day begins.
, Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
. It was released in Japan on for the Famicom under the title Ninja Ryūkenden III: Yomi no Hakobune; it was released in North America for the NES in August 1991. It was ported
to the Atari Lynx in 1993 by Atari
, and then Tecmo re-released the game as part of its Ninja Gaiden Trilogy Super NES
compilation in 1995. It was released for the Wii
's Virtual Console
service in North America on .
Ninja Gaiden III was designed by Masato Kato
, who took over Hideo Yoshizawa
's main role in the game's development from the previous two titles; In an interview with Kato, he said that Ninja Gaiden III needed "to go into a new direction". The game was given more of a science-fiction motif as opposed to the Cthulhu Mythos
motif in the previous two titles; the enemies changed to look more robotic than in the previous games. The original intent from the developers was to make the game easier than the previous titles, "to create a game a normal player can enjoy". However, the perceived popularity of difficult video games in North America caused Tecmo to release the game for the NES with a much higher difficulty level than the Japanese version. They also decided to place the events of Ninja Gaiden III between the events of the first two titles in order to maintain continuity
; they figured that it was too difficult to continue the story after Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, so they developed the plot sometime before the events of Ninja Gaiden II that revolved around the game's main antagonist, Foster.
, where it was displayed at the Consumer Software Group trade show in Tokyo on March 24–25, 1991. They said that Ninja Gaiden III was the best Famicom game in display there, that it "easily walked away with the best for this system!" The game was also previewed in the July 1991 issue of Nintendo Power
. They said that the game contained all the old features of previous Ninja Gaiden games which included ninja arts (but they lamented at the lack of the "jump and slash", absent from Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
) and similar usage of cinematic cutscenes that made the original Ninja Gaiden game popular. They also particularly praised the new moves Ryu had as well as an excellent plot. GamePro
magazine previewed the game in August 1991. They said that the game's visuals were good and on par with the previous titles and that the scrolling was great.
The game was featured in Electronic Gaming Monthlys July 1991 issue as an "EGM Exclusive". They praised the game, saying "Ninja Gaiden gets better every time!" It was also one of the featured games in the August 1991 issue of Nintendo Power, where it received 11 pages of coverage, which included a full walkthrough of the first four Acts plus a brief plot overview of the entire game. It was in this issue where Ninja Gaiden III was purported to be the final Ninja Gaiden game by Tecmo. As in their preview, they gave praise to the action, gameplay, elaborate plot, and difficulty. GamePro reviewed the game in its September 1991 issue. The magazine gave the game top ratings in all categories except sound. They noted the difficulty level as being dictated by the enemies' strategic placements in the various environments; they added that while Act 1 is easy, the remainder of the game is very difficult. The review praised the usage and usefulness of the secondary weapons, Ryu's new ability to hang overhead, and the new addition of the sword power-up, which it said bore resemblance to the game Strider
. They slightly criticized the game for leaving out the "cloning" power-up from Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
as well as the limited continues and lack of password
s. In March 1992, Ninja Gaiden III received three nominations in the "Nintendo Power Awards '91" in the following NES-related categories: "Best Graphics and Sound", "Best Challenge", and "Best Overall". It won in the "Best Challenge" category; the magazine commented that "the game-playing public knows a challenging game when they see one!" It placed second in the "Best Graphics and Sound" category, finishing behind Battletoads
for the top spot. It was the ranked as the third "Best Overall" NES title for 1991, finishing close behind Tecmo Super Bowl
.
The Atari Lynx version of Ninja Gaiden III also received coverage in various magazines in 1994. In GamePro
magazine, they criticized the fact that the Lynx's small screen makes it difficult for players to see the various power-ups and enemies and to use secondary weapons. However, they praised the good controls, and they said the sound was fine though "weird and spacy". VideoGames & Computer Entertainment praised the game for being better than the arcade version
that was previously ported
to the Lynx, but they were disappointed that Tecmo did not port the first two NES Ninja Gaiden titles to the handheld, as well. Electronic Gaming Monthly praised Tecmo for a good translation of the game from the NES to the Lynx – complete with good graphics, controls, and varied gameplay – while saying that "Ninja Gaiden [III] is a game that the Atari Lynx has been longing for". Despite that, the reviewers noted that the Lynx's small screen made all the sprites too small for most players to see well, and the screen's blurring makes it frustrating for players to track character movements. In a retrospective review, Allgame
gave a mostly negative review, saying that the background makes it difficult to see foreground elements, that players cannot see their character or what power-ups they are collecting, and that sound is very poor, saying "thirteen banshee
s all wailing different, off-key songs would only begin to approach just how bad the music is".
A few modern video gaming websites reviewed Ninja Gaiden III upon its release to the Virtual Console
in 2008. Nintendo Life's Damien McFerran gave lackluster ratings, saying that the game "passed under the radar of many a videogame enthusiast". He added that while the presentation was great, he pointed out criticisms in the silly plot, the inconsistently laid-out level designs, and frustrating difficulty in addition to the five-continue limit. He said that many gamers would prefer the previous two Ninja Gaiden titles over this one. IGN
's Lucas Thomas appreciated the improvement in Ryu's ability to scale and climb on top of walls, his ability to hang overhead, good storyline, and the new items such as the Dragon Sword power-up and the Vacuum Wave. His chief criticism was the game's difficulty, saying that it's not the "rewarding kind of difficult" but instead "the cheap, annoying kind of difficult that makes you want to throw your controller at the TV screen and just go read a book". As with the Nintendo Life review, Thomas similarly criticized the inconsistent level design as well as a storyline which becomes progressively more bizarre, including "weird science-fiction themes about bionics and clones".
In a retrospective of the Ninja Gaiden
series, Eurogamer
said that Ninja Gaiden III was the only game in the NES trilogy not to make it to Europe. They made similar criticisms about the difficulty level, saying that the North American version was made more difficult than the Japanese version by utilizing limited continues, making the enemies much more powerful, and removing the password system present in the Japanese version. They said the story was too outlandish, calling the plot, of which a short-lived anime
Ninja Gaiden series would loosely be based, "a glorious load of old bollocks". While the version from Ninja Gaiden Trilogy for the Super NES remedied most of their criticisms, they said that the game added new frustrations which included slower framerates, lower-quality controls, and the omission and shuffling around of several tracks, which they said "is precisely the sort of thing that makes die-hard videogame fans apoplectic with rage".
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
video game developed and published by Tecmo. It was released in Japan on for the Famicom and in North America in August 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
. It was later ported
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
to the Atari Lynx by Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
in 1993 and was re-released as part of its Ninja Gaiden Trilogy Super NES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
compilation in 1995. It was released for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
's Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
service in North America on . It was designed by Masato Kato
Masato Kato
is a Japanese video game artist, scenario writer and director. In the early days of his career, he was credited under the pseudonyms of "Runmaru" and "Runmal".- Biography :...
, who took over for Hideo Yoshizawa
Hideo Yoshizawa
is a video game developer and director currently employed by Namco. Prior to being employed by Namco, he worked for Tecmo and was involved in the original Ninja Gaiden trilogy for the Nintendo Entertainment System under the name "Sakurazaki".-Games credited:...
—designer of the first two games in the NES series.
The game is the third installment of the Ninja Gaiden
Ninja Gaiden
is a series of video games by Tecmo featuring the ninja Ryu Hayabusa as its protagonist. The series was originally known as in Japan. The word "gaiden" in the North American Ninja Gaiden title means "side-story" in Japanese, even though the Ninja Gaiden series is not a spinoff of a previous series...
trilogy, in which the events take place between the first two games in the series, Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, known in Japan as and as Shadow Warriors 2 in Europe, is a side-scrolling platforming video game developed and published by Tecmo for the Nintendo Entertainment System . It was released in Japan on , in North America in May 1990, and in Europe on...
. The player controls Ryu Hayabusa
Ryu Hayabusa
is the protagonist of the Ninja Gaiden video game series as well as a player character in the Dead or Alive series, both published by Tecmo. According to the game canon, Ryu Hayabusa is a ninja and the leader of the that has spiritual, physical and magical ties to ancient dragons...
as he is framed for the murder of Irene Lew and investigates the circumstances behind her death. He eventually discovers a plan by CIA agent Foster and another person named Clancy to utilize an interdimensional rift
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
to create and control a race of energy-infused superhuman mutants. The game features similar gameplay from its previous two Ninja Gaiden titles and includes some new features such as the ability to hang overhead from pipes and sword power-up
Power-up
In computer and video games, power-ups are objects that instantly benefit or add extra abilities to the game character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a benefit and can be used at a time chosen by the player...
s.
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom received mixed reviews from critics. While early reviews praised the game for its plot, gameplay, and difficulty; later reviews criticized it for having too outlandish of a plot as well as inconsistent level designs; they also criticized its difficulty level, in which the North American version was intentionally made harder than the Japanese version through limited continues, stronger enemies, and omission of a password
Password (video games)
In many video games of the 8-bit and, to a lesser extent, 16-bit eras , after a level was beaten and/or when all continues were used, the game would display a password, that when entered in the game would allow the player to return to this part in the game...
system. The Atari Lynx port, while receiving general praise for graphics and controls, received poor reception for its sound and for the inability for players to see characters and items, attributing it to the Lynx's small screen.
Gameplay
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom is a side-scrolling platform gamePlatform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
in which the player controls the player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
Ryu Hayabusa
Ryu Hayabusa
is the protagonist of the Ninja Gaiden video game series as well as a player character in the Dead or Alive series, both published by Tecmo. According to the game canon, Ryu Hayabusa is a ninja and the leader of the that has spiritual, physical and magical ties to ancient dragons...
as he investigates the events behind Irene Lew's death. In the game, Ryu can jump, hang, and climb up and down walls with the control pad; pressing the jump button while holding the control pad the direction away from the wall causes Ryu to spring off the wall. Ryu is also able to attack enemies with secondary weapons while on a wall by pressing the attack button. A new feature introduced in Ninja Gaiden III is the ability for Ryu to hang overhead from pipes or ivy; he can swing up on top or drop from them, and as with walls, he can only attack enemies while hanging with secondary weapons.
As with the previous Ninja Gaiden games, Ryu's physical strength is represented by a life meter
Health (gaming)
Health is a game mechanic used in role-playing, computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPCs, and related objects. This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar....
on the top of the screen; it decreases when Ryu gets his enemies or other dangerous objects. Throughout the levels, the player can find "Recovery Medicine" bottles that partially replenish Ryu's physical strength; as with all other items in the game, they are located in crystal balls that Ryu must slash to open. The player loses a "life" when Ryu's life meter runs out, he falls into a pit, or if the timer runs out. The game ends
Game over
Game Over is a message in video games which signals that the game has ended, often due to a negative outcome - although the phrase sometimes follows the end credits after successful completion of a game...
when players lose all their lives, but they can continue
Continue (video gaming)
Continue is a common term in video games for the option to continue the game after all of the player's lives have been lost, rather than ending the game and restarting from the very beginning.-Arcade games:...
and resume play at the beginning of the Act in which they have lost all their lives. However, in Ninja Gaiden III, players only get five continues total before being required to restart the game from the beginning.
Ryu can defeat enemies by attacking with his Dragon Sword or by using secondary weapons which consume Ryu's "ninja power
Magic point
Magic points are units of magical power that are used in many role-playing, computer role-playing and similar games as an expendable resource that is needed to pay for magic spells and other abilities, such as special attacks...
"; such weapons include the following: "Windmill Throwing Stars
Shuriken
A shuriken is a traditional Japanese concealed weapon that was generally used for throwing, and sometimes stabbing or slashing...
" which move back and forth like boomerang
Boomerang
A boomerang is a flying tool with a curved shape used as a weapon or for sport.-Description:A boomerang is usually thought of as a wooden device, although historically boomerang-like devices have also been made from bones. Modern boomerangs used for sport are often made from carbon fibre-reinforced...
s, "Fire Dragon Balls" which launch fireballs downward at an angle, the "Fire Wheel Art" which launches fireballs upward at an angle, the "Invincible Fire Wheel" that forms a series of rotating of fireballs around Ryu and destroys any enemy who comes into contact, and a new weapon in this series called the "Vacuum Wave Art" which hurls vacuum blades above and below Ryu simultaneously. Players can collect red and blue capsules to refill Ryu's ninja power, and they can also collect "Scrolls of the spirit of the Dragon" to increase Ryu's maximum ninja power level. Another new feature in Ninja Gaiden III is a new item called the "Dragon Spirit Sword" that increases Ryu range of his sword. At the end of each Act is a boss which has its own life meter that decreases when damaged; Ryu can defeat the boss by completely depleting its life meter. Ninja Gaiden IIIs first four bosses consist of the "bio-noids" – super-human creatures created and controlled by Foster to take over the world; they each represent the four elementals: earth, wind, fire, and water.
Tiger Handheld version
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom was ported by Tiger ElectronicsTiger Electronics
Tiger Electronics is an American toy manufacturer, best known for its handheld LCD games, the Furby, and Giga Pets. When Tiger was an independent company, Tiger Electronics Inc., its headquarters were in Vernon Hills, Illinois....
as an LCD handheld game. This port features five levels in which Ryu must reach the end of each level by defeating various robots with his Dragon Sword and a "ninja weapon ball". At the end of each level, Ryu fights a boss; the first four levels' bosses are the same bio-noids from the NES version, while the fifth level's final enemy is the "Giant Boss", which must be defeated to beat the game. Gameplay is similar to the NES version, in that Ryu and the bosses have life meters and that they feature similar items. Features included built-in sound which could be muted, battery backup high score, and an automatic switch-off feature in which the device shuts off after three minutes of inactivity.
Plot
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, known in Japan as and as Shadow Warriors 2 in Europe, is a side-scrolling platforming video game developed and published by Tecmo for the Nintendo Entertainment System . It was released in Japan on , in North America in May 1990, and in Europe on...
. The story opens with Irene Lew, one of the protagonists in the first two Ninja Gaiden titles, an agent for the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
on a mission called "Cardinal". She gets chased to the edge of a cliff by a man who looks like Ryu Hayabusa
Ryu Hayabusa
is the protagonist of the Ninja Gaiden video game series as well as a player character in the Dead or Alive series, both published by Tecmo. According to the game canon, Ryu Hayabusa is a ninja and the leader of the that has spiritual, physical and magical ties to ancient dragons...
, when the edge gives way, and Irene falls in the water to her death. Ryu is accused of Irene's murder but says it was not him, that it was somebody else who looked like him who tried to frame him. He first investigates a laboratory that Irene was investigating. After going through the laboratory, a mysterious man appears and tells Ryu to go the Castle Rock fortress, where he will give Ryu more information about Irene when he gets there.
On his way to the outer limits of Castle Rock fortress, Ryu encounters Foster, who was the head of the CIA's Special Auxiliary Unit in the first Ninja Gaiden game, via a video image. After saying that nobody has ever made it through the fortress' defenses alive, Ryu inquires out the whereabouts of Irene, in which Foster replies: "I don't know what you're talking about." Ryu vows to push on, Upon reaching the foundation of Castle Rock fortress, Ryu encounters his "original", or a person designed to look like Ryu, and finds out that is was he who killed Irene. They both thrust themselves at each other, and afterwards look-alike tells Ryu that he has gained all of his powers. The look-alike flees, saying that Foster ordered him not to eliminate Ryu quite yet.
When Ryu reaches Castle Rock fortress, he encounters the stranger whom he met after his trip to the laboratory, who reveals his name as Clancy. He tells Ryu about a project he and Foster have been working on called the "Biohazard plan". Clancy says that he can no longer work with Foster. He said Foster was designing creatures called "bio-noids" – transformed superhumans that are infused with "life energy" that flows from an interdimensional rift
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
that appeared after the demon from the first Ninja Gaiden game was defeated. He explained that this rift appeared at the site of the Castle Rock ruins, in which Foster rebuilt in order to harness this power. Clancy reveals that it was a bio-noid that killed Irene, and that Foster controls the bio-noids; he pleas to Ryu to stop Foster. After making his way into the fortress, he encounters Foster and the look-alike. Foster vows to eliminate Ryu and use the life energy from the rift and Ryu's secrets of the Dragon Clan to make him into an all-powerful bio-noid. Just as Foster and the look-alike advance on Ryu, Irene appears, to the amazement of both Ryu and Foster, and is armed with a machine gun; she was working with the army with regards to Foster's plan. The look-alike then transmutes into a bio-noid, which Ryu defeats.
After the defeat of the look-alike bio-noid, the door to the interdimensional rift throws wide open, and Clancy appears, telling Ryu, Irene, and Foster that they were all used as pawns in his plan to take over the ruins and claim all the life energy as his. Foster tries to follow Clancy through the door, but the energy tears him apart and is destroyed. Ryu instructs Irene to stay behind while he goes through the rift into the subspace, as he knows that he will be protected from the power that is inside. Ryu encounters the look-alike bio-noid again while inside the subspace, who was resurrected and transmuted into a super creature. After he defeats the look-alike, Ryu is instantly teleported into a room, where he meets Clancy once again. He tells Ryu that he has already claimed the life energy as his and explains the truth behind Castle Rock – that the ruins are a dimensional warship called the "Ancient Ship of Doom". He says that "these super-dimensional ruins are the foundation upon which a new world will be created", and that it will now be where all new life will originate from. The ship reappears in the real world, and Clancy then fires a test shot from the ship into the distance to demonstrate its power, which Irene watches in horror. He then drops Ryu through a trap door to the outside of the ship.
Ryu fights back to the inner chambers of the Ancient Ship of Doom, where he prepares to engage in the final showdown against Clancy, who has now transmuted into a super bio-noid. Clancy offers Ryu to have him and Irene work for him by his side wipe out the human race and usher a new age, but Ryu refuses and commences with the final battle. After transforming twice into progressively-stronger versions of himself, Clancy is defeated by Ryu, and Ryu is transported outside the warship and back to Irene; they both watch as the Ancient Ship of Doom is brought down and explodes, and they witness the crumbling of Castle Rock fortress. In the aftermath, Ryu tells Irene that Clancy's and Foster's plan have been foiled, and that mankind will live on and refuse to be part of anyone's evil plans; he adds that mankind would never stoop to a level in which they would completely destroy themselves out of mere ambition. The two watch as the sun rises and as a new day begins.
Development
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom was developed and released by Tecmo, who also did the previous two games in the seriesNinja Gaiden
is a series of video games by Tecmo featuring the ninja Ryu Hayabusa as its protagonist. The series was originally known as in Japan. The word "gaiden" in the North American Ninja Gaiden title means "side-story" in Japanese, even though the Ninja Gaiden series is not a spinoff of a previous series...
, Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, known in Japan as and as Shadow Warriors 2 in Europe, is a side-scrolling platforming video game developed and published by Tecmo for the Nintendo Entertainment System . It was released in Japan on , in North America in May 1990, and in Europe on...
. It was released in Japan on for the Famicom under the title Ninja Ryūkenden III: Yomi no Hakobune; it was released in North America for the NES in August 1991. It was ported
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
to the Atari Lynx in 1993 by Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
, and then Tecmo re-released the game as part of its Ninja Gaiden Trilogy Super NES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
compilation in 1995. It was released for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
's Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
service in North America on .
Ninja Gaiden III was designed by Masato Kato
Masato Kato
is a Japanese video game artist, scenario writer and director. In the early days of his career, he was credited under the pseudonyms of "Runmaru" and "Runmal".- Biography :...
, who took over Hideo Yoshizawa
Hideo Yoshizawa
is a video game developer and director currently employed by Namco. Prior to being employed by Namco, he worked for Tecmo and was involved in the original Ninja Gaiden trilogy for the Nintendo Entertainment System under the name "Sakurazaki".-Games credited:...
's main role in the game's development from the previous two titles; In an interview with Kato, he said that Ninja Gaiden III needed "to go into a new direction". The game was given more of a science-fiction motif as opposed to the Cthulhu Mythos
Cthulhu Mythos
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...
motif in the previous two titles; the enemies changed to look more robotic than in the previous games. The original intent from the developers was to make the game easier than the previous titles, "to create a game a normal player can enjoy". However, the perceived popularity of difficult video games in North America caused Tecmo to release the game for the NES with a much higher difficulty level than the Japanese version. They also decided to place the events of Ninja Gaiden III between the events of the first two titles in order to maintain continuity
Continuity (fiction)
In fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer over some period of time...
; they figured that it was too difficult to continue the story after Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, so they developed the plot sometime before the events of Ninja Gaiden II that revolved around the game's main antagonist, Foster.
Reception
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom received preview coverage in video gaming magazine Electronic Gaming MonthlyElectronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
, where it was displayed at the Consumer Software Group trade show in Tokyo on March 24–25, 1991. They said that Ninja Gaiden III was the best Famicom game in display there, that it "easily walked away with the best for this system!" The game was also previewed in the July 1991 issue of Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
. They said that the game contained all the old features of previous Ninja Gaiden games which included ninja arts (but they lamented at the lack of the "jump and slash", absent from Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, known in Japan as and as Shadow Warriors 2 in Europe, is a side-scrolling platforming video game developed and published by Tecmo for the Nintendo Entertainment System . It was released in Japan on , in North America in May 1990, and in Europe on...
) and similar usage of cinematic cutscenes that made the original Ninja Gaiden game popular. They also particularly praised the new moves Ryu had as well as an excellent plot. GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
magazine previewed the game in August 1991. They said that the game's visuals were good and on par with the previous titles and that the scrolling was great.
The game was featured in Electronic Gaming Monthlys July 1991 issue as an "EGM Exclusive". They praised the game, saying "Ninja Gaiden gets better every time!" It was also one of the featured games in the August 1991 issue of Nintendo Power, where it received 11 pages of coverage, which included a full walkthrough of the first four Acts plus a brief plot overview of the entire game. It was in this issue where Ninja Gaiden III was purported to be the final Ninja Gaiden game by Tecmo. As in their preview, they gave praise to the action, gameplay, elaborate plot, and difficulty. GamePro reviewed the game in its September 1991 issue. The magazine gave the game top ratings in all categories except sound. They noted the difficulty level as being dictated by the enemies' strategic placements in the various environments; they added that while Act 1 is easy, the remainder of the game is very difficult. The review praised the usage and usefulness of the secondary weapons, Ryu's new ability to hang overhead, and the new addition of the sword power-up, which it said bore resemblance to the game Strider
Strider (arcade game)
Strider, released in Japan as is a 1989 side-scrolling platform game released for the CP System arcade hardware by Capcom. It became one of Capcom's early hits before Street Fighter II, revered for its innovative gameplay and multilingual voice clips during cutscenes .-Plot: Strider is set in a...
. They slightly criticized the game for leaving out the "cloning" power-up from Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, known in Japan as and as Shadow Warriors 2 in Europe, is a side-scrolling platforming video game developed and published by Tecmo for the Nintendo Entertainment System . It was released in Japan on , in North America in May 1990, and in Europe on...
as well as the limited continues and lack of password
Password (video games)
In many video games of the 8-bit and, to a lesser extent, 16-bit eras , after a level was beaten and/or when all continues were used, the game would display a password, that when entered in the game would allow the player to return to this part in the game...
s. In March 1992, Ninja Gaiden III received three nominations in the "Nintendo Power Awards '91" in the following NES-related categories: "Best Graphics and Sound", "Best Challenge", and "Best Overall". It won in the "Best Challenge" category; the magazine commented that "the game-playing public knows a challenging game when they see one!" It placed second in the "Best Graphics and Sound" category, finishing behind Battletoads
Battletoads
Battletoads is a platformer video game created by Tim and Chris Stamper and developed by Rare. Starring three anthropomorphic toads named after skin conditions , the game was created to rival the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games....
for the top spot. It was the ranked as the third "Best Overall" NES title for 1991, finishing close behind Tecmo Super Bowl
Tecmo Super Bowl
Tecmo Super Bowl , is an American football video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System that was released in 1991...
.
The Atari Lynx version of Ninja Gaiden III also received coverage in various magazines in 1994. In GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
magazine, they criticized the fact that the Lynx's small screen makes it difficult for players to see the various power-ups and enemies and to use secondary weapons. However, they praised the good controls, and they said the sound was fine though "weird and spacy". VideoGames & Computer Entertainment praised the game for being better than the arcade version
Ninja Gaiden (arcade)
Ninja Gaiden, known in Japan as and in Europe as Shadow Warriors, is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up originally released by Tecmo as a coin-operated video game. It was first released in North America in and in Japan and Europe in...
that was previously ported
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
to the Lynx, but they were disappointed that Tecmo did not port the first two NES Ninja Gaiden titles to the handheld, as well. Electronic Gaming Monthly praised Tecmo for a good translation of the game from the NES to the Lynx – complete with good graphics, controls, and varied gameplay – while saying that "Ninja Gaiden [III] is a game that the Atari Lynx has been longing for". Despite that, the reviewers noted that the Lynx's small screen made all the sprites too small for most players to see well, and the screen's blurring makes it frustrating for players to track character movements. In a retrospective review, Allgame
Allgame
Allgame is a commercial database of information about arcade games, video games and console manufacturers.Allgame is owned by All Media Guide, along with Allmusic and Allmovie....
gave a mostly negative review, saying that the background makes it difficult to see foreground elements, that players cannot see their character or what power-ups they are collecting, and that sound is very poor, saying "thirteen banshee
Banshee
The banshee , from the Irish bean sí is a feminine spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld....
s all wailing different, off-key songs would only begin to approach just how bad the music is".
A few modern video gaming websites reviewed Ninja Gaiden III upon its release to the Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
in 2008. Nintendo Life's Damien McFerran gave lackluster ratings, saying that the game "passed under the radar of many a videogame enthusiast". He added that while the presentation was great, he pointed out criticisms in the silly plot, the inconsistently laid-out level designs, and frustrating difficulty in addition to the five-continue limit. He said that many gamers would prefer the previous two Ninja Gaiden titles over this one. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Lucas Thomas appreciated the improvement in Ryu's ability to scale and climb on top of walls, his ability to hang overhead, good storyline, and the new items such as the Dragon Sword power-up and the Vacuum Wave. His chief criticism was the game's difficulty, saying that it's not the "rewarding kind of difficult" but instead "the cheap, annoying kind of difficult that makes you want to throw your controller at the TV screen and just go read a book". As with the Nintendo Life review, Thomas similarly criticized the inconsistent level design as well as a storyline which becomes progressively more bizarre, including "weird science-fiction themes about bionics and clones".
In a retrospective of the Ninja Gaiden
Ninja Gaiden
is a series of video games by Tecmo featuring the ninja Ryu Hayabusa as its protagonist. The series was originally known as in Japan. The word "gaiden" in the North American Ninja Gaiden title means "side-story" in Japanese, even though the Ninja Gaiden series is not a spinoff of a previous series...
series, Eurogamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
said that Ninja Gaiden III was the only game in the NES trilogy not to make it to Europe. They made similar criticisms about the difficulty level, saying that the North American version was made more difficult than the Japanese version by utilizing limited continues, making the enemies much more powerful, and removing the password system present in the Japanese version. They said the story was too outlandish, calling the plot, of which a short-lived anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
Ninja Gaiden series would loosely be based, "a glorious load of old bollocks". While the version from Ninja Gaiden Trilogy for the Super NES remedied most of their criticisms, they said that the game added new frustrations which included slower framerates, lower-quality controls, and the omission and shuffling around of several tracks, which they said "is precisely the sort of thing that makes die-hard videogame fans apoplectic with rage".