Ninja Master's: Haō Ninpō Chō (ニンジャマスターズ ～覇王忍法帳～ roughly translated as "Ninja Master's Scrolls of the Supreme Ninja Arts") is a ninja

Ninja

A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...

-themed competitive fighting game

Fighting game

Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...

 produced by ADK

ADK (company)

, also known as , was a Japanese video game production company founded sometime in July of 1980. "ADK" is an acronym for Alpha, Denshi, and the Japanese term for "corporation", Kabushiki kaisha...

 originally released in for the Neo Geo

Neo Geo (console)

The is a cartridge-based arcade and home video game system released on July 1, 1991 by Japanese game company SNK. Being in the Fourth generation of Gaming, it was the first console in the former Neo Geo family, which only lived through the 1990s...

 arcade and home platform.

Ninja Master's was the sixth and final fighting game produced by ADK, following the four games in the World Heroes

World Heroes

is a series of fighting games created by ADK originally created for the Neo Geo MVS arcade cabinets with the assistance of SNK, though some of the games in the series were also ported to the Neo Geo AES and Neo-Geo CD platforms, as well as some non-SNK platforms such as the Super NES and the Sega...

series and Aggressors of Dark Kombat

Aggressors of Dark Kombat

Aggressors of Dark Kombat, sometimes abbreviated as ADK, and known in Japan as or simply GanGan, is a one-on-one fighting arcade game developed by Alpha Denshi Corp. and published by SNK...

. It was later featured in the compilation ADK Tamashii

ADK Tamashii

ADK Tamashi is a compilation of video games made and released by SNK Playmore in Japan only for the PlayStation 2 console.It includes 5 arcade/Neo Geo games which were all developed by ADK and published by SNK Playmore...

for the PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

.

Gameplay

Ninja Masters follows the conventions of many previous 2D fighting games released for the Neo-Geo. 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 King of Fighters series, Ninja Master's features a super meter.

Characters

• Houoh (voiced by Yoshikatsu Fujio) - a skilled exorcist who is unsure of his own powers.
• Goemon
  Ishikawa Goemon
  was a semi-legendary Japanese outlaw hero who stole gold and valuables and gave them to the poor. Goemon is notable for being boiled alive along with his son in public after a failed assassination attempt on the civil war-era warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. A large iron kettle-shaped bathtub is now...
  
  (voiced by T. Mukaiyama) - a ninja thief whose goal is to collect the largest treasures in Japan.
• Kamui (voiced by Masahiko Yano) - the rival to Sasuke. An old acquaintance of Sasuke's, Kamui hopes to destroy him after Sasuke has forsaken the clan.
• Karasu (voiced by Kouichi Koba) - a serial killer and bodyguard who is obsessed with ravens (Karasu means "Raven" in Japanese).
• Kasumi (voiced by Masami Katō) - a ninja apprentice whose grandmother prevents her from going after Nobunaga.
• Natsume (voiced by Mayumi Minoda) - an orphan who, after having a nightmare, strives to kill Nobunaga.
• Nobunaga
  Oda Nobunaga
  was the initiator of the unification of Japan under the shogunate in the late 16th century, which ruled Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was also a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. His opus was continued, completed and finalized by his successors Toyotomi...
  
  (voiced by Masao Harada) - the final boss of the game. A tyrant brainwashed by the demon known as Haoh, Nobunaga sets out to conquer the world.
• Raiga (voiced by Masahiro Yano) - a renowned bounty hunter whose mission is to defeat Goemon.
• Ranmaru
  Mori Ranmaru
  , born Mori Nagasada , was the son of Mori Yoshinari, and had 5 brothers in total, from the province of Mino. He was a member of the Mori Clan, descendants of the Seiwa Genji....
  
  (voiced by Yasue Ishi) - the sub-boss of the game. An immortal and loyal servant to Nobunaga, Ranmaru attempts to vanquish Haoh, who possesses Nobunaga.
• Sasuke
  Sarutobi Sasuke
  was a famous ninja in Japanese folklore. He is generally believed to be a Meiji period fictional creation based on the historical ninja ', although some argue for his actual existence.- In folklore :...
  
  (voiced by Kabao Kikkawa) - the main character of the game. A ninja expert and betrayer of his own ninja clan who seeks to avenge his father's death.
• Tenho (voiced by Shinobu Sekimoto) - an old Japanese man who was abandoned in Korea at birth.
• Unzen (voiced by Masahiko Yano) - a former monk in search of the best aspect of life.

Like various ADK

ADK (company)

, also known as , was a Japanese video game production company founded sometime in July of 1980. "ADK" is an acronym for Alpha, Denshi, and the Japanese term for "corporation", Kabushiki kaisha...

 games, SNK Playmore

SNK Playmore

SNK Playmore Corporation is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of , which was SNK's original name. The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986....

 also revived characters from this game in their last releases. In this case, Sasuke (the main character of this game) appears as an SNK character card in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS

SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash

SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash is a series of SNK Playmore games between 1999 and 2006 for hand-held consoles.This game has a CCG theme, spun off from the popular series of fighting games by SNK and Capcom, and also including references to many other kinds of games from both companies. The...

.

External links

• Ninja Master's Review at NeoGeo.com - Review 2