Ninja Gaiden (NES)

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Ninja Gaiden (NES).

To do: Tweets from Hideo Yoshizawa

Development Timeline#

1987

• Unknown - Development begins, alongside the arcade version.

1988

• January-August - Various previews of the game are published (see below for specifics).
• December 9 - Ninja Ryukenden is released in Japan.

1989

• March 10 - Ninja Gaiden is released in North America.

1991

• August 15 - Shadow Warriors is released in Europe.

Famimaga Previews#

January 15 Issue#

Shows off a very early version of the game, which at this point used the title Ninja Gaiden.

• Ryu is orange here, rather than the final game's blue. Curiously, this early color seems to have been used for the clone ninjas in the sequel.
• No enemies are present.
• There doesn't seem to be a HUD.
• This layout isn't present anywhere in the final.

August 5 Issue#

Further along in development (although still very early), now using the Ninja Ryukenden name.

Famimaga	Final

The opening features a yellow ninja and blue ninja rather than the orange and gray ninjas found in the final. Additionally, the moon appears to be white, although this could be due to the quality of the scan.

This scan also has many differences from the final:

• There is now a proper HUD, although it doesn't seem to function.
  • The life bars are orange instead of pink.
  • The font is very different, resembling that of the arcade version.
• This layout isn't used anywhere in the final.
• Ryu is still orange.

This screenshot shows enemies in a boss area (in this case, the bar where you fight the first boss), which never happens in the final. Some other things to note:

• The boxer enemy has a slightly different design.
• The other enemy types shown don't appear until much later in the final game.
• The fire ninjutsu seems to work differently here.

Famitsu Preview#

From the June 17, 1988 issue. Despite this predating the August preview above, this build seems to be later in development.

Famitsu	Final

• The first boss is able to jump.
• The boss is green. The final would give him a purple coloration instead.
• The HUD now uses digits other than zero, but still seems to be mostly placeholder. It otherwise looks almost the same as in the above August preview.
  • The icons for the fire weapon and ki counter are different.

GTV Preview#

Watch on YouTubeFrom the July 1988 tape, with the Ninja Ryukenden footage starting at 0:34. The game seems to be mostly finalized at this point, but still has a few differences:

• The enemy ninja in the intro is still blue.
• There is an early version of the intro music that doesn't appear in the final.
• The subweapon slot in the HUD looks different.
• Ryu's sword swinging and item throw animations are slower.