Ninja Gaiden (Arcade)

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A game overshadowed by its NES counterpart, mostly due to this game being a clunky beat em' up.

Sadly, the game is more remembered for its terrifying continue and game over screens and less for everything else.

Regional Differences#

The game was released in the US first as Ninja Gaiden, then, two months later, it was released in Europe as Shadow Warriors, due to the (UK-centric) taboo on the wordNinja''. And finally, one year later, it was released in Japan asNinja Ryukenden''.

Changes#

The Japanese version features some changes from the other versions:

Title Screen#

Japan	US	Europe

The Japanese version features a new and longer animation after the intro ends, while the US and European version shares the same one.

Also in the Japanese version, after the animation ends, a digitized voice shouts the game's title. In the other versions, there's no such feature.

Music#

To do: What other differences are there between the overseas and Japanese OSTs?

While the other background music tunes besides Stage 4 are the same as in the US and European versions, there are some minor additions to the tunes in the Japanese version.

Stage 1

In the US and European versions, the first and second verses share the same arrangement. In the Japanese version, however, the first verse features a new, more rock-oriented (albeit simpler) arrangement with greater emphasis on guitars, while the second verse retains the arrangement used in the overseas releases. This results into an excellent crescendo effect, as the song becomes increasingly climactic as it progresses.

Stage 4

The background music for Stage 4 was replaced in the Japanese version by another tune that resembles in some parts Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

Ryuichi Nitta composed the original overseas Stage 4 theme, while Mikio Saito composed the new Stage 4 theme for the Japanese version.

Round Clear

• In the Japanese version, after the stage clear jingle for each stage plays, the same digitized voice from the title screen shouts the game's title on the "stage clear" screen.

Game Over

In the Japanese version, two "Dosukoi!" from the E. Honda-like boss of stage 1 have been added towards the end of the Game Over jingle. None of these are present in the other versions, or at least only a "quiet" one.

Damage#

• In the Japanese version, every enemy causes normal damage during the final stage (a three-hit combo takes one square of the player's life bar). In the US and European versions, standard enemies and the mid-bosses just need to hit the player once to take off one or two life squares, and the last boss(es) can kill the player's character with just one attack.

Revisional Differences#

To do: More Revisional Differences (Japan sets 1 and 2 & World sets 1 and 2 in MAME)

Virtual Console/Arcade Archives#

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This game has been ported to the Nintendo Wii as a downloadable Virtual Console Arcade game as well as the PlayStation 4/Nintendo Switch as part of the Arcade Archives series. However, these releases contain the same changes found in Ninja Gaiden Black, including:

• The boss music in Stages 2 and 5 has been omitted from this version (due to the supposed similarity to Black Sabbath's "Iron Man"); in turn, the regular background music keeps playing even after the bosses appear (which would normally prompt the quick music switch).
• The use of the Star of David in the game's imagery (such as the rug at the end of Stage 4) was edited out.
• The text on the oil drums was changed from ESSO to KSSO.

The European version also uses the Ninja Gaiden title, due to the taboo on the word "ninja" having largely died out.

References#