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"Sublime ninja action."

As something of a newcomer to the Game Gear, I haven't quite got used to how short its games tend to be. It's not really a problem nowadays with old software being so cheap, but fifteen years ago, I'd hate to pay 25 quid (easily equivalent to £55 in today's prices) in the day for a game I'd finish in an afternoon. Ninja Gaiden, however, is an exception to the above relation between the price and the duration. Even though it's bound to be one the shortest Game Gear games ever - at little more than ten minutes, it's indeed just about as short as humanly possible - I wouldn't feel cheated out of my money notwithstanding. Its quality more than makes up for how short-lived it is...and let's not forget that actually making it all the way through may still take you some time.

Graphically, Ninja Gaiden is largely superb and occasionally breathtaking. It probably sports one of the most tasteful sets of levels, rivalling even early 16-bit titles in execution, coupled with exceptionally detailed and colourful cut-scenes that advance the story after each stage is complete (curiously, there is no intro). There could be more variety, especially among the enemies - there are only a couple different ones per level - but I suspect the designers didn't want to risk ending up with potential slowdown. Unfortunately, they did not succeed in getting rid of it completely as the enemies using animated projectiles and some of the bosses do tend to bring the screen almost to a halt. Interestingly, though - and fortunately - the game still remains reasonably controllable even in such circumstances, which certainly compliments Ninja Gaiden's game engine.

The sound is probably the game's weakest feature. The sound effects are certainly functional and inform the player well about what's going on in the game at any given moment but I found them overly soft and weedy. The music is mostly forgettable, except in the final stage where there is an odd pause between two tunes that startled me every time making me think I ran out of time. I also felt there was too much stereo separation: if you play the game with your headphones on, you'll notice that very few parts actually play on both channels, which is unusual and can even be distracting at times.

Any small misgivings are quickly forgotten once the action gets afoot, however. The controls in Ninja Gaiden are so good that they put the majority of Game Gear platformers to utter shame and in fact give a run for their money to many action games on non-portable 8-bit systems, as well, despite the notorious sloppines of the Game Gear directional pad. I honestly don't recall a single instance where I could attribute my getting hurt or dying to a problem with the controls. The superb animation plays a big part in creating the impression of freedom and fluidity of movement: Ryu runs, jumps, climbs, somersaults and slashes like the Prince on Persia on steroids, and does any of the above without any pauses or interruptions. Furthermore, you can steer your jump freely in mid-air without ever having that floaty, parachuting feeling; the only platformer where this felt even nicer still was Commander Keen 4 on the PC.

The gameplay in Ninja Gaiden is equally strong and yields to the controls quite beautifully. The level design enables, nay, encourages you to stop at nothing and for no-one. All moving platforms and even traps are best overcome by approaching them head-first and the fact that swinging the Dragonsword puts Ryu in attack mode regardless of his position relative to the enemy (except directly underneath or above him) means that you can also dispose of your foes on the move. This unusually generous collision detection is balanced off by zero invulnerability time upon getting hit. Considering that the brilliant level design makes it possible finish the game completely unscathed - once you get to grips with a level, it becomes little more than an entertaining hand-to-eye co-ordination exercise - this is a fair trade-off that proves to be functional most of the time. It can, however, result in some positively nasty juggling when Ryu gets caught between an enemy or a moving platform and the static scenery and may even kill him in the most extreme cases. This was again addressed by the designers by placing extra lives into the stages where you're most likely to succumb to the enemy attacks or fall to your death; somewhat inexplicably, though, not even 30,000 points, which is roughly the score you accumulate by the final stage, will reward the player in a similar way.

Ninja Gaiden distils the essence of 2D action gaming - navigating hazardous environments, killing enemies, recognising boss characters' patterns, and such - to the brink of absolute purity. Everything in the game feels well thought out and deliberate, and since progressing requires the player to master the various skills above, the designers rightly saw no reason in having him then reiterate them ad nauseam. Certainly, a person looking for his money's worth on strictly quantitative terms might feel disappointed at the game's brevity. Most experienced players, however, are likely to deem it just long enough as Ninja Gaiden is by no means a case of "reductio ad absurdum"; rather, it embodies the wisdom of "sapienti sat".

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/12/07