Ninja Gaiden (Atari Lynx video game)

Ninja Gaiden is an arcade adaption for the Atari Lynx under license from Tecmo.

Gameplay

Ninja Gaiden is a side-scrolling action game in which the player controls a trainee ninja that can jump, punch, kick and use weapons. The enemy opponents come in the form of; masked ninja, lumberjack ninja, clawed warrior, dark lord, black ninja, sumo wrestler and white ninja. The final boss is known as the dark lord who uses razor-sharp sabres.^[1] The game is on a timer where the player has 99 seconds to complete each level. If the player fails to complete the level in that time the player loses a life.^[1] There are a number of power-ups and treasures in the game from extra time to swords. There is also a scoring system of points for each enemy killed.^[1]

Reception

Robert A. Jung reviewed the game which was published to IGN. He said the story was irrelevant, the game was a scaled down version of the arcade original he went on to write; "Sadly, Ninja Gaiden offers no improvement at all, and some would call its curtailing even worse." He praise the graphics but in his final verdict he wrote "Ninja Gaiden is not a bad game; it's just not a good game, either." Giving a final score of 7 out of 10.^[3] CVG magazine also reviewed the Atari Lynx version of the game in their August 1991 issue. Rob Swan said the game was exactly the same as the arcade coin-op. He felt the game was a little short of superb but really addictive, giving the game a score of 89 out of 100.^[2] Les Ellis reviewed the game in Raze Magazine giving a score of 91%.^[4]

References