Ninja Commando

Ninja Commando from Alpha Denshi (ADK) continues their tradition of hot ninja action on the Neo-Geo hardware. Even their games that weren't expressly about ninjas had ninjas in them. Well, except maybe for Blue's Journey? Still, this ninja game was very well received by critics of the day and garnered much praise from players in Japanese game centers upon release. As the eleventh most popular game in Japan in June of 1992, this little game beat out even the legendary arcade shmup Raiden for a bit in popularity. Oddly enough, despite general praise from critics and healthy sales in the arcade, Ninja Commando never received a home port outside of SNK hardware and has been generally lost to obscurity in the modern day aside from those who played it in the past. That's a real shame because it's quite good and would have made a great home port to the Mega Drive...albeit in stripped back form. 

Much like ADK's World Heroes series, the three ninja heroes in this game must travel across time to stop a nefarious enemy (who looks like a cross between Max Hedroom and David Bowie) who is invading different time periods to wreak havoc and take over the world...or time...or something. Each of the three characters have their own specific features that will cater to different gamers and even affect the game's difficulty. 

• Joe (Normal) is the all-rounder with a wide spread-shot and screen filling special moves. 

• Rayar (Easy) is the most powerful, with a more straight forward shot and can make copies of herself to further increase her firepower.

• Ryu (Hard), a descendant of Fuma from World Heroes, has weaker shots than Rayar and his special moves aren't as useful. 

The general gameplay loop is rather simple here: mash on the fire button to increase your firepower and run toward the top of the screen killing bad guys along the way. Unlike other vertical scrolling run-n-guns, like SNK's own Ikari Warriors, you can only shoot forward - so the game feels more like Technosoft's Elemental Master on the Mega Drive. Basically, it's more shump than run-n-gun but you scroll the screen rather than it auto-scrolling. 

There are no power-up items to collect, nor are there any penalties for using your normal special moves. Each character has at least three special moves they can use at any time, and each move is done with a traditional fighting game motion using controller sweeps or charge moves. Like early fighting games, though, you'll need pin-point precision to pull off the specials. Characters also have access to one devastating ninpo attack and one item that let's you transform into an animal spirit for a short time. The bomb-like ninpo attacks will take away a portion of your life when used (like in a traditional beat-em-up), so use these only when absolutely necessary. The animal spirits work like a short, timed invincibility, but the item drops that trigger this state are so rare in the game that it's almost not worth mentioning. Still, they look cool. 

While not terribly useful in most situations, ADK included a backflip mechanic done by pressing the B button. Unlike some other vertically scrolling run-n-guns, like Shock Troopers, this mechanic does not actually dodge enemies or their bullets. Rather, it's a simple mechanic that speeds up movement and allows you dash in eight direction. In addition to increasing your movement speed, you gain access to a high-powered throwing star attack you cannot use other wise. Upon pressing A to shoot while you're in the middle of your backflip, your character will shoot out a large throwing star in the opposite direction you're flipping. Essentially, this allows you to dodge and attack, and it's the only attack that allows you to shoot targets around you rather than directly infront of you. This won't get you out of many hairy situations during the stages, but it does help in a few boss battles - like Noubunaga in the Japan stage. For example, you can continue to backflip against the sides of the arena walls and whittle down the boss' health with your ninja stars while staying away from his one-hit kill melee attacks. 

Each ninja has their own health bar and two lives per credit. There isn't much of a difference in stamina between the characters, though. What you'll really need to watch out for is multiple, successive attacks from enemies. When you get hit, unlike most other games with a life bar, there are no invincibility frames...at all. Thankfully, food drops are relatively frequent, which fill a portion of your health. That said, the overall game is quite difficult given the lack of invincibility when hit and the onslaught of attacks that force you into situations where you can't react fast enough to get out of harm's way. If playing solo, I highly recommend lowering the difficulty to easy. The game is still very, very difficult but is a bit more palatable to modern tastes. To make it even more approachable (but still hard), use a turbo function so you don't kill your wrist and you always shoot at full power. Sure, that's cheating, but these games were literally made to eat your money - so...

Two players can jump in and fight together, which can help to overcome the difficulty curve. But playing co-op comes with its own special set of issues. Despite being a sprite pushing power-house, the Neo-Geo still has limits. Playing two players can make the hardware buckle when both characters are shotting at max power - especially if you're playing with Rayar and have used your clone special. It's not unplayable, but it does mar the experience a bit. While not directly related to difficulty, the order of the first few stages changes around each play through. While the first stage will always be the same, the order of stages 2-4 does not seem to be consistent.

For a game from 1992, Ninja Commando is quite handsome with bright colors, well drawn characters and backgrounds, and loads of variety. Each stage is set in a different time stretching over the history of humanity, and each time zone has its own enemies, obstacles, and backgrounds. Seriously, for a 54 meg cartridge, there's a lot of assets and the game never looks repetitive. This is mostly due to the game's memory not being eaten up by superfluous recorded voices that plagued a good number of early Neo releases. Outside of a few voice clips, the characters are relatively silent and there are no voice overs during the numerous cut scenes. Music is fine and is full of enemy shooting energy while playing. But like most of ADK's soundtracks, there isn't much here you'll want to jam out to outside of the game. 

Ninja Commando is a good Neo-Geo game and a fun shooter overall. While the difficulty and performance issues in co-op can get in the way, this innovative title is one of the best releases on the Neo-Geo in these early years and is worth checking out for any retro game fan who loves old arcade games. It is also, in my opinion, ADK's strongest piece on the hardware up to this point and a true classic that should get more time in the spotlight in the modern retro game scene. 

Getting a physical copy of the game is relatively easy as it's not exactly rare...but you'd think it was due to the price. Valued at over $1000 for both the Japanese and US versions, Ninja Commando is a tough one to recommend getting on AES. On MVS and Neo CD it is much cheaper, but still over $150 on both platforms. As I mentioned before, there were no meaningful home ports on classic consoles, but you can get the Arcade Archives release on modern platforms for $8 - and that's a great price for this game. 

I love Ninja Commando, and I will recommend it as a welcome part to any Neo-Geo library. Still, given its absurd cost on AES, despite being relatively common, it's hard to recommend if you're just beginning your collection. Wait a while before picking this up and get some of the more sought after titles first. Unless you have a buddy to play with, you'll more than likely sit down the game long before you've mastered it due to the over-the-top difficulty after the third stage or so.