Ninja Master's appreciation thread

Well, not wanting to further contribute to the 'de-neo-fication' of this site, (I've been posting mostly in unrelated and feeling guilty about it ), I figure I should pay tribute to the game that has completely dominated my fighting game world for the last three months-

The stunning and underrated (Not in the price guide of course!) NINJA MASTER'S

What do I think is so stupendous about this game?

WELL...

1) Amazingly superb character design sent straight from the heavens. Karasu? Let me tell you- Karasu is THE MAN. Any character who has an evil, blood drinking sword and who summons and uses crows as weapons if fuckin' TOPS in my book. Karasu's super combo is the best in any fighting game ever. And Goemon? Slick as fuck with his kick ass cannon and arsenal of weapons hidden in his robes. That combo where he punches you several times only to finish you off with an 'over-the-shoulder' cannon shot is the coolest. Raiga? A cleaver wielding bounty hunter who can triple uppercut your ass straight to hell.

And the backgrounds- OK, I know alot of people on this site are 'backgroundally challenged'- hence all the love for CvsSNK2 and GGX BGs, but the BGs in Ninja Master's are freaking godly.

My faves?

Goemon's Cave- I agree with Garg7 on this one- just about my fave BG of all time. Freaking beautiful.

Karasu's Farm- Priceless. I love them crows!

Raiga's abandoned castle- The beauty of this one is that it looks even better and spookier at night- but in a totally different way. I love this one.

All the BGs here are at least great, with half of them being freakin' AMAZING. And another thing about the BGs- they are all immersed in one continuous theme- they are all deserted- no spectators cheering you on, no cutesy poo crap- just empty desolation, often with a few corpses lying about to spice thing up.

And now to get to the GAMEPLAY-

The sense of control you sense you have over your character in Ninja Master's is almost unparraleled for me. Each character has a LOT of attacks- both with and without weapons. Some combos even involve sheathing and unsheathing weapons in the middle of a combo!

I love the play in this game, it's very, very addictive for a fighting game. And it's DEEEEP.

Anyways, as I'm sure you might guess, I really, really love Ninja Master's.

And yeah, I do think it's really underrated.

Unless you're nuts (like me) forget the home cart and pick up the super cheap MVS ver. of this game and take some time to drink it in.

It's a masterpiece.

<small>[ February 20, 2003, 12:23 PM: Message edited by: neobuyer ]</small>

I've gotta pick it up on MVS, I dont really like the sprites that much but the engine is droolll.

Ninja Master's had been one of my fav fighters since its very debut in the arcades, back in times.

It's TOTALLY awesome: in terms of atmosphere, art and additude is simply TOPS; in term of playability, fun factor and replay value, is ace as well.

Its combo system is still unique to date. The simple fact you can CHOOSE to fight with/without weapons simply stunned me since my very first coin back in the 1996.

Again, the 'super bar' use, with power-able specials, DM, SDM and super combo, not to talk about the hyper mode, is top notch.

Graphically speaking... BG are maybe some of the very tops ever seen on the Neo. With some unique style as well. Very very very inspired anyway. The only lame one is Kasumi's IMHO.

Characters all mostly inspired as well. Coming from historical and mythical Japanese backgounds, they've indeed a lot of appeal. Bosses are tops too, and playble as well. The lamest sprite is IMHO Tehno.

Intro, in-game art, music and all is just incredibly stilysh and unique period.

Overall, an OUTSTANDING game if you ask me.

Together with Twinkle Star Sprites and Big Tournament Golf one of my 'NeoTop3', that is.

By far the best fighter on Neo besided the 'big series'.

And I'm not even counting AoF, WH in the deal.

Playbility speaking, Ninja Master's is most probably far above the whole Samurai Spirits as well (yet the SS rooster as a big appeal of its own, you would agree).

Indeed a true gem, and one of the most underrated game on the system.

I would say 'period', yet... discuss! buttrock

i really fkn luv this game also,i have the home cart and mvs..

iplay this shit alot,yet i do not know half the specials or hidden shit if theres any..

i really love the snow stage with that big ass dude,his name escapes me ...

this game is waaay cool,and anyone who disses this or kizuna has no neo class whatsoever..

i was playin this on my cab last night,sometimes ijust fight without the weapon,k kicks ass without the weapon,and his reach is pretty long..

anyway fkn masterpiece,if you ask me..

You guys have summed it up pretty much very well. NM is one of my NEO favorites, simply ace in every category you might think of.

I`ve got one question though: What do you have to accomplish to get to the real ending (if there`s any) where the credits scroll down? Never seen those, just the normal character specific ending + that comical very short ADK team outro - but where are the credits?

Top Game. No doubts about that. wink

烏　(karasu)

is Japanese for crow.

i like da way they made da weapon so unique, like Karasu calling his fallen "sword" & turned into crow, another example Ranmaru's sword turned to snake, etc.

also music BG is cool specially with Tenhou. dunno in MVS, but CD ver ROCK!

Hmpf. Nobody said anything about the music. Shame, as it's the best soundtrack on the neo. Oh, yeah, it's the best fighter, too... not just on the neo, but on any system.

ForeverSublime:
Hmpf. Nobody said anything about the music.

Click to expand...

just did few sec b4 u.

Bah! Shito mentioned it too, but his word count/mentioning awesome music ratio sucked.

ForeverSublime:
Bah! Shito mentioned it too, but his word count/mentioning awesome music ratio sucked.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I love the music too.

Goemon theme is particulary amazing imho, but it's the whole 'sound athmospere' being AWESOME. IT's a perfect recipes of instruments selection, perfetly fitting tunes, 'backgound noises' and style.

Truly a gem.

great game

i have it on Neo cd and on teh romzzzz

but soon i will have a conversion to play on my home system

great days

I agree with everything everyone has said. Though one thing you seem to be forgetting is the artwork on the insert. Definetly my favorite Neo insert.

Even though everything has been said gotta mention the music for my buddy Matt(Forevor Sublime)

The thing I really love about Ninja Masters is that there are still combos that I haven't learned. It's immense.

This is one of the over hyped (price wise) games that is actually worth the money.

I had it in MVS and used a phantom1 and one of my biggest regrets was selling it.

This game has THE BEST intro of any game period!

And Karasu is the best character and stage wise.

The game is okay, the engine is great the concept is awsome but it not in the league of Last Blade(2 or even 1). Backgrounds are great but the Spirts are small, if only they were the size of Kizuna Encounter drool_2 Over all its GREAT but not worth the $650 price tag. frown

I really like Ninja Master's as well,
the characters, the stages, and the music,
all are awesome although the characters are
a little small for my taste. I also love
the final boss, probably one of my fav SNK
bosses.

xtoo_short20x:
I really like Ninja Master's as well,
the characters, the stages, and the music,
all are awesome although the characters are
a little small for my taste. I also love
the final boss, probably one of my fav SNK
bosses.

Click to expand...

heh, Oda Nobunaga sure has an *ambition* of his own...

Some more stuff that makes this game dominate my world-

(Some of you guys have already mentioned some of this)

The cover art on the insert- BEST Neo insert art ever. Gorgeous and most supremely badass. Kamui looks unbelievably god-like here.

The music is also just about my favorite on the Neo. Only SamSho 1&2 and some of the other Neo classic compare for me.

Yes, Wasabi is right- unbelievably deep combo system. It's more to my taste than even in LB2. You feel that you have a level of complete control over your character that I don't really find in any other game.

RanMaru's stage (Which I forgot to mention earlier) is one of my all time fave BGs too. Just awesome animation on that abandoned tent. Eye candy on a level that has disappeared from 2D fighting games alltogether.

The Intro- C'mon- a CLASSIC. TOPS, ACE and all that and several bags of chips.

While no game is really worth $650 (Except to us mad collectors) this is one of the games that, even after forking down the cash for the HC ver., you pop it into your Neo and find the pain in your wallet to disappear within seconds.

So while, yes, the pricetag for the HC ver. IS outrageous, just say fuck it and get the NCD or MVS versions- and bask in the sublime light of the best game ADK has ever been involved with (IMHO )

NM is definitely one of the most underrated games on the Neo Geo - and I have to agree with what everyone has said, the music is AWESOME! Man, I really need to pick up the MVS cart again after reading this thread... damn you all for making me spend more money!!!