Ninja Gaiden (Arcade)

Ninja Gaiden
Also known as: Ninja Ryukenden (JP), Shadow Warriors (EU) Developer: Tecmo Publisher: Tecmo Platform: Arcade (Ninja Gaiden hardware) Released in JP: February 1989 Released in US: October 1988 Released in EU: December 1988 This game has regional differences.

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

The game remains infamous for having terrifying continue and game over screens.

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 taboo on the word Ninja. And finally, one year later, it was released in Japan as Ninja 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 U.S. version, there are some minor additions to the tunes in the Japanese version.

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.

Grand Canyon Stage BGM

Overseas	Japan
一口坂に陽が昇る The Sun Rises Over the Hills	大自然のシンフォニー Symphony of Nature

Round Clear

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

Round Clear / ラウンドクリアー

Area	Overseas	Japan	Notes
Stage 1			The track uses a different backing in the Japanese version.
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5

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.

GAME OVER

Overseas	Japan

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 U.S. version, 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

Virtual Console/Arcade Archives

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