Ninja Master's: Haoh-Ninpo-Cho (ニンジャマスターズ ～覇王忍法帳～, Ninja Masutāzu ~Haō Ninpō Chō~, "Ninja Master's Scrolls of the Supreme Ninja Arts"), most known as just Ninja Master's, is a ninja-themed competitive fighting game produced by ADK originally released in 1996 for the Neo Geo arcade and home platform. It was later featured in the 2008 compilation ADK Damashii for the PlayStation 2. It was the sixth and final fighting game produced by ADK, following the four games in the World Heroes series and Aggressors of Dark Kombat.
Story[]
A story from a faraway land, similar but not the same space-time we live in...
In a small island nation at the eastern edge of this world, there is a legend of a "golden castle" that is said to control all things in the universe. However, no one has ever seen that castle and returned alive. During the chaotic Warring States period, the overlord of the time who ravaged the land with destruction and slaughter succeeded in summoning the Golden Castle after a scheme, but was trapped in the gap between time and space along with the castle by a clan known as "Onore" who protected the castle's seal.
Three hundred years have passed. The power of the seal has weakened, and the evil Overlord's resurrection is imminent. However, there were some who sensed the Overlord's return early on. The year is 1882, the 15th year of the Warring States period. There is no shogunate or civilization, and the country has been in the midst of centuries of war. However, the name of this country is... Tokihankyu!
Gameplay[]
Ninja Master's is a weapon-based fighter with heavy emphasis on combos, using two buttons for punches and weapon attacks and two buttons for kicks. Unique to this title is the ability to switch between armed and bare-handed fighting modes on the fly for all characters; by pressing the B and C buttons at the same time the characters will either draw or put away their weapons, thus switching their styles. Each fighting mode have its own advantages, with normal moves and specials changing their properties depending on whether the character is holding a weapon or not.
Like in other fighting games characters have access to a power meter which fills up by performing moves and combos. Once full the player can spend the meter to perform EX moves super moves and finishers once the opponent's life is critical, or activate the Hyper Mode by pressing A, B and C at the same time. During Hyper Mode the meter slowly depletes, with the player being able to freely perform EX and super moves for its duration.
Characters[]
Bosses[]
Sub-Boss[]
Final Boss[]
Like various ADK games, SNK Playmore also revived characters from this game in their last releases. In this case, Sasuke (the main character of this game) appears as an SNK character card in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS.
Stages[]
Critical Reception[]
In Japan, Game Machine listed Ninja Master's on their July 1, 1996 issue as being the fourteenth most-popular arcade game at the time. The game received generally positive reception from critics since its release in arcades and other platforms.
In a retrospective review of the Neo Geo AES version, AllGame's Kyle Knight called it "a fairly good fighter that could've been a lot more." Covering the Neo Geo AES version, the four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly offered some praise for the game's special moves and the ability to fight with or without a weapon, but generally panned Ninja Master's for its failure to distinguish itself from the many previous Neo Geo fighting games and for its outdated graphics, particularly the small character sprites and lack of scaling. Shawn Smith and Ken Williams remarked that the game's mediocrity is shocking given SNK's history and the $150 price tag. In contrast, a Next Generation critic found originality to be the game's biggest asset, opining that although Ninja Master's lacks the balance and smoothness of the best Neo Geo fighting games, the ability to switch between weapons and bare-handed combat in mid-fight "adds dramatically to the strategy."
Consoles Plus's Maxime Roure commended the detailed sprites, fluid animations, longevity and playability. MAN!AC's Andreas Knauf felt mixed in regards to the audiovisual presentation and Samurai Shodown-style character roster but criticized the jerky animations and lack of innovations. In contrast, Nintendo Life's Corbie Dillard regarded Ninja Master's as one of the more unique fighting games released on Neo Geo stating due to the ability to change between two fighting styles, stating that "at times it feels like a combination of Samurai Shodown and King of Fighters rolled into one game." Ken Pyle of Manci Games praised the feudal-Japan- atmosphere, fast gameplay and responsive controls but felt mixed in regards to the character roster and criticized the audio design.
In 2014, HobbyConsolas identified Ninja Master's as one of the twenty best games for the Neo Geo CD.
Gallery[]
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