It's about time we got to Ninja Gaiden, and it's also about time we got the author of RetRose Tinted on the show, Conrad Zimmerman. Tonight, Mr. Zimmerman and his hat join us to discuss the Hayabusa clan, fire wheels, and ninja badassery in general.
Hit the comments with your questions for us, for Conrad, and for that chihuahua in the ninja suit that you always see on the internet, as we're trying to contact his manager, too.
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Contest:
3:20 PM on 01.22.2009
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If you could put together a current gen version of Ninja Gaidan that was more faithful to the feel as the original, what would you like to see? (assume that saying side-scrolling would be taking the easy way out)
Or was it the fist game? I just remember winds and trains.
I love the NES Ninja Gaiden series but it took some things from the original Castlevania that were blatantly obvious. The way you got items, even the top part of the screen where the health and score was is pretty much the exact same thing as in Castlevania.
Ninja Gaiden treats me like an abusive boyfriend. Even though it will beat my ass every time, I will still come back loving it.
I remember Chad saying this game was impossible at one stage. I would like him to know that I have done the impossible, and will continue to do the impossible, until I have done the impossible on one life!
I'm going back home soon, I'm going to bust out the old top loader NES and do it, I swear!
I was having a pretty crappy saturday this past week and you guys cheered me up because:
a) you answered my question
b) Chad mispronounced my name (Topher got it right)
c) Somehow the conversation ended in a discussion about how Megaman is a complete tool that bombs churches.
Thanks guys I got the complete retroforcego! package.
Anyway. Do you believe that the Ninja Gaiden series will always be known more for its controller breaking difficulty and not for its interesting gameplay mechanics or great characters?
Instant Replay - Ninja Gaiden CBlog
Alternately, if you F' up and grab another weapon, the diagonal fireballs are handy too.
Question for Mr. Zimmerman:
For me, the first Ninja Gaiden has far an away the tightest controls. Do you feel that NG2, and NG3 are just a lot more squishy and therefore less satisfying to play?
I never bought NG3, because NG2 felt so different that I never bothered with the final entry in the trilogy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haZiLLZmz48
Also would you like to see a 3-d remake of ninja gaiden, a la Bionic commando rearmed?
Jet Force Gemini's arcade was also great.
Check Craineum's blog, it's on there. :D
Bonus Question: What would be a retro-revenge? And why is revenge such a good plot driver? (it comes up a lot in games, now that I think about it.)
Why do you think Ninja Gaiden got so much attention?
2 questions:
1)Which classic ninja game series do you guys consider to be the greatest: Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, or Strider?
2)In the originals, Ryu wore a traditional cloth style get-up, but in the Xbox ones, he wore a spandex suit thing...Why would he change his look like that? Which look do you guys prefer?
I feel sad because the only Ninja Gaiden I've played is the one on the Xbox, and I gave up because the boss frustrated me so much. I don't know why, but I just decided that I didn't want to play it anymore. At what point does difficulty become frustration for you?
Also, which is harder, for whatever reason, classic Ninja Gaiden or modern Ninja Gaiden?
Do you guys think games these days give away the ending too easily? Do you miss the days when you had to earn that little black screen saying 'the end'?
also WTF is a Shadow Warriors?
Since I'm playing it for the first time (and despite all appearances, I'm digging the old school challenge), what keeps you coming back to the game(s)?
Also,
Ninja Kitty!
If so, how mindnumbingly awful did you think it was? I for one expected gore a la Fist of the North Star, but that was probably just my expectations after playing the Xbox ones before the NES ones, which I regret.
Also, Ninja Gaiden: The Movie starring Tatsuya Fujiwara (from Battle Royale) as Ryu and Ken Watanabe as Joe Hayabusa. Win or Greatest Win?
I can't get past level 2-1 on the first Nes game but I am playing on a laptop. FireNES no longer works but now there's vNES.
After seeing a live news report of a recently attacked shipping boat, Ryu and Ninja C. leap from their couch with great gusto, alerted to the nefarious plot. Upon their arrival they are assaulted by an army of Concelmo's, the most feared demon to come out of the woodwork in over five hundred years. Ryu deflects the Concelmo's rainbow demon eye beams with his sword and Ninja C. leaps into action, severing all of their heads with one swift blow.
As they descend deeper into the (massive) tanker, they discover who helped to orchestrate this insidious plot. It is none other than Rip Taylor! Using his confetti attack, he wounds the duo, sending them back to the beginning of the level. After fighting through the hordes of Concelmo's once again, they reach Rip Taylor. Now knowing his two attacks and his very predictable pattern, the two easily defeat Rip Taylor. The victory is a hollow one however as they soon discover that a legendary artifact has been stolen. Vowing to get it back, the two head for Neo-Tokyo to confront Catzilla, who has taken over the city through sheer force of his pheromones.
"Warriors who would combat darkness, we call upon you!" shouts Ryu, unsure what the fuck he's doing. A loud crash can be heard in the sky as Topher Cantler and Stella Wong appear riding Ikaruga. A stage figure is also accompanying them. In the distance a faint "bwark" is heard, a Collette Bennett is seen riding on chocobo, her faithful robotic companion "Robo" in tow. A blinding light appears in the sky to reveal none other than the original Chad Concelmo, riding on a sentient unicycle, a smoking hot Celes clinging to his back. They all arrive at once, and Ryu Hayabusa removes his mask, much to the surprise of Ninja C. It is none other than Conrad Zimmerman! Somewhere in the distance, Dyson cries. The mysterious figure is revealed to be Rick the Hamster from Kirby's Dreamland Three.
Together the rag tag group of would be heroes (lol) charges Catzilla. Topher uses his superior reflexes to get a few hits in before being knocked aside by the instant death attack. Collette is thrown, and shortly thereafter followed, by Robo, hoping to do critical damage. Sadly, the attack misses. Rick the hamster dances as Stella cast Haste on Chad Concelmo. Chad and Celes do a dual attack on Catzilla, hitting him with an AMAZING!! attack. His weakness. Conrad and Ninja Chihuahua see an opening and go for it, combining their powers to form NINJA CONRAD HAYABUSA DOG THING! This proves to be the fatal blow, and the party watches as the final boss slowly dissolves.
"I'll get you next time, Conradddddddddd!!!"
End Scene
By the way, I'm a huge fan of the podcast. For the most part it stays on topic and when it doesn't it's absolutely hilarious. Mad props to you guys for entertaining the masses and I hope that I can one day meet you. You know, so we can fap.
Do you think that Team Ninja did a good job of taking the series and making the leap to 3D?
Which cast member would make the best ninja? :D
Can you guys think of any other 2D games that played with a similar run-slash-jump sort of gameplay?
Also, The Wizard was the best Ninja Gaiden commercial ever.
"Great . . . he got the scroll weapon . . ."
I am a chronology freak, and won't play the new ones because I haven't beaten the retro-Ninja Gaidens yet. Anybody else suffer from Chronoholism?
What about you?
Also, did any of you ever play the North American version of Ninja Gaiden III? This is the one that has limited continues (which was not the case in the Japanese version). Do you think this marked the first time that an American release was more difficult than the Japanese original?
Who`s the girl in the pic? Hyper yum
While I understand the need for a series to evolve in order to make it in today's fickle market, I feel that in someways what was done to Ninja Gaiden robbed it of what made it great; the smooth, difficult platforming, difficult but not over the top difficulty, and a pretty engaging story compared to what was around at the time.
I guess the question in all this is how much change is acceptable to a classic series in order to make it work with today's varied audiences? How do you all feel of what became of Ninja Gaiden?
I'll end this with two side notes: 1) I saw the Ninja Gaiden OVA and it was okay, for the most part. 2) Fuck those goddamn respawning birds!
guy-den or gay-den?
Or is it Ninja-Guy, Dan?
(First Google medium-sized image result for "dan"!)
Also I've been told that "gaiden" is Japanese for "side story" or the equivalent. Was Ninja Gaiden originally a spin off?
Game Over
a) Do you think that's right to do?
b) What do you think of fans that only know such a series post-revival?
Instead, I will point out that the first, more energetic renditions of Topher's little da-da-da... for retromazing news (particularly in the first episode it appeared in) kind of sounds like the intro to the Mega Man 3 "Snake Man" music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq0KH0KQt8M (starts at 17 seconds and continues for about 3 seconds before going into the main theme)
By the way, Chad looked ridiculously good-looking in the new issue of Game Informer. I got it two days ago and the first page I flipped to had a picture of Chad. It was AMAZING!
BEHOLD! My slightly relevant pic! My first attempt at japanese-type cooking dinner stuff has produced NINJA BALLS! (would it be shinobi onigiri? help!i can has asian friend? kthnxbi)