I-Ninja

The main character in I-Ninja has a variety of acrobatic abilities that are used throughout the game to defeat the Ranx army led by Master O-Dor. In addition to basic skills such as running and jumping, Ninja can also double jump, spin his sword around while midair for a limited time and use it to fall slower than normal, and use the shape of the environment to his advantage. Throughout the game there are several uniquely designed walls that Ninja can run on, and points where Ninja can use his grappling hook to swing across a gap.

Certain levels also provide Ninja with explosive darts and ricocheting shuriken to use against his foes; both of these can be aimed using a first-person view, but shuriken can also be thrown with an auto-aim feature. Occasionally, Ninja will encounter an enemy that will leap into the air with him (in anime fashion) to battle, and the two will remain suspended in a sort of flying void until the foe is defeated. While in this void, Ninja flies around and can dash, slash with his sword, perform an unblockable but heavily delayed thrusting attack, and throw shuriken if he has them. As Ninja attacks he will build an attack gauge that, when filled to certain levels, can be spent to temporarily enhance his abilities.

The game starts with the protagonist, a hot-blooded yet very rude Ninja in training (simply named Ninja), who comes to rescue his Sensei (simply named Sensei) from the Ranx sent by Ninja's nemesis, Emperor O-Dor. Ninja saves Sensei by defeating the Ranx. Then, a creature comes to attack Ninja which he deals with easily. The creature then spits out a Rage Stone which Ninja touches and goes into a fit of rage and accidentally kills Sensei.

Sensei comes back as a ghost and tells Ninja that there are more Rage Stones and with their power, he can defeat O-Dor. Sensei then sends Ninja to find the second Rage Stone in Robot Beach. Ninja then arrives at Robot Beach.

The game was announced on 5 November 2002, as part of a two-game deal between publisher Namco Hometek and developer Argonaut Games. Initially announced only for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube, an Xbox version was announced on 4 August 2003. On 3 July, Namco Hometek announced that Don Bluth and Gary Goldman would handle the game's 3D cutscenes. On 25 September, it was announced that Sony Computer Entertainment would publish the game in Europe as a PlayStation 2 exclusive.

The GameCube and Xbox versions received "generally favorable reviews", while the PlayStation 2 version received "average" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.

IGN's Douglass C. Perry said, "I-Ninja packs so much personality and attitude into its formulaic design that its charm and personality lift it above the fray of me-too titles." GameSpot reviewer Ryan Davis said, "At first glance, I-Ninja may appear to be a simple action game designed for kids, but in reality, it is anything but. The visual style may seem kid-friendly, but the level of challenge I-Ninja has to offer keeps the game interesting for a wider audience." Pong Sifu of GamePro said of the PlayStation 2 version, "An innocuous, lighthearted romp that's been done, and done much better with plumbers, hedgehogs, and marsupials, what really makes I-Ninja more Michael Dudikoff than Sonny Chiba are the cheap-shot challenges that make you replay levels, only against a clock...woah."