Ninja Combat

The journey takes the ninja heroes from an amusement park to the top of a tower. Along the way, they must survive endless attacks from the members of Kage Ichizoku and their minions. The protagonists Joe and Hayabusa use shuriken as their primary weapon, although other weapons that aid them along the way are nunchaku, maces, ratchets, battle axes, spiked clubs, and katana swords. A special somersault attack can be used to knock down multiple enemies in a row. As an art of ninpo kairou, a fire dragon (Joe) or lightning strike (Hayabusa) can be summoned to destroy all enemies on the screen.

The heroes die if their life force runs out or time expires. Per 1,500 points scored or they pick up a gold capsule, they earn an extra life.

The story, set in the year "199X", follows the twin ninja warriors named Joe (ジョー) and Hayabusa (ハヤブサ, lit. "Falcon") (not to be mistaken with Joe Musashi or Ryu Hayabusa), who are waging a battle against an evil ninja clan Kage Ichizoku (影一族, lit. "Shadow Family"). Their mission is to fight their way into the enemy home fortress, the Ninja Tower (ニンジャタワー, "Ninjatawa"), which has emerged from the ocean in the center of New York City, to once and for all defeat the Shadow Family and its leader, the long thought-dead demon sorcerer Genyousai.

When defeated, three of the minibosses: Musashi (ムサシ), Kagerow (カゲロウ, lit. "Mayfly") and Gembu (ゲンブ), become allies and fight alongside Joe and Hayabusa as optional player characters. If the heroes are victorious, Genyousai is destroyed and the Ninja Tower crumbles.

In Japan, Game Machine listed the game on their December 15, 1990 issue as being the eighteenth most-popular arcade game at the time. It was more successful in North America, where it was an arcade hit. The RePlay arcade charts listed Ninja Combat as the second most-popular software conversion kit from November to December 1990, and then the top-grossing software conversion kit in January 1991.

The game has received mixed reception from critics since its release in arcades and other platforms. Electronic Gaming Monthly's four reviewers commended the audiovisual presentation and playable characters having their own fighting style but criticized the Neo Geo AES version for using unlimited continues, short length, easy difficulty and repetitive gameplay. Raze's Julian Boardman also shared a similar opinion, stating that the use of unlimited continues hampered both gameplay and challenge. However, ACE's Tony Dillon argued with this sentiment by claiming on his review that the unlimited continue feature was a hardware design flaw on the first batch of AES systems. Dillon praised the game's audiovisual presentation, stating that "this game is fulfilling what the Neo Geo promises - a standard arcade machine for the home" but criticized its short length.