
Where to get it

1992 · ADK · Arcade · Fighting
Ninja Commando
Timed SNK exclusive
Ninja Commando is a vertically scrolling action game released by ADK in 1992. Players choose from among three ninjas - Joe, descended from the Koga ninja; Rayar, a woman who has learned the ways of the Iga ninja; and Ryu, descendant of the famous ninja Fuma Kotaro - as they pursue the merchant of death known as Spider, who plans to use a time machine to bring havoc to the world. The battle spans seven time periods, including the Stone Age, the Egyptian era and the Japanese Civil War era.
- Released
- 29 May 1992
- Platforms
- ArcadeNeo GeoNeo Geo CDNintendo SwitchWiiWindowsXbox One
- Genres
- ArcadeFightingNinjaPlatformerScienceShoot 'em upShooter
- Developers
- ADK
- Publishers
- SNK
- Perspective
- Bird view / Isometric
- Themes
- Action
- Country
- Japan
- Age ratings
- ESRB E10+
- Languages
- English, Japanese
About
Ninja Commando is a vertically scrolling run and gun video game developed by Alpha Denshi and published by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home systems in 1992. It was released for the Neo Geo CD in 1994.
Keywords
- martial arts
- ninja
- shoot 'em up
- shmup
- wii virtual console
Media
The articlegameplay, story, development, reception
Gameplay
The overall gameplay is similar to this of the run-and-gun classic Ikari Warriors, with the players battling their way up the top-down perspective screen. The players can choose between three ninja characters, all with differing abilities. Each of them has fighting game-style input commands that unleash their scroll-based ninpo special moves. As usual in the genre, the game's stages end with boss battles.
Story
An elite group of three young Ninja Commandos (Joe Tiger, an American descendant of the Kōga-ryū ninja whose weapons are shuriken, Ryu Eagle, the 23rd descendant of the famous ninja Fūma Kotarō (from the World Heroes series), who is using ninja magic fireballs in combat, and Rayar Dragon, the female ninja of the group, a British girl who has learned the ways of the Iga-ryū ninjutsu and whose weapon is a bow with flaming spirit arrows) from around the world must team-up to stop the villain Spider and his Mars Corporation from using a time machine to destroy the past and control the future. The three heroes chase after their enemy in seven time periods, including the Sengoku period in Japan (where Ryu avenges his ancestor by killing Oda Nobunaga), Ancient Egypt (fighting a floating recreation of Tutankhamen), the Stone Age, China in the era of Three Kingdoms (fighting against Lu Bu), and World War II.
Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed Ninja Commando on their June 15, 1992 issue as being the eleventh most-successful table arcade unit of the month, outperforming titles such as Raiden. RePlay also reported the game to be the tenth most-popular arcade game at the time. The title was generally well received. The game's review in GamePro praised its "phenomenal!"
graphics and called it overall "an excellent two-player cart" for Neo-Geo system. 75 out of 10. Famicom Tsūshin scored the Neo Geo version of the game a 25 out of 40.
Releases by platformdates and regions as published
Editions and related releases
- Included in
- ADK DamashiiNeogeo Arcade 2
- Ported as
- ACA Neo Geo: Ninja Commando
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Collections6 collections
Platform libraries
Publishers
- SNK gamesPC › Microsoft Store
- Virtual Console games for WiiTitles › Neo Geo
Genres
- Ninja gamesStandalone games › Games with ninja player characters
Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.
