Ninja Master's: Hao Ninpo Cho
  

   
STORY:  Ninja Master's focus is on the main character Sasuke, whom is on a quest to kill Lord Nobunaga and end his reign of terror and war.

 

  
REVIEW:  Ninja Master's: Hao Ninpo Cho (roughly translated as "Ninja Master's: Scrolls of the Supreme Ninja Arts) was developed by ADK and released for the NeoGeo on June 28th, 1996. Ninja Master's is one of the more "sleeper" fighting games to come out for the Neo Geo. With a comparable theme to SNK's hit Samurai Shodown series, it would seem ADK set out to attract the same audience with Ninja Master's. Most of the characters of in Ninja Master's are based on real historical figures of Japan, which is interesting at first glance. Also... at first glance, they couldn't manage spell the game's title with correct punctuation. Ninja Master's? Does that apostrophe somehow make the game's title sound more unique? I think not. (Nice first impression guys.)

 

 

Some would say Ninja Master's is yet another "me too" 2D fighter in the mid 90's... but there might be enough unique content in Ninja Master's to warrant more attention than other "copy-paste" fighters attempting to ride the coattails of the successful games that came before them. In fairness, Ninja Master's offers a pretty innovative gameplay element. The characters in Ninja Master's have the option to fight bare handed, or draw their weapon. It's a cool idea on paper, and was one of the first games to implement this particular gameplay nuance.


The gameplay system of Ninja Master's is pretty traditional for a 2D fighter, which doesn't have to be a bad thing. The animation / action onscreen isn't nearly as exciting as other fighters, but passable. While Ninja Master's offers some semi-decent-looking environments, the characters are probably the game's weakest attribute. There a few cool character designs here and there, the overall roster lacks flash and excitement... there isn't much here that hasn't been done before (and done better).
 

 

At a glance, some of the characters almost seem like generic "baddies" straight out of a 90's beat-em-up title. One could suggest that the dev-team was going for a "more realistic" twist on the weapon-based genre, but sadly, the movesets of the characters also come up pretty bland. The characters sprites themselves are noticeably "skinny" and small on-screen... yet another negative contrast to the brighter and larger sprites of the top 2D fighters in 1996 (and years earlier). If this game was released 3 years earlier, it might've stood more of a chance.


Ninja Master's claim to fame gameplay gimmick of "drawing a weapon" just wasn't enough to allow the game to stand out in the crowded 1996 arcades. Any fighting game connoisseur of the mid 90's could name at least 10 games that were far superior to Ninja Master's graphically and gameplay-wise. In fairness, ADK did put some "heart" into this title if you look close. Good try, ADK. Good try. (But there's a reason ADK stopped making games, just putting that out there.)

 

Page Updated: April 11th, 2020 Developer(s): ADK Publisher(s): SNK Designer(s): Kazuhiro Shibata Artwork By: Kazushige Hakamata Platform(s): Neo Geo, Wii Virtual Console, PS2, PS4 (PSN) Release Date(s): June 28th, 1996           NeoGeo Dec. 18th, 2008               PS2 - in ADK Damashii March 1st, 2017            PS4 / PSN - in ADK Damashii Characters:  Sasuke, Kamui, Karasu, Unzen, Natsume, Kasumi, Tennoh, Goemon, Houoh, Raiga, Ranmaru, Nobunaga Featured Video: Related Games: Samurai Shodown 4, Last Blade, Art of Fighting 3, King of Fighters '96, Savage Reign, Kizuna Encounter, World Heroes Perfect, Aggressors of Dark Kombat, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Street Fighter EX, Street Fighter Alpha 2, X-Men VS Street Fighter, Golden Axe: The Duel, Soul Blade    Gameplay Engine  5.5 / 10 Story / Theme  5.0 / 10 Overall Graphics  6.5 / 10 Animation  5.5 / 10 Music / Sound Effects  6.0 / 10 Innovation  6.5 / 10 Art Direction  6.0 / 10 Customization  3.0 / 10 Options / Extras  3.0 / 10 Intro / Presentation  7.0 / 10 Replayability / Fun  4.0 / 10 "Ouch" Factor  4.0 / 10 Characters  5.0 / 10 BOTTOM LINE  5.2 / 10  Review based on Arcade version       Final Words: With brand new games like Samurai Shodown 4, Street Fighter Alpha 2 and X-Men VS Street Fighter 2 tearing up the arcade scene in 1996... let's just say it was difficult to be "drawn in" by Ninja Master's. Also let's not forget 1996 was the year Soul Blade came out on PS1. I suppose if you didn't acknowledge or play the games previously mentioned, perhaps you might've been more impressed by Ninja Master's than I was at the time. Ninja Master's isn't a completely terrible game from its most flattering angle, but it certainly doesn't hold a candle to any Samurai Shodown title... and there's four great games to pick from there, so pick one. Furthermore, The Last Blade was released less than a year after Ninja Master's... again demonstrating the inferiority of this game. But 5.2 is pretty low, Frank... is the game that bad? No. It's just Weak. Honestly, after playing many other 1995-1996 fighting games, it's preeeeetty tough to be impressed by Ninja Master's... on any level. Ninja Master's was certainly lacking in more ways than one. The basic theme of Ninja Master's is certainly cool... I've loved the idea of "Ninja VS Samurai" ever since I was a kid. Speaking of which, I could've come up with a better title for a game than "Ninja Masters" when I was 6 years old. This game actually gave me flashbacks of seeing cheap knock-off ninja action figures when my mom used to take me to dollar stores. That's what some of the characters of Ninja Master's remind me of... dollar store knockoffs. Alright, I've had my fun... I'll stop picking on this game now. In retrospect, if you're a diehard fan of weapon based 2D fighting games... yes, I suppose you could find something to enjoy about Ninja Master's. But there' certainly nothing in this game that you can't get in SNK's Last Blade or Samurai Shodown. If you've never played Ninja Master's, you're really not missing out on much (except for maybe finding yourself adapting some poor grammar habits).  ~TFG Webmaster   Click Here for all character artwork!                                                        Click Here for all character artwork!