Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom

"These super-dimensional ruins are the foundation upon which a new world will be created."

"It's the new source of ALL LIFE!"
"The time has come. See for yourself...by reading this review!"

Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom is the third and final installment of the original Ninja Gaiden series on the NES. The third installment, like the duo before it, is a hack 'n slash platforming, action game.

Aside from its fast, furious gameplay, what truly made it stand out (being each game in this series) from every other game of its time, it is the cinematic cut scenes between stages, which gave the game a movie-like atmosphere. It kept things interesting for the player with intense, intriguing drama, and made the characters in the game feel less shallow.

If you've played the first and second Ninja Gaiden games and took the time to watch and enjoy the cut scenes, then you'll know what to expect here - an exciting plot that helps develop the game's characters, as well as the overall flow of the game.

In a sense, as far as NES goes, there wasn't anything else like it at the time of the first game's release. Not long after its release though, others tried to duplicate Ninja Gaiden's cinematic essence, some games did it okay, such as Astyanax, and others such Vice: Project Doom almost equally as engrossing, especially capturing the flavor of Ninja Gaiden's exciting cut scenes (which it just so happened to be just as good as), as well as the gameplay, most noticeably the stage design, some seemingly lifted straight out of the NG trilogy. But I digress. Even though other games were influenced by Ninja Gaiden's cut scenes, the NG trilogy will always be known and remembered fondly for its cut scenes more than any other game.

Back when the NES ruled the videogame market, a game's story for the most part relied mostly on you filling in the blanks, as most games only had a few paragraphs of text, if any, to follow, sometimes only in the instruction manual, with nothing to go by in the actual game. What seems disappointing about Ninja Gaiden III, from what I conclude from other gamers, is that though it does provide you with a progressing story, just as the previous two games had done, its not as thoroughly weaved together as the other two, much is left untold, even by the end of the game.

For those who have never played a Ninja Gaiden game, you may feel lost. The story is a bit broken in places, with plot holes, possible continuity errors, as well as sudden drastic changes in scenery without explanation (sounds like most NES games). It may not even make sense to you whether you've played the previous games or not. My solution...you have imaginations, come up with your own conclusions to the hows and whys to fill in those gaps.

But this is an action game, in actuality the story is not the most important part, the game holds up even without it. Most likely, that is if you are anything like me, after the first few times you'll probably just skip by the cut scenes anyway just to get into the action quicker. Cut scenes are nice and all, but when really in the zone, can't afford to have them ruin your game by breaking your concentration. Gotta keep the blood hot, the muscles tense, your nerves ready for anything that stands in your way, can't afford to relax even for a moment.

I find myself relating the Ninja Gaiden games' cut scenes to anime I've watched (well, in a way, the NG games are much like anime). I think of Ninja Gaiden, and NGII: The Dark Sword of Chaos much the same way as the Ninja Scroll anime movie. If you've seen this anime, then you may understand where I'm coming from, if you haven't, then you've gotta see it. There's ninja, demons, intense, over the top action - whether involving a ton of ninja being sliced and diced among tree branches high above the ground, or kick ass one-on-one boss battles - memorable dialog, exciting music, fantastic animation, and a great story. Only things lacking in the NG games are the sexual content, and torrential downpours of blood - though they do have a good sized puddle's worth of the later in NGII: TDSoC.

While NGIII: The Ancient Ship of Doom is more like a blend between the original Bubblegum Crisis series (as well as its sequel, Bubblegum Crash), and The Guyver, except replacing the protagonists of those series with a ninja. NGIII: TASoD's story isn't bad, just different from the other two prior to it, more sci-fi-ish, and perhaps a bit overly mysterious. And instead of fighting demons reminiscent of the Eight Devils of Kimon (Ninja Scroll), you're fighting bio-mechanical creations much like the Boomers from the Bubblegum series, and instead of Zoanoids (The Guyver), you've got...BIO-NOIDS! Friggin' love this stuff.

And there's this mysterious character in NGIII: TASoD - whom I won't give but a tad detail on - who subtly reminds me of Largo, a very cool character from the later half of Bubblegum Crisis (as well as the final episode of Crash), he's got that same arrogance and I always picture him having the same voice as the english language voice actor for that character. Sadly, there's no Jaquio or Ashtar this time around, face it, they're dead! They were cool and all, but I'm glad they got an all new villain for this installment, though his details are always sketchy, he kinda just popped up out of nowhere.

I do admit NGIII: TASoD does have more of a cheesier atmosphere (but its good cheese), opposed to the darker, more serious storylines of the first two games. Regardless, I'm not playing it for the story, things like this I consider a bonus, afterall, it could've had no cut scenes at all (like most NES games - and they seem to do well without 'em), it doesn't really detract from what is already an awesome game, I'd say the same for the first two games as well. Still, its nice to have these stories told in the way that they are.

Though the story, as well as the characters, are very cliche, there's still a lot of twists and turns in the plot, sometimes predictable, sometimes a nice unexpected surprise pops up (an old acquaintance from NG - not saying who - makes a surprising, yet disappointingly short reappearance), but always interesting nevertheless. I've always enjoyed the mystery behind this particular game's story.

Controls in NGIII: TASoD are simple, one button for jumping, the other for slashing with your sword. Holding the directional pad's *up* button and pressing the attack button results in using one of Ryu's ninja arts, that is if available for use, as well as having the necessary magic points to use it. Naturally I don't have to explain how you move Ryu left and right on the screen, and *down* on the d-pad makes him duck.

Ryu's obviously been doing a lot of training 'cause his moves are much improved even over that of NGII, as well as learning some new tricks. For one, his jumping now has a floatiness to it, this allows for more aerial control, so more time to correct errors, for more precise jumps. He can still climb walls, just as he could in his previous adventure, but now when he reaches the top of a wall with a ledge on it, instead of having to kick away and back again to land atop it, he can simply flip forward onto it with the greatest of ease when near the top.

With Ryu's newest move in this installment, he can jump up and hang onto the underside of certain platforms - in the shape of pipes, jungle ivy, chains, narrow catwalks, and various types of moving platforms. He grabs hold automatically if in reach of it, and once he's got his grip he can swing himself up to land on top of it, or walk hand-over-hand (monkey-swinging) along the bottom. When walking along the top of these kind of platforms, just as he could flip himself up to them from below, while ducking and pressing jump, he can also drop down to hang from them, and you can also let go any time by pressing down while hanging. Hanging and monkey-swinging hand-over-hand on the underside of many of these interactive platforms gives the game more gameplay possibilities, it's used often and very effectively.

A quick note before I forget - while hanging, either from wall or underside of platforms, Ryu cannot use his sword, but he can still rely on the use of ninja arts. Nothing new with this, it was the same from the previous game, NGII, as well. But, with a few of his new ninja arts, and added agility, he's at a bit more of an advantage than before.

Anyway, controlling Ryu is easy and effortless, he does everything he's supposed to...perfectly! Not a single flaw in the control department, some of the best control on the NES, I felt at one with this ninja, for once. I'd love to take Ryu Hayabusa from this game and use this master ninja in his earlier games, would kick some serious ass.

Power-ups, contained in crystal spheres (floating orbs, much like the candles in Castlevania), are visible so you know what you're getting before you even strike 'em (very convenient, and allows the game to move faster), unlike the previous two NG games. Since you know what each sphere has beforehand, you won't have to memorize what power-ups are in which. Pick or pass up - it keeps you from having uncertainties where you might hesitate or falter due to not knowing or remembering, accidently grabbing an undesired power-up icon that you didn't want, or having to jump over, or wait til it disappeared, possibly putting yourself in danger trying to avoid picking it up.

One of the new power-ups in this game is a 'Super Sword', it gives your regular Dragon Sword more attack range (big plus!), considering how short Ryu's sword is normally. With it, not only does his sword's striking distance increase, but also the thickness of the blade, allowing him to hit foes that are slightly above or below his extended weapon, you don't even have to kneel to hit low enemies. Graphically when slashing with the upgraded sword, it displays a sharp, boomerang-shaped, wave-like effect, instead of the sword's blade, much like Hiryu's Cipher from the Strider NES game.

Think of the sword power-up more of an upgrade, much like that of Simon Belmont's whip from the Castlevania games. This power-up doesn't take the place of any of your ninja arts, it is an actual upgrade of your normal default sword, like Castlevania, all you have to do is slash (no need to hold up with this attack as with the ninja arts). Of coarse if you die you will lose this power-up, having to rely on your regular sword til you get it again, also, each time you start a new stage, you'll lose it, always beginning another stage with your normal sword.

Ryu retains most of his better ninja arts from the previous two games: 'Windmill Throwing Star' (a large, 4 pointed shuriken that acts like a boomerang), 'Art of the Fire Wheel' (sprays a blast of 3 circles of fire diagonally upwards and forwards), 'Fire Dragon Ball' (shoots 3 large fireballs diagonally downwards - this art was introduced in NGII, but it has a wider blast radius in this game), and the 'Invincible Fire Wheel' (a barrier of fireballs encircles Ryu, both protecting him from physical damage from minor enemies, as well as damaging them, but its effect is only temporary), as well as a totally new art, the 'Vacuum Wave'.

The Vacuum Wave art gives Ryu the ability to fire two Super Sword-like projectiles from his body, one upwards, the other downwards, each boomeranging vertically a few times, allowing you to hit enemies both above and below you, plus it stays active long enough as you can move around and take out several groups of foes barring your progress (very useful, my favorite ninja art in most situations).

You can only carry one ninja art at a time (same as prior games,and as with most platforming games), meaning if you already have one equipped and you want a different one, you'll have to make an exchange for it. Each stage starts you out with the Windmill Throwing Star already available to Ryu. In NGII, it was the regular shuriken, the first NG game didn't offer you anything to start with, 'cept your sword, so there's been some ups on advantages for Ryu.

Naturally using your ninja arts has gotta come at a cost, each draining a certain amount of magic points, which must be available in order to unleash its power. But none are created equally, some arts require more magic than others to use them. Blue "nin" kanji icons (shortened from "ninpo") give you 10 magic points, while the less common orange ones fill your magic to its maximum. Your maximum stock to start with is 40, but finding scrolls along the way will raise your maximum by 10 more, the most you can carry is 100 magic points. The good thing is, even after you lose a life, you won't lose any scrolls that you've collected, even being able to carry over your maximum stock to the next stage, its only when you've used your last life and continue that you go back to the default magic point stock.

There are a few power-ups that Tecmo excluded in this third NG game. The never recurring, godly 'Jump 'N Slash' technique from the first game (Metroid's 'Screw Attack' anyone?) allowed you to jump and spin-slash your way through any foe, including bosses, cutting their souls from them in one or two assaults of this awesome art. The simple standard throwing star, which is like comparing the knife to the cross-boomerang in the Castlevania games, but unlike that series, apparently in NGIII, it seemed unneccessary and was cut, leaving only the superior boomeranging star. The 'Phantom Doubles' from NGII, which acted much like the 'Options' in the Gradius games (you can have up to two of them following you), these were orange clones of Ryu that followed his movements, trailing behind him, running and jumping along with him, striking when he does, even using ninja magic when he unleashed it, essentially giving you more firepower, which is very helpful on bosses, or if set up just right, if you were surrounded by many aggressors. Most gamers whom've loved the clone power-up from NGII will be disappointed with the absence of it in this game. Though personally I didn't much care for it - felt these Ryu clones were distracting for the most part...the sword power-up is much better.

Unlike NG, and NGII, the third game has limited continues, only 5, opposed to infinite. This seems to be, from what I've heard other gamers complaining about, one of the things that ultimately makes this game much harder than the other two. I on the other hand, find it easier. Besides, what's wrong with a little challenge? People get too lax and pampered with these infinite continues anyway, especially if they aren't necessary...though I do eat my words when playing Ninja Gaiden 1 & 2. Ninja Gaiden III is much easier than either of those games for everything I've talked about thusfar. If the other two had had a limit of 5 continues instead of as we know them, I'm not so sure whether I'd have ever been able to beat them as easy as I'd done back in the day.

Besides, if you know how to take advantage of 1-ups that are common in many platformers, you can build up a ton of lives to make up for all the deaths you're bound to have later. 1-up loops in the Ninja Gaiden games are where you come across a 1-up icon which you can collect, then are able to go back to the previous screen (not always allowed), then come back to collect it again, continuing to do this til you reach your maximum stock of lives. Of coarse you may have to sacrifice one or two of them to the timer - no big loss 'cause you'll be adding more than subtracting from them - as it may expire on you if you have a lot of lives to catch up on.

All together there are 7 Acts in NGIII, with one to several stages, with various sub-sections within each Act. Over 20+ stages, a total of 48 sub-sections (counting bosses, and of coarse if I counted 'em up right), each varying in length, difficulty and layout. Most stages are laid out horizontally, but some have you scaling walls and platforms within tall, vertical shafts.

Stages are seen from a direct sideview, not having the slight isometric angle that the first two games had. Many have said they didn't like this, that it makes the game look flat, less interactive. I really don't see how this can be, Ryu can interact far more with the terrain than he ever could before, comparing to the isometric view. I also find it less distracting, and easier to make jumps, judging the edge of a ledge, besides I don't think it would've looked right with him hanging from the underside of angled platforms, would've actually made it difficult to see him, or any hazards hugging the bottom of it.

I guess the only thing that NGIII differs from stage-wise is that unlike the prequels, there's not much rebounding back and forth between walls, this I kinda miss, yet am relieved that I don't have to struggle with it anymore, at least not while playing NGIII. Well, there is a lot of climbing, but it feels less challenging, but its also due to Ryu's perfected wall climbing abilities. Scaling walls feels as natural as running back and forth across the screen, no longer is it a skill that you have to practice on numerous times just to do something as simple as scaling a wall - hey, for a ninja it should be simple. Also, because of Ryu's hanging ability, the game has to blend both wall climbing and this into well balanced stages, offering a little of every sorta challenge. Later, they do up the ante a bit by lining entire walls, and ceiling, and even the floor in which you stand, with enormous spikes which extend and retract in set intervals.

Graphically NGIII is superior to its predecessors in every way, just as NGII was to the first game. Colors are much more vibrant, backgrounds are even more detailed, everything's a lot clearer. There's some nice multi-layered parallax scrolling in certain stages, not saying it wasn't done before, it just looks so damned good here. There's even some nice touches in animation here and there, such as a loose strand of Ryu's mask flitting about behind him. And all kinds of other nifty details I'll describe below.

The first act starts out in a secret laboratory, and as with any mad scientist lab, you find experiments, grotesque, malformed creatures, pulsating in large tanks throughout the lab. I guess my only complaint, though minor, is that the creatures seen behind glass within each tank, it doesn't quite look right, I'd suppose there's suppose to be some kind of liquid in these tanks, but they look very dry, I'd liked to had seen some stirring or bubbles flowing up, or something a little more to make 'em look less like large moving pictures within walls. Even better would have been to make these creatures sprites separate from the background, have a floatiness to 'em, they're too stationary. While this is only the first stage, not expecting much from it, still, it didn't wow me like, well, Act 2. Its not much, but neither were the city stages of the games prior to it.

NGIII's use of parallax scrolling shows that it can have up to 5 screens layered and moving independently at different speeds, giving stages, most notably outside areas such as the desert (first part of Act 2) more depth. Gazing upon the desert of Act 2 in motion, the front-most screen having ruins in the foreground, zips by quickly as you rush across the deserts sands. The second layer is the one in which Ryu (and the enemies) is situated, the desert floor, the quicksand, obviously moving along at Ryu's pace. The next layer are more ruins, a tad further in the distance, passing by a little slower. The layer beyond that are mountain ranges, quite far off, very slowly inch off screen. And the furthest-most layer are the clouds, these float by to the left only, as if a gentle breeze is blowing them. This is just one example, you will see it put to use in some later stages as well. Even saying so, this stage was the highlight of the game's parallax scrolling...breath taking.

Many stages of NGIII rely on a good selection of contrasting colors to grab your attention. Other things that help bring the game to life are other, more subtle effects of the backgrounds in some stages, such as the lava half of Act 2, and later the ice cavern of Act 6, which pulsate with light, dimming, then brightening, dimming again...giving a false effect of light gleaming off of the walls. Bring together bright red lava, pouring out of spouts in the background, into deep pools of it, contrasting against darker background, illuminating only in occasional spots, within a toothy-looking, deeply shadowed looking cave - its all very reminiscent of Norfair from Super Metroid on the SNES, that was my first impression upon seeing this part of Act 2. Not forgetting to mention the part where the lava starts flooding a long vertical shaft, some exciting stuff here. The first time playing Act 2 of NGIII, it blew me away. Though I really do love this stage, I do wish it'd been later in the game, a bit harder, and larger.

Act 3 is a lush jungle, colors are a mix of vibrant greens and browns make up the tendrils of twisting vines and other plant-life, while the blue and purple gnarled tree trunks make it look as though the shadows are heavy here, and a light purplish white tint between the trees in the background makes the jungle look very dense, as if only bits of light were permissible to pass through the foliage. Muddy, deep, choppy water covers the entire floor of the jungle, a layer of tall grasses line the foreground giving the sense that Ryu is indeed in the deep, darkest regions of...wait, where the hell is this, the Amazon, somewhere else? I do wish they'd used more parallax scrolling in this stage though. I can understand inside areas not having any (unless they had visibility to the outside, such as through a window, or if it was a really vast room extending far back into the background), but the jungle stage, even though gorgeous, only has two layers - a foreground, and the plane Ryu's on - it could've at least used another layer for the space between trees in the background to give further depth. I'd liked to had seen rays of light beaming down between the trees. Maybe I'm asking a bit too much, afterall, they only got so much memory to work with, plus, I kinda got a bit overly excited over Act 2's desert, so my expectations were set up rather high.

One thing I always found weird in NGII was the waterfall region, its a cool stage, and very challenging, but the odd part about it is how solid the water is, Ryu runs on top of it - perhaps intentional - instead of trudging through it. Kind of reminded me of the aqueducts, the Stream stage in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, after Syfa freezes the water, yet its still flowing in NGII. In NGIII the second half of Act 3 looks like the inside of some giant tree or something, with streams of rapidly flowing water and waterfalls as well, but the water looks better and Ryu is actually standing in it this time, instead of on it. Actually upon further examination, you're not exactly in it either, more like in front of it...bah, but hey, at least they tried to simulate the water better. Actually, in defense of NGII, ninja running on solid, flowing water is frickin' cool, a rather impressive feat for any mortal. And who's to say water doesn't act differently when demonic forces are influencing it. What this stage in NGIII could've benefited from more though would've been drips in random place, from the ceiling or underside of some of the platforms, such as from these tubes embedded within most of the platforms, looks like something shoulda dripped outa them, whether these droplets would've been hazardous or not, it would've add a little bit of that extra touch of life to enhance this stage further. Also, the walls should've looked damp as well, what with all the moisture flowing into this area. Oh, some of the platforms here are really bizarre, long, twisting arms with curled hands on the ends of 'em, freaky.

The beginning of Act 4 has Ryu running across what looks to be a metal bridge, set up as a sort of checkpoint outpost, it hasn't been kept up too well as it is broken in many places, though moving platforms are set up across larger expanses. Seemingly normal, 'cept that the background has upside-down treetops and mountains, the sky is red, and below you awaits spinning drills to impale Ryu should you fall. What woulda made this stage even cooler though is if it were at nighttime with light projecting from the spotlights along the metal towers, also, it needed some layers to really emphasize the topsy-turvy background, it could've really benefited from multiple layers. This could've been a really wild looking stage if it had some super cool parallax scrolling (think desert stage, but upside-down), but the first few times playing through it, I completely ignored the background, unintentionally, not even realizing at first that the mountains and whatnot were upside-down. Problem with this stage is that unlike some other games that have done stages all topsy-turvy is that they, such as Little Nemo the Dream Master, did it better, I just wasn't feeling it with this stage in NGIII, a rather basic stage in design that would've been even better if everything stood out better. Everything looks kinda flat, nothing stands out, not even the clouds. Also, I think this part should've been longer, more complex, and I'd want to feel a sense of vertigo, and the drills, kinda weird, throws off the whole upside-downness of the rest of the background.

The second half of this act relies more on giving you a taste of tougher challenges ahead, but graphically, merely just a dungeon-like stage, with a stony background, gratings, large chains dangling or attached to the rocky walls. Nothing really too exciting, well except the large spikes that retract in and out of the floor. And I know a bit early for too much of a challenge, but even with all these large spikes, the stage is lacking something, more types of traps perhaps.

Hey, here's some really good visuals! A grand cut scene after finishing the 4th Act. Ryu, standing atop a peak in the foreground as the screen gradually pans across the horizon - at least 5 layers of parallax scrolling - to focus his, and our view, on Castle Rock Fortress. I've always loved these brief cinematic cut scenes with Ryu either hanging from the side of a mountain, or standing atop a cliff, looking out towards some massive, bizarre fortress or ruins, far off in the distance that's totally not of this world. No matter now many times I see these dramatic shots, I've always been struck with jaw-dropping awe. Such beautiful works of art these scenes are...they'd look great as posters hanging on your bedroom wall, or as wallpaper on your desktop in your computer. Even so, this fortress, however bizarre, and a nice view to behold, there is something missing, the sense of danger, of ultimate evil in which the previous places Ryu visited in his earlier expeditions had, those of NGII were particularly frightening sites to behold.

Yeah, I know, I get all excited and worked up about such a simple thing as parallax scrolling, as if this were the first time I've ever seen it put to use. But hey, this is the NES, and sure other games have done it, such as Batman: Return of the Joker, but not many, or should I say, not enough. Its like seeing transparency, and scaling and rotation effects in an SNES game, as well as the parallax scrolling, many games for that system use these effects, but one can't help but get wowed by 'em every so often when they're put to good use...makes an already good game, look so much more impressive, and sometimes it does help to leave an impression on a gamer such as myself.

Finally we are entering Castle Rock Fortress. Hmm, the first thing I noticed was the rain-like effect in the background, and clearly we aren't within the walls of the fortress just yet, but we must be under some cover as the storm is raging, yet not upon us, only upon the shadow of mountains far off. Kinda reminds me of the first stage in Shadow of the Ninja, raining there too, but neither that game nor NGIII fully pull off the effect as well as they'd tried. I'd say throw some of that rain down upon the platforms, but with as much going on in this stage already, it would've most likely come off as a mess. Its a vivid looking section nevertheless, the outer fortress walls are a nice blend of olive, bronze and crimson, windows are large and decorative, there's balconies abound (though you can't go on any of them), as well as mechanical devices, such as gears turning, chains pulleying around them, bars rotating, and things blinking. Oh, there's a few spotlights here too but only as decorative purpose, I'd really'd like to had seen these used too. But this area is packed with enemies.

Inside the fortress its purely mechanical, pipes and valves randomly running along the background or within walls, overhead in some places are security cameras and monitors, there's also a lot of random blinking lights across the background walls. Later in the stage we are treated to some more multiple scrolling screens midway through this part of Act 5, as Ryu's running across a crumbling bridge. Fighting the boss, your doppelganger, by the end of this act, shows that you are in a control room of sorts (a large computer control panel, an even larger reactor, generator or such in front of it, with a ring of monitors circling it, and cameras on the uppermost of both walls), and it is only after Clancy fills you in on a bit of info at the end of the next stage do you realize that you are inside of a dimensional warship (clearly this must've been the engine room), or as the title says, "The Ancient Ship of Doom."

In Act 6 the background's icy walls gleam from green to purple, back to green, then to blue, giving it a glowing look, as if light is reflecting from the walls, stage is slippy is hell too as the whole damned place is frozen over. Aside from the slip hazard that the ice presents, there's also jagged, sharp clusters of crystal in which to cut yourself on. Some platforms here look as though made of bone, these are the only things not slippery. Overall, its a pretty stage, one of the more challenging ones as well, but what's odd is that this is part of the ship...an ice cavern, in a ship?

The second half of this act is inside of some gross hive-like construct, the walls are seemingly made of entrails, or tentacles or something, and there's a pulsating, translucent membrane in the foreground with a honeycomb network of veins or something through it all. Plus, to add further into the gross factor is that you sink into and through the floor if you don't keep jumping, that's just sick...I love it! I really do think though, that is if this stage really is supposed to be as I think it is, that there shoulda been some squishy, or muddy type sound effect everytime you jumped out of that tangled mess. To further sicken it is that you'll see these arteries or something protruding from the floor, attached to and feeding nutrients to the membrane, well they wiggle, yeah, pretty disgusting. What's worst is that the boss's chamber, these tendrils that make up the whole of everything - the floor, walls, ceiling - are bloody looking. This is an extreme bizarre stage.

Interesting how suddenly and drastically scenery changes in this game, first when you had arrived at Castle Rock Fortress, it looks like you arrived at the typical enemy stronghold that is so common in videogames. Then when you enter it, suddenly it looks like a large engine room, some industrial place, surely no ruins I've ever thought existed. Then you are teleported to the frozen food section, and after that through something's digestive tract. And now, at the start of Act 7, having been expelled out its ass, you are on the outside of the underbelly of this beast of a ship. In the cut scenes it looks like a giant bug, and actually not remotely having any clues of having anything mechanical about it, yet, here we are, high above the clouds running along what seems to be landing skiffs below what appears to be a purely metal structured craft not even befitting of the gigantic bug we saw just moments before. Okay, I'll buy that. So nothing has really made too much sense up to this point, but I'm really enjoying this game, and hey, there's at least 3 layers of clouds rushing by as the ship of doom cruises the clouds! Oh the joy. Even better, we now have wind, this'll be the force that'll try to keep pushing you back, a constant breeze threatening to push Ryu overboard. There's some neat little mechanisms moving and blinking on the ship, as well as these sensor-looking dome thingies, makes the ship look very much operational, and in a mechanical sense, alive.

Back inside of the ship, hmm, these walls look familiar, didn't I see this pattern right before being expelled down a trapdoor? Okay, refraining from criticizing cutscene-to-stage continuity errors. It seems the enemies are on high alert, a flashing red light bathes the walls, even gleaming off the floors, walls and platforms, like an alarm is blaring ('cept you don't hear it, thank goodness, nothing more annoying than an insistent, constant ringing - thinks of that one annoying stage in Werewolf the Last Warrior), and this is the alert lights. There's also electrical barriers across some parts of walls or barring your path between platforms, there seems to be a big sense of urgency in this stage, enemies are on full alert as are the ship's internal defenses. This is one tough section to pass, with or without practice, you may lose a few lives, or all, here. Oh, lots of gears spinning in the walls as well, again further reminding you of where you are...nope, not Dracula's clocktower.

The final stretch of Act 7 is spike filled fun. Everything, the floor, the walls, the ceiling, are lined with the same spikes you probably poked yourself on in Act 4. Think of the final area of Blaster Master, if you've played it, and happened to in the unlikely event of gaming godness on your behalf, gotten that far into that game. Just like Blaster Master's final stage - spikes galour - you're going to get hurt more than a few times before you get good enough to pass through 'em without impaling yourself. Background is blue, gives your eyes a rest after seeing all that red before. Also, when I was watching one of the games I recorded, played back to watch it, I was looking at all the stuff going on in each stage, quite impressive the amount of detail they put into everything, lots of things flashing, blinking, and moving within the scenery. Such as I was looking at the spike area of this final stage, everytime the rows of spikes retracted or popped back out, within the walls you see gears and pistons moving in time with 'em, I like these little details, amazing how active the stages are even without enemies to fill them. There's lots of blinking lights and panels in the background, even the pipes/tubes light up as if the light from electronics is gleaming off of 'em, certain platforms crumble when stepped upon, plus, they don't let up on the enemies. I seen it all before, but never really took the time to really sit back and just admire it all, usually too distracted playing to pay anything much more than a second or so of a glance, hacking up enemies, avoiding traps and whatnot.

Music is just as good as in the previous NG games, all quite memorable and appropriate for a given background and situation. One of my favorite tunes in the game is the frantic music accompanying you in Act 2 as you climb up a vertical shaft in a cave with a pool of lava rising below you. There are several recurring tunes in the game (including the one just mentioned) that are repeated on several stages, but I really enjoy listening to them, most of the time humming along with them, as I do for most games with catchy musical scores.

The only gripe I have regarding the music is that there isn't any sound test in this game (unlike the other two NG games), so that you can listen to them without having to play the actual game everytime you wanna hear 'em. This to me is the biggest minus, but it's an unnecessary bonus, though one that is most desired because the soundtrack is so good.

Sound effects are also good, all very clear, and Ryu even has a distinct "Hah" sound when he slashes ("The Master" from the SNES game, Actraiser also shared this enthusiasm when attacking foes) that sounds pretty cool. I've actually heard, um, read some gamers making fun of Ryu's vocals, saying he sounds stupid or weird, or even annoying, preferring him to be silent and let his sword do the talking, I think its just being overly nit-picky. I also like the 'ching' sound that accompanies your blade coming in contact with a shielded metal enemy, letting you know that your attack isn't getting through. But the most common sound you'll be hearing (aside from Ryu's "Hah") is the sound of enemies bursting, much like that of a balloon popping, which is always satisfying if it's trying to attack you.

Enemies range from easiest-to-kill ninja (strange how pathetically weak and unskilled they are), to angry mutants, to bio-mechanical menaces. The typical wide-ranged variety you'd expect from any videogame. Some of them are recurring foes from the previous two games, but many of them are brand new sprites. I kinda miss all the demons and stuff from the other games, but these sprites are so frickin' cool it don't really matter, nice to see that Ryu can fight and overcome any kind of enemy, from thugs, to ninja, to demons, to mutants and robots. Bosses are no exception, cool looking sprites, easy-to-follow attack patterns, but still somewhat challenging. Typical, but always effective, platformer boss fare.

Enemies don't respawn so long as you kill them (unlike the previous NG games, where they kept coming back no matter how many times you killed 'em). Naturally if you don't actually slay them, opting to pass them by, but then take a step back, they'll still respawn, makes sense though since you didn't kill 'em, they're not dead until you make 'em so. You can kill with confidence of knowing that they'll no longer pose a threat anymore once you've sliced them all to hell.

Another improvement, this regarding collision, is that enemies don't always hit you back. It depends on how they collide with you, or you with them. Sometimes Ryu will just flicker when taking a hit, and even when they do knock you back its not usually as hard as in the previous games. Though there are times when a foe will drag you along with them, this usually occurring if they hit you from below while you were jumping, usually right into a pit, but even so I find myself getting knocked into bottomless pits less often.

But to balance things out, enemies do more damage to you than in its prequels. Where as a minor foe that this and a previous game shared, that same foe is stronger here, doing twice the damage to you than they would've before this game...either that or Ryu's gotten weaker, but highly doubtful. Anyway, at first this was something I didn't notice right off the bat, having never really played the other two games very much, I didn't realize this difference til it was pointed out by other gamers as they ridiculed the game.

I do have one gripe about certain enemies in this game, I just realized how many enemies in NGIII have guns, yet don't use them, only enemies that fire at you (aside from bosses) are stationary ones. Got several soldiers that run around or patrol back and forth with guns in their hands, but never bother to blow my ass away, what the hell?! You know, if I knew how to, I'd like to make this game harder, I'd like every able body with a gun to be able to shoot at me. Guess they thought the game was hard enough, well at least its better than the Famicom one, that one's pitifully easy that its not even fun.

Overall, of the NG trilogy, Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom is the more refined game in the series, and though not the first one I played (played 'em in sequential order), it was the first one that truly captured my full attention. Not to say I didn't enjoy the previous two games, they just didn't appeal enough to me to warrant purchasing them back then when the NES was the most popular system around. I played 'em (either through a friend or by rental), I beat 'em, I moved on, never considering owning them (that was back when they first game came out), til later when I got 'em used from Funcoland. These games though, they always left some impression, whether it be for the cinematic cut scenes, or the extreme challenge, one thing this series has always been is memorable, but I seem to hold onto a lot of NES memories easily and fondly.

But if I had known how much more enjoyable Ninja Gaiden III: TASoD was then, as I know now, I wouldn't have passed it up for so many years, in fact would've most likely had it on one of my Christmas lists then. But it also came out at a time when the SNES had, so maybe not, but certainly I would've considered it. But in '99 I did finally get my chance to play it, that's when I started re-collecting for the NES (again), and enjoyed it immensely. I was more than satisfied with this final installment, it was a great closure to a classic series, and easily one of the best platforming games on the NES.

Overall rating: 10/10 Perfect! Platforming, hack 'n slash satisfaction.

Regardless of any negativity I've pointed out on this game, if you choose view it more critically than I, the game is practically flawless (and I'm always talking gameplay-wise), the gameplay kicks ass, and that's where this rating goes to.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/02/08

Game Release: Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (US, August 1991)