Ninja Assault is a Light Gun Game from Namco premiering in arcades in 2000. The story is simple: an evil demon lord known as the Shogun Kigai has surfaced and kidnapped the Princess Koto to complete his resurrection. Two ninjas, Guren and Gunjo, set out to rescue her. During a scuffle with some of Kigai's mooks, they're cornered near a shrine and all seems lost. However, the shrine opens and reveals mystical weapons...which most from the modern age would recognize as guns. These weapons, however, are very effective against the demon hordes; thus Guren and Gunjo begin turning the tide against the forces of Kigai....
The games was ported to the PlayStation 2 with use of the Guncon 2. There's also an extra story mode showcasing a new character, Aoi, a kunochi out for revenge for the death of her father.
Namco would later release a similar game, Flash of the Blade, which is allegedly set in the same universe as Ninja Assault.
Not to be confused with the Ninja Gaiden knockoff featured on Action 52.
Ninja Assault has the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Aoi, in the PS2 port. She even has some special dialogue in the cutscenes to set her apart from Guren and Gunjo.
- Anachronism Stew: Aside from the whole "ninjas with guns" thingnote , you encounter clattering "puppet soldiers" with katanas at a couple points, along with a few siege towers in one stage that have rotating cannons. Shogun Kigai himself is a living head set atop a clockwork body, until the time comes for the final battle. Somewhat subverted, in the fact that the ninja's guns are clearly unique inventions that were sealed away; cannons did exist in the time period that this takes place in, and the puppet soldiers are likely powered by magic rather than steam or other mechanical parts.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Shogun Kigai's Dragon counts, seeing as he looks down at "Princess Koto's lap-dogs" every chance he gets. The more human of the Dragon Lords also has a large opinion of his own abilities, and a low one of the ninjas.
- Attack Its Weak Point: The bosses all have obvious weak spots; trying to hit them is not easy, though.
- Big Bad: Shogun Kigai.
- Casting a Shadow: The Dragon to Shogun Kigai uses this a lot. He ends up being devoured by his own shadows after you beat him.
- Doppelgänger Spin: The humanoid Dragon Lord pulls this off as his health starts dipping low. He uses it as cover to charge up his Sword Beam, and you have to shoot the real one enough times in order to cancel it.
- Dual Boss: The Dragon Lords. After you defeat the humanoid one, his mother shows up, and you have to fight them both.
- Excuse Plot: An evil warlord has kidnapped a princess to resurrect himself, and you have to save her. With mystic guns. That's pretty much as complicated as it gets.
- Gaiden Game: Mazan: Flash of the Blade, which has similar interface and settings, but uses swords instead of guns, and also implements mechanics from the Time Crisis games.
- Mama Bear: The Dragon Lord elder, after you defeat her humanoid son.
- Ninja: With guns. Shogun Kigai's forces also have demonic ninja, armed with Wolverine Claws and shurikens.
- Mighty Glacier: Norio Benkei, one of Shogun Kigai's most powerful warriors and a boss you fight—he hits hard, but moves so slowly that you shouldn't have much trouble hitting his weak point... At least until he Turns Red, his armor burning away and allowing him to teleport.
- Multiple Endings: The PS2 port has this in one of its game modes—depending on who you beat the game as, you get one of three endings:
- Guren goes on a journey to hone his ninja skills to their limit.
- Gunjo remains in princess Koto's employ, acting as her bodyguard.
- Aoi retires and enjoys a peaceful life, no longer haunted by her father's death.
- Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: Many of Shogun Kigai's basic foot soldiers come at you head-on with swords and spears. You have a gun. This usually doesn't go well for them.
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Nintendo Hard: This game will definitely test your reflexes, especially the extra modes on the PS2 port. - One-Winged Angel: Shogun Kigai has this going on for him after the ninjas pump his clockwork body full of enchanted lead.
- Orcus on His Throne: Shogun Kigai doesn't do much apart from receiving news from The Dragon and ordering him to halt the heroes' advance. Somewhat justified, as it's clearly stated that he needs Princess Koto as a sacrifice to revive himself completely. Having an artificial clockwork body that can't do much probably has something to do with it, too.
- Playing with Fire: The humanoid Dragon Lord boss can hurl fireballs in your duel with him.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: One of the enemy types. They seem to be based on the kappa of Japanese folklore, since you tend to fight them around bodies of water.
- Save the Princess: And that seems to be her sole reason for being in the game.
- Screaming Warrior: The basic foot soldiers, who telegraph their attacks with a kung-fu-worthy battle cry.
- Storm the Castle: Happens twice—in the first stage, you're charging into Princess Koto's burning castle to rescue her; in the finale, you're raiding Shogun Kigai's fortress.
- This Cannot Be!: The Dragon expresses his disbelief that you overcame him shortly before his death.
- Youkai: A good majority of the bosses, whose ranks expand in the PS2 version to include a Yuki-onna, a nine-tailed fox, and a dragon.
- Walk on Water: The humanoid Dragon Lord boss pulls off a variation of this by dashing across the pond that you fight him on. However, shooting him will cancel this out, blasting him off his feet and into the water proper.
