Ready for action. note
Ninja Combat is a 1990 ninja-themed Beat 'em Up game developed by ADK and SNK.
Set in 199X, the players assume the role of twin ninja brothers in New York, Joe (ジョー) and Hayabusa (ハヤブサ), battling an evil ninja clan, the Kage Ichizoku (影一族, "Shadow Family") led by the Evil Sorcerer Genyousai whose minions are terrorizing the streets of New York.
Batling hordes and hordes of Genyousai's followers, Joe and Hayabusa along the way recruits various allies, including the ninja princess Kagerow, the lone mercenary Musashi with a hidden vendetta against the Kage Ichizoku, and the former henchman-turned-ally, Gembu, which the game allows the player to swap around after completing each level. With their newfound comrades, the heroes launch a daring assault on the Kage Ichizoku fortress, the Ninja Tower, to challenge Genyousai in a personal battle.
Ninja Combat contains examples of:
- 1-Up: For every 1,500 points collected, or picking up a gold capsule, you gain an extra life.
- Amazon Brigade: Sword-wielding kunoichi mooks are a recurring enemy type.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Of the playable heroes, Gembu is the only one who fight with his fists and he can deal as much damage as weapons, even destroying mechanical or armoured enemies. Sometimes after defeating a screen full of mooks by punching them into submission, he'll pull off some Knuckle Cracking as he proceeds.
- Beast Man: Some random human mooks with wolf-heads shows up as enemies.
- Big Bad: Genyousai, the leader of an evil ninja clan called the Kage Ichizoku, whose lair the players must infiltrate at the end of the game.
- Boss Rush: Before fighting Genyousai, you'll need to fight three of the previous bosses (none of them which are those now allied with you) in corridors outside his quarters, one at a time, with plenty of mooks in-between.
- Exploding Barrels: Tends to show up every now and then, and they can blow up after getting slashed with a sword.
- Giant Mook: Two varieties, the overweight balding guys holding two heavy maces at once, and the muscular KKK mooks. They are larger than the average mook and takes plenty of hits before going down.
- Improbable Weapon User: One of the bosses, a muscular brute with two heads stacked atop each other will attack you using a torpedo like a club. If you defeat him, his torpedo "club" explodes in his hands blowing him to bits.
- The Klan: For some weird reason, this game has mooks wearing blue KKK masks wielding spiked clubs. It's never rerally explained within the game.
- Losing Your Head: The Final Boss, Genyousai, upon defeat, will explode in a dozen fireballs... save for his head. Instead, his head grows a life on it's own and attaches itself on a giant headless statue in the background for the second phase of the battle.
- Ninja: Well, it's a game titled "Ninja Combat". Joe and Hayabusa are ninja warriors, as is Princess Kagerow and Musashi. The mooks are all ninjas as well.
- Playing with Fire:
- Joe, one of the two default characters, can create fire and launch fireballs as a backup. He also have a Smart Bomb in the form of a dragon made of flames which he'll use to obliterate the screen of enemies.
- The Old Master boss, besides teleportation, can shot fireballs and unleash a dragon made of flames on the players.
- Promoted to Playable: Princess Kagerow and Gembu (the lady in white and the bare-chested muscleman on the poster) first appear as Mini-Boss enemies halfway through the levels, before joining you after you defeat them. The former is an ally of yours who's testing you, while the latter used to serve Kage Ichizoku until he had a Heel–Face Turn.
- Rocket Punch: The first boss has mechanical Extendable Arms ending with spiked fists, which he'll launch at you before recalling them. But as he takes damage his arms explode, but he'll still keep on fighting (with... two stumps on his shoulders) until he's destroyed.
- Rolling Attack: The boss of the subway stage, a cyborg-esque ninja, will fight you on an empty railway track and use his powers to roll himself into a ball and ram along the rail line and tackle you.
- Secret Test of Character: Princess Kagerow first shows up as a rather difficult Mini-Boss fight one-third into the game, fleeing after she's defeated. You then go on until the end of the level, defeat the actual boss, and then Princess Kagerow shows up again telling you she's actually testing your powers. She becomes a playable character in the next stage.
- Sequential Boss: The Final Boss, Genyousai, fittingly enough.
- In his first phase he fights as a human, one whose power allows him to float all over the place, and getting touched by him drains your health. You'll need to hack him to bits, but after his defeat...
- … his head then enlarges, attaching to a headless statue of himself in the background, turning himself into a fifty-foot giant monster who attacks in the background.
- Shock and Awe: Hayabusa can generate electricity and summon thunderbolts as a backup move, capable of electrocuting mooks around him. Unlike his brother Joe, Hayabusa's Smart Bomb is a thick thunderbolt covering most of the screen.
- Shout-Out Theme Naming: Your two default characters are called Joe and Hayabusa. So, Joe from Shinobi and Ryu Hayabusa? (Bonus: Joe's last name is Musashi, the name of another playable character. None of these are exactly uncommon names, however)
- Spikes of Doom: The ninja castle stage has spiked floors which can damage you, and also collapsing spiked walls.
- Spread Shot: Joe and Hayabusa can spam their unlimited shurikens, three at a time, and there's a power-up that turns those shurikens into an arc of fireballs.
- Sword Beam: Princess Kagerow fights with a sword that fires crescent-shaped energy blasts, which she'll use against you during her boss fight. But after her defeat she's Promoted to Playable, at which point you can sic her blade beams on enemy mooks. You can also collect a power-up and turns her sword blasts into mini-tornadoes.
- Teleport Spam: The Old Master boss will start porting all over the screen when you score multiple hits on him. While he's difficult to hit as he's dissappearing and reappearing, he'll need to stop his teleportation in order to attack you, giving you chance to fight back.
- Warrior Princess: Princess Kagerow, the kunoichi warrior.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In a few scenes, enemy kunoichi will pretend to be captured women captives by the hostile ninjas, either tied up or locked in cages, but as soon as you release them they then reveal themselves to be enemies and attacks you.
