Collection essentials #91: Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (NES)

Another Ninja Gaiden game that doesn’t mess with the formula, and another time I’m not upset about that. The plot this time is that Ryu’s girlfriend Irene has supposedly died after being chased by a Ryu-lookalike, and the real Ryu sets out to find out what happened and also to clear his name. There are small tweaks here and there that are noticeable in this game compared to the first two, such as Ryu shouting out loud when he swings his sword and the ability to see what a power-up is before you get it.


This game is notable for making the American release far more difficult than the Japanese version, which was rather forgiving. This time, you have a limited number of continues before you have to start the game all over, something that not even the first two games did. You also take more damage from enemies. I have yet to really seriously try beating this game, and it’ll be interesting to see if I ever manage to do so because I’m definitely going to try at some point. Whether or not I manage to beat it, it’s still obviously a high-quality title that belongs in my collection.

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