Rage Quit on Deviance FM Blog

You read that right folks.

Ninja Gaiden, one of the most difficult and loved games in the history of video games did have a game that was under development for the Sega Genesis system back in the early 1990’s. However, it never saw release in the United States, and would go on unreleased for over a decade… but through the magic of game emulation, I can give you a review of this game.

Oh, how I suffer for my art.

Ninja Gaiden for the Sega Genesis should be considered a Ninja Gaiden game in name only. Here is what Wikipedia had to say.

A Mega Drive/Genesis game with the working title Ninja Gaiden IV was in development sometime in 1992. It was a beat ’em up  in the light of such games as Double Dragon, somewhat inspired by the original arcade game, but featuring different levels, a new storyline unrelated to previous games, and the presence of cut-scenes similar to the ones from NES trilogy and the other games developed by Sega. The plot, however, involved a trip of Ryu Hayabusa to the United States in a similar fashion to the one of the arcade, with some of the enemies from that game also returning, like the Jason Voorhees look-alikes. Some locations such as a casino, the character would encounter such things as drug deals.

The game was never released commercially due to poor development and bad pre-release critics. A near finished version of the game was leaked illegally through emulation, having all the levels available for playing but also featuring programming bugs like odd moving controls and unfinished game sections.

The games controls in this beta were really sloppy, but at the same time, the were tight enough to make the beat playable once you get the hang of it.

What made the game so interesting though is the fact that while there were special moves, and some basic attacks, the action really is more along the lines of Final Fight. The biggest distraction however is the miniboss glitch where while ready to fight the boss, your level might reset, or you can warp to another zone without getting to fight the boss.

It is understandable to want to play this game to kinda see where it was going, but at the same time, even if it was completed, it would not be all that good of a game, and as such is best that it never came out.

For a full play through on this game follow the link for the video.