Mirai Ninja

Mirai Ninja
Arcade flyer
Developer(s)	Namco
Publisher(s)	Namco
Platform(s)	Arcade
Release date(s)	JP 1988
Genre(s)	Beat 'em up
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players, alternating turns
Cabinet	Upright, cabaret, and cocktail
Arcade system	Namco System 2
Display	Horizontal orientation, raster

Mirai Ninja (未来忍者, lit. "Future Ninja"^?), fully titled as Mirai Ninja: Keigumo Kinin Gaiden (未来忍者 慶雲機忍外伝, lit. "Future Ninja: Stealth Joy Cloud Device Side Story"^?), is a beat 'em up arcade game that was released by Namco in 1988 only in Japan. Mirai Ninja was based on the Japanese movie of the same name, also produced by Namco. The game ran on Namco System 2 hardware.

Summary

Character designs and directing of the film were done by Keita Amemiya of Zeiram and Kamen Rider fame. Both the game and the movie were released in the same year. Oddly enough, despite the arcade game being released only in Japan, the film was released overseas by Orion Pictures in straight-to-video releases under the titles Cyber Ninja (in United States) and Warlord (in Canada).

In both the film and the arcade game a man's body and soul are stolen and used as part of a demon's castle. What's left becomes a cyber-ninja named Shiranui. The player controls Mirai Ninja, who must fight various enemies and bosses by rapidly throwing shuriken at them. The life meter uses kanji for the numbers; this was previously done in Namco's other game, Genpei Tōma Den, for the score display. There were four 7"-8" action figures released by Crowd, Inc. in 2000. There were two Shouki figures (a bone colored Shouki and a red repaint), and two Shiranui figures (a black and a black & silver repaint).

External links

• Mirai Ninja at the Killer List of Videogames
• Mirai Ninja (film) at the Internet Movie Database
• Cyber Ninja "review"