“Run It Back” is a series that I plan to do focusing on retro games. I think of it as something between a feature piece and a review, but the intention is to shine a spotlight on older games that might not be easily accessible (legally) and games that I think were (or possibly still are) something special and should remembered.
My inaugural selection for Run It Back is one of my very favorite games from my youth: I-Ninja, released on Windows, GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox, published by Namco (before they became Bandai Namco, as they’re now known) and developed by Argonaut Games, who were responsible for developing games like Star Fox for the SNES and Croc: Legend of the Gobbos for PlayStation, Saturn and Windows.
Hearkening back to the tail end of the golden age of 3D action-platformers, I-Ninja hit the scene in 2003, placing it within striking distance of genre juggernauts like Jak 2 and Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando. Unfortunately, this game is not remembered in the same way. I think part of the reason for that is because it landed just before these two massive games, and as a new IP, it was smothered under the heavy shadow of very popular PlayStation 2 franchise sequels, also I-Ninja is not currently available on any modern platform, so its legacy lies only with that generation of consoles.
I-Ninja enjoyed and thrived off of the ongoing American obsession with all things ninja-themed, a trend that started sometime in the 1980s and early 1990s, in the West. Between the subject matter and the playfully edgy tone and gameplay, I-Ninja feels exactly like it is a product of 2003, which is like comfort food for those of us who grew up in and fondly remember the early 2000s.
I recently played I-Ninja and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it still handles. Many games from this era do not feel quite right when we revisit them in the modern era; the controls won’t feel as fluid or reactive as they did in the past, the early polygonal graphics often don’t look right, but I-Ninja had a stylized and cartoony aesthetic, which has kept it looking charming these twenty years later, and the gameplay still feels quite solid.
As I said earlier, I-Ninja is a 3D action platformer, and the platforming sections are great and varied. You’ll be grappling, double-jumping and spinning your katana to hover across difficult to traverse gaps and ravines. We all know how 3D platformers work though, if you have played Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, Yooka-Laylee or any of the other incredible games in the genre. Where I think that I-Ninja really shines, is in the action category. Combat largely centers around racking up huge combos with your katana, slashing and slicing enemies, as your little ninja shows off some really impressive martial art prowess. You can stab your sword directly behind you to hit a potentially ambushing opponent, you can rush forward with a direct jab to clear the distance between yourself and an enemy, or just button mash and enter into an impenetrable back and forth whirlwind of katana attacks. You also gain access to shurikens and blow darts, in some stages. As you progress through the game, you earn new swords, that enable you to deal more damage. There is also a belt tier system, like in martial arts, where you get different colored belts to reflect your expertise, and each belt upgrade grants you more health.
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| Ninja shown with the Steel Sword upgrade. |
The plot of I-Ninja is simple and quite humorous. The protagonist, named Ninja, is essentially Raphael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; a hot-headed hero who is strong and capable, but quite rude and brash. On a mission to rescue his sensei, Ninja successfully vanquishes the baddies and comes across an item known as a Rage Stone, he then flies into an uncontrollable fury as a result of the stone and mistakenly murders his sensei. Luckily, Ninja’s mentor didn’t take it personally and returns from the grave, a la Yoda, and directs Ninja on a quest to recover the remaining Rage Stones, so that he will possess enough power to defeat the villainous O-Dor. Ninja travels across many varied lands on his adventure to collect the Rage Stones, such as Robot Beach, Bomb Bay, a jungle, a mountainous region and eventually a base on the moon. I-Ninja moves at a tight, brisk pace too, so just around the time you’re ready to see a new locale, there’s one waiting for you. The boss fights in the game are diverse as well, some of them featuring entirely different modes of play, like a giant mecha boxing match and a submarine battle, with Ninja controlling the sub. The game keeps you on your toes the whole way through, feeding you fresh mechanics, excellent, kinetic combat and sending you on a globe-trotting journey that makes Ninja’s mission feel all the more important.
I’ve talked a lot about what I-Ninja is and why I think it’s worth revisiting. One nifty tidbit that I left out up until this point is that the cutscenes of the game were directed by a little known animator known as Don Bluth. Who? Oh, just the guy who created The Land Before Time, Anastasia, An American Tail and several other amazing animated films, as well as the classic video game Dragon’s Lair. I briefly mentioned that Argonaut Games were the developers behind this little known, underappreciated title. Argonaut Games were mainstays in the British game development scene in this era, but unfortunately I-Ninja was one of the last games that these legends ushered into the world. Or at least, one of the last games under this name. Argonaut dissolved a few years after the game released, and two very important studios rose from its ashes, like a pair of phoenixes: Rocksteady Studios and Ninja Theory. Co-founder of Rocksteady, Jamie Walker, served as a lead producer on I-Ninja. I honestly wonder if the amazing combat of this game is connected in some way to the Arkham series’ trademark “freeflow combat.” I will choose to believe that there is some sort of shared DNA between these games unless I am told directly otherwise. Ninja Theory is another extremely famous studio, now an Xbox first-party developer, known for the beloved Hellblade and cult favorites like Heavenly Sword. Another very interesting connection here, though perhaps entirely coincidental, Ninja from I-Ninja looks suspiciously similar to the ninja character, curiously named “Ninja Fu Hiya” from Ninja Theory’s (known at the time as Just Add Monsters) Xbox exclusive game called Kung Fu Chaos. When myself and a friend of mine were young, we actually had zero idea that there was any connective tissue between the developers of I-Ninja and Kung Fu Chaos, but we owned both games and we had our own canon of sorts that it was the very same ninja in both games, perhaps just at different ages. I’ll put a picture of Ninja Fu Hiya below.
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| Ninja Fu Hiya from Kung Fu Chaos. Obviously he doesn’t look EXACTLY like Ninja from I-Ninja, but his outfit and headband are the exact same colors as Ninja’s default outfit. |
I hope that I have sufficiently explained just how cool this oft-forgotten 3D platformer was, and still is. If you want to enjoy a light-hearted, early 2000s flavored, action romp, you would be hard-pressed to find one better. Whether it’s the fun plot, the timeless combat (that may be the progenitor to the Arkham series’ combat) or just the heritage that the game has through the incredibly talented individuals who all came together to create a truly special piece of art, I think that I-Ninja deserves to be remembered.
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| Stand tall and look to the sun, Ninja. You deserve the shine. |
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