Top Ten Ninja’s in Gaming

A ninja, by standard definition is a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan who specialized in unorthodox warfare.  In short, the James Bond‘s of feudal Japan.  By our own interpretation, the baddest mo-fo’s out there. Admit it, when you were a kid, you wrapped a t-shirt or some sort of cloth around your face, grabbed a stick, and pretended you were a ninja.  Ninja’s are one of those things that get passed on from generation to generation as being the coolest of characters.  From when I was growing up, we had Storm Shadow, and Snake Eyes to the Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles, and now, Lego’s Ninjago, and again, the Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles, and in some cases, the aforementioned Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes with the upcoming GI Joe: Retaliation movie set to be released sometime this year.  In any case, in the world of video games, there are a bunch of ninja’s that grazed our screens.  Below is our list, in no order, 10 of who we think are video games top ten ninja’s

Nothing is more refreshing than cyborg-spine-juice. 100% Organic

(NS) Raiden (MGR:R) – With the release of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance this list is actually fitting. And not only am I a big follower of the MGS series but I was introduced to its world with Sons Of Liberty so I didn’t fall into that whole “Raiden sucks” fiasco. In SOL, when Snake suddenly got replaced with this Rookie I thought it was just part of the game so I had no reservations. He was a VR Trained noob who thought he knew what was going on only to be thrown deep into the MGS conspiracy.

Fast forward to now and Raiden not only has become a ninja but a Cyborg ninja at that. In MGS4 cutscenes he was cutting shit up left, right, and center. Kojima succeeded in making him a quasi badass. Now Revengeance literally has us players slicing anything and everything to our heart’s desire. You can feel every hit, every cut, every electrolyte filled cyborg spine being ripped out of attacking enemies. The game isn’t perfect, what with camera issues plaguing this otherwise enjoyable addition to the MGS series. It’s got its high points though, like Raiden being able to physically pick up an MG RAY and toss it in the air like a football and carving up that football like a thanksgiving turkey. Yep, Raiden is a definite winner!

Catch-phrase: My sword is a tool of JUSTICE!

Shhhhhhh

(P) Kakashi Hatake (Naruto Franchise): Kakashi is the epitome of ninja-bad-assery. He’s the sensei to a Breakfast Club-esque trio of wannabe ninjas, and he holds a secret power in his eye that allows him to see into the immediate future. He wears a freaking bandanna across his face and a headband over his eye to conceal this power. A power that he doesn’t keep hidden, however, is his ability to use chidori; he can generate blue lighting. That, my friends, just screams bad ass. Hatake has a haircut similar to the one I currently don on my scalp, all flown up into the air. Except his is so much cooler with it being 10 times as long, defying the laws of gravity. I always used his character when playing Naruto games on my PS2. Always.

(JN) Shadow (Final Fantasy 3/6): Shadow befits what a true ninja is. A hired sword, with allegiance only to those with deep pockets.

If anyone has ever played FF3/6 (my personal favorite out of all FF’s), it was a joy to get him in your party, as he was a powerhouse on his own. Being able to throw pretty much anything in your inventory, and if that doesn’t do the trick, his dog Interceptor will try to end it for his master very swifly. That joy can end very quickly, as he will leave at random, and usually at times where you really, really need him. After the world ends though, he stays in your party for good, but only if you chose to wait for him.

Like a true ninja also, little is known of him. Not much of a backstory was given, and you may get glimpses in dream sequences, but these happen at random, and you do need to play it a few times to see all the sequences.

Tickle me more

(NS) Gray Fox (MGS1) – Moving on we have another powerful and iconic character in this category, let alone the MGS franchise. Gray Fox aka Cyborg Ninja aka Frank Jaeger aka Null (MPO) aka BadMotherYoMouth! Even before Raiden existed, GrayBorg NinJaeger was turning bitches into minced meat in MGS1. With his stealth camo wearing, psycho minded, don’t give a fuck attitude towards life, GF/CN/FJ/N sliced his way to our hearts. Speed and ninja being his forte, Franky could walk up to anyone slowly, stealth camo or not, deflect bullets with his High Frequency Blade and flay them before they had a chance to say a word. Talk about badassery.

But wait, there’s more! Certainly Raiden perfected the art of singlehandedly killing Metal Gears but Gray Fox was the first to take a crack at it. In MGS1, after he figuratively squashed things with Solid Snake and made amends he then lends the Legendary Soldier a helping hand towards the end while fighting MG REX. Fox wears that big bastard down to the point where Snake can take over to finish the job, but not before Fox gets cornered. To which Fox Yells, “A CORNERED FOX IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN A JACKAL!” He then fires one shot from his plasma gun to render REX’s raydome useless, then quite literally gets squashed by REX’s massive foot. Jaeger’s last words to Snake:

“We’re not tools of the government or anyone else. Fighting may have been the only thing that I was good at. But at least I always fought for what I believed in.”

Catch-phrase: HURT ME MORE!

(P) Michelangelo (TMNT): Oh yes, the goofball. The orange banded ninja turtle was always my favorite. It’s weird, because I always chose to play as Rafael in the TMNT video games and whenever reenacting scenes as a child, I would act as Leonardo. But of the two TMNT action figures I had, the one I best took care of was Mikey.

I loved his goofy personality in the TV show and video games and all the crazy words the voice actors would say for him that make him sound much more like a skater/surfer than the rest of his brothers like, “cowabunga” (which was a Native American term…). His helicopter nunchaku kick combo was the coolest thing I’d ever seen, and his influence over my skateboarding hobby definitely pushed him to make this list for me.

(NS) Raphael (TMNT) – Now, in order to break away from MGS for a moment (and let you guys & gals know that I have interest other than a certain franchise), I’d like to talk about Another franchise. Yes folks, Teenage Mitant Ninja Turtles.

As a kid growing up in the early 90’s I practically lived life as a Ninja Turtle. I actually fashioned my own Kitana sword out of a yard stick. I used empty Bic pen tubes and string to make Nunchakus. Shoot, I even used a sawed off broomstick handle as a Staff. I tried to make my own pair of Sais with Popsicle sticks but that didn’t turn out so well so I ended up going to a toy store and bought a couple of plastic ones.

I’d rotate character rolls, assuming the identities of each turtle. I’d imitate each one’s signature moves and personas just for fun. There was Leonardo, the team leader. Donatello was the brain. Michelangelo was the fun loving, carefree one of the bunch. Then there was Raphael, who seemed an enigma. He was, is, and continues to me the wildcard with a rough exterior. His overall persona is that of the sarcastic tough guy who rarely let’s anyone in, if ever. Having a chip on his shoulder, Raphael is unpredictable to say the least. He can deliver quips one second and hand you at the end of one of his Sais the next. To have embodied him as a kid was easier for me since we share similarities. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a pair of Sais lying around at the ready or anything. I was just more that quiet kid who was always in his own world, making my own toys and blanket forts. However I did have friends who shared the same fascination with TMNT as I did. Occasionally we’d all meet up at either one’s house and choreograph our own fight scenes. And by choreograph I mean wave our pretend weapons at each other frantically with our eyes closed.

The red masked one of the bunch, Raph usually is the more aggressive fighter when crime beckons. He’s the kick-ass-first-ask-questions-later kind of mutated turtle. Now, being a comic book character initially, to add him to this list is validated by the fact that since their creation in the 80’s the Turtles have since crossed over to other media. They’ve had a much loved cartoon series in the 90’s, garnered substantial success with four live action feature films, along with tons of action figures that I also collected. Video games was a genre that soon followed, having their shot in arcades and later with home consoles on the NES, Gameboy, SNES, and Sega Genesis.

They continue to have success with their rebooted animated cgi series of the same name. To this day I still collect figures although unfortunately, I don’t have the originals. I do however, have the 2012 Nickelodeon figures. Awesome figures and at $9.99 how can anyone go wrong?

Catch-phrase: Gotta go. You know, crime to fight, butts to kick.

(JN) Ryu Hayabusa (Ninja Gaiden Series):  For starters, his series of games are arguably the hardest of any game in any console in any generation.  Not just action genre, but in all of video game’s history.  It spans from the NES, to today’s current crop of systems, Ryu has hacked and slashed with many many generations of gamers, and as a result, many many controllers have been broken playing his games, due to frustration.  (yes, including myself)

Often regarded as THE popular ninja character to ever be featured in video games, his career is fairly long, and has sustained throughout the years.  His games are often bloody, and it’s due to the fact that Ryu just kicks ass. His background story, is more about revenge, rather than being a hired sword like Shadow.  Nevertheless, he looks the part, certainly act’s it too, and, I’m pretty sure, heads are going to roll if a ninja list is made and he’s not in it.

(P) Espio the Chameleon from the Sonic Franchise: Okay, the only time I really saw this guy was in Sonic Heroes. But he was insane. Not insane in the literal sense or the same insanity that Mikey brings to TMNT, but Espio could tackle anything. He was the speed character of Team Chaotix and he had the ability to throw shuriken to climb walls. His magenta body color and his purple shoes were a huge factor in allo

Scorpion (Mortal Kombat Series):  Out of my three picks, Scorpion looks the least like a ninja, well sort off.  That bright yellow thing he has going on is not as stealthy as the other two.  Despite the yellow garb, he can still deal out the pain.

The phrase “Get Over Here” will forever be linked with him.  It’s one of his signature moves in the game, and when it connects, you’re pretty much in for some hurtin’.  He, along with Sub-Zero and Raiden have appeared in all the Mortal Kombat Games.  Pretty good staying power for a ninja wearing un-ninja like clothes.  His back story is very ninja like, and it’s pretty much a good mix of Shadow and Ryu.  Part of a ninja assassination clan, you know hired swords, got killed, joins the evil to be resurrected, and enact revenge for those responsible.  True ninja? I’d say so.

(JN, NS)Snake Eyes (GI Joe):  Despite GI Joe not having a very successful gaming franchise on video games, we’d like to include him anyway.  He wears black, he’s very stealthy, and is a one man wrecking crew for the most part.

Sure he’s part of a military organization to pretty much protect the earth from the evil clutches of Cobra.  That’s not very ninja like, but he was trained in martial arts, and is handy with a sword.
Like Shadow he has a canine companion, Timber, who, much like Interceptor, can probably handle anyone on their own.  Snake Eye’s doesn’t talk, and no one really knows why.  That just adds to his already stealthy nature.

And with that we conclude our ninja list.  We 3 each picked 3 ninja’s that were near and dear to our hearts, and hopefully you may agree with some on our list.  Please, help us decide on who the top ninja is.  And if none of our picks tickle your fancy, comment below and add who you think, the baddest ninja in all of gaming history is.

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