REVIEW: Ninja Gaiden III:The Ancient Ship of Doom 1991 NES
	By: Tecmo Type: Platform Players: 1 Difficulty: Very Hard

    With the release of Ninja Gaiden III in 1991, it became apparent that the Gaiden Trilogy had a somewhat similar parallel with another famous trilogy, the Star Wars Trilogy: Groundbreaking beginning, incredible sequel, and disappointing ending. Of course, my opinions may be challenged on that comparison, but Ryu's Hayabusa's curtain call took a major step backwards, with Tecmo trying to change its formula for success by drastically turning up the difficulty level and limiting continues to a measly five from the unlimited continues of Ryu's past two adventures.

    Although the game would be made a tad easier in its reincarnation on the SNES with the inclusion of a password feature as a part of Ninja Gaiden Trilogy, the NES version is plagued by a seemingly insurmountable difficulty level and, ultimately, frustration dooms players to lose interest in the game. Even the generally solid plot is stale. Irene Lew is killed while investigating a strange lab, and the killer seems to be none other than our hero. Ryu must set out to clear his name and bring the killer to justice. There just doesn't seem to be the same kind of building plot to convince players to continue on and see what unfolds.

    Graphics are really the only high point of this game. Again, Tecmo has improved the overall graphic quality of the game, both during the cinema and action scenes. Color is used in more frequency than the first two games, and there are even auto-scrolling sequences which are done with little to no slowdown, breakup, or flicker. Animation is more prevalent, especially with Ryu, such as being able to see his bandanna flowing in the wind as he runs. Graphically, the game tests the limits of the NES 8-bit processor and demonstrates Tecmo's mastery of the hardware.

    Sound & music are just plain average. The music is just there and really does not seem to add anything to the game. Even the cinema scenes' accompaniment seems just average. Sound effects, as with the previous two titles, are also average, although there are digitized grunts in this game. Digitized voices, however, were seen in much better quality in other games of the period, such as efforts from Konami/Ultra Games.

    The game's playability takes a big hit in this game. The popular dopplegangers from Gaiden II are gone, replaced by two new powerups, one that extends the range of Ryu's sword, and another that creates a shockwave that destroys enemies both above and below Ryu. Although the game's control is still tight, the game has become painfully difficult. Novice gamers will be lucky to see the end of Act II, and most other gamers will see their continues run out of the end of Act III or IV. With limited continues, there will be a lot of frustration and possibly a lot and broken controllers after fits of anger due to losing all of Ryu's lives in the same spot. The programmers overcorrected on the difficulty level, and made Gaiden III even tougher than the first game. Replay value is also damaged as players will lose confidence that they will get very far in the game (unless they have a Game Genie...).

    The Ninja Gaiden Trilogy stands as one of the biggest NES series, up there with the likes of Mega Man, Castlevania, and Super Mario Bros. A new page was turned in the history of the jump-and-slash genre with the insertion of cinema scenes to tell the story of Ryu's adventures. However, as good as the series is as a whole, Gaiden III does not deliver the ending that most gamers wanted, by being the best of the series. In fact, it was the worst of the series, and is not recommended for players of either novice or intermediate skill levels, unless a Game Shark is available.If you do play it, have extra controllers ready. You may need them after braking them into more pieces than you can count. So ended the era of Ryu Hayabusa and his adventures... unless, of course, Tecmo can come back with an N64 version... But that's another story...  - Peter J. Skerritt 78%

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