Ninja Spirit arcade vs PC Engine | Turbografx16 | complete game | comparison
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- čas přidán 12. 02. 2024
- Check out a complete arcade vs PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 game comparison of Irem's Ninja Spirit! For best results view at 1080p 60fps. Just how good a job did Irem do in bringing home their cult(ish) classic(ish) to the NEC's super powered 8-bit system? See for yourself!
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#ninjaspirit #pcengine #turbografx16 #retrogaming #arcade #8bit #16bit #irem #hucard #turbochip #EGM - Hry
![Rolling Thunder 2 arcade vs Genesis aka Mega Drive [longplay][complete game]](/img/n.gif)
Okay, before I watch, I have to share: I discovered the Ninja Spirit arcade OST when my five kids were little. Round 2/Forest is a BEAST of a track, and I’d play it on the way home. When the song drops out, we’d all count with increasing intensity: “one, two, Three, Four, FIVE, *SIX!!*”, as the beat came back in. It’s one of my most memorable car times with the kids, and they remember it to this day.
A lot of the way we see these games today are based on the memories we had with them when we were younger. For me, I remembered the EGM Buyer's Guide super high review scores, couldn't wait to try the game and then was like... what, this is it? I actually played the Amiga one first which doesn't look all that great but has some pretty amazing renditions of some of the songs. I suggest giving them a listen if you haven't yet!
I love the way this game sounds, so PCE goodness, it´s like Thunder Force sounds very Sega Genesis. And the first boss was a huge "ouch" visually. Nice video.
Thanks!
PCE did a nice job here, one of those conversions that gave the console its reputation as being able to handle decent arcade ports. Irem likes unfair! Great sync job as always.
They definitely did a nice job bringing this one to the hardware. From a technical standpoint, Irem ports on the system are about as top tier as you get. Sometimes the original games weren't so hot, but the PCE versions were still impressive.
Loved this one growing up. I quite like the eccentric soundtrack..... very period/theme-appropriate. That ninja-filled pit toward the end was just sadistic. A convenience store near me had the arcade version + Fatal Fury Special when I was in high school. What a badass store! Oh, and this game def inspired Ninja Gaiden II's shadow ninja-gimmick. Another instant classic video, Inglebard 😎👍
Yes to the Ninja Gaiden shadow guys being inspired by this... definitely. I like the arcade soundtrack and the Amiga soundtrack, some of the Turbo one is OK, but it sounds a bit lifeless and lo-fi compared the arcade one.
fantastic comparison for a real accomplished pce port, imo, all things considered...ah the black screen used as background also seen in pce aero blasters xD
Thanks! The black backgrounds show up in a few games on the system.
Wow. With that new NVIDIA AI HDR enhanced mode for video playback, that flashing at the end is *really* intense.
It's too bad it doesn't smooth out the flashing to just a white background!
Yes! I like Ninja Spirit a lot so I appreciated this video. :)
I do take your point about the difficulty though, it is very unfair in places, especially the last stage.
I also had this on the C64 back in the day. That version was pretty good as microcomputer ports go, especially the music.
Thanks! Yeah, most of the home ports of this are actually pretty decent. Even the super cut down Game Boy version is OK.
I also prefer the original Arcade version. These black scenarios in PCengine, all the flickers (a lot), not showing which weapon is best for each situation, and the music in a worse quality, all of this together give a good advantage to the arcade.
My second video from you, and excellent again, I like your subject choices, and hopefully for the channel,that isn't just me, ☮️
Appreciate it, glad you like the channel so far! There's years worth of other stuff on here 😁
This game totally deserved an Angry Video Game Nerd episode. Especially with the bullshit last stage.
I can definitely picture it!
The developer of Strider would go on a to make an unofficial Strider sequel that completely ripped off Ninja Spirit's shadow helper gameplay.
I personally really enjoy this games soundtrack and in a lot of cases I enjoyed the PCE / turbo graphics soundtrack more than the arcade. there's a good handful of conversions where I have this opinion. But overall I could tell you despise the sound of the system. To me It's super chippy and can be moody. I miss the days when a system was so unique in its graphics and sound design. Made it fun collecting conversions for each system or the flagship titles that were only on the system. There's a cool demo ROM with music playback where you can toggle each channel to the music of a handful of popular games. It's pretty interesting how primitive the sounds are by themselves with the minimum channels but once you combine them all some true magic is achieved.
I don't "despise" the PCE/Turbo sound, but I do find many of the system's chiptunes overly abrasive, with really harsh instruments. Some of the games have really excellent chiptunes, though - stuff like Dungeon Explorer and Legendary Axe II for example. R-Type and Salamander sound pretty nice, too, as do many others, but even they suffer from a grating instrument or two.
So basically, when the system is at its best, it sounds fantastic. I just don't think we saw enough of it at its best.
@@InglebardGamingI think on average the PCE / turbo graphics never hit the lows as the Genesis did with gems for a large handful examples.
No question that there's some truly awful Genesis music out there. But much like the lows are really low, the highs are really high and sound fantastic, and on the whole I vastly prefer the FM, DAC and PSG combo the Genesis uses - and of course the FM is close in a lot of cases to the FM tracks used in arcade originals.
A bit sad that they didnt do a X68000 version for it.
i actually liked the music better on the tg16 than in the arcade. i find that the opposite is true; arcade version is very jarring with harsh sounds.
good video and agree with much of the descriptions, but the "fake" parallex is impressive for the PCE/TG-16 and I prefer the darker colors in the PCE/TG-16 vs. the washed out brighter look to the arcade. Also the option of PCE Mode or Arcade mode makes the PCE/TG-16 the better overall game IMHO. As for EGM Sushi-X giving the game a 10? Nah, but it is one of the better ninja games of the time.
Just my personal opinion, not a knock on yours. I grew up with the TG version, & then later played arcade. Never saw this game in the arcade that I can recall. This has always been one of my favorite games from my childhood.
I don't know if this is because of my own personal bias towards the tg's sound chip or what but I love this particular sound engine for the PCE Ninja spirit. It's also used in Image Fight, Legend of Hero Tonma, & Mr Heli. Ninja Spirit, Tonma, & Mr Heli I think came out fantastic, I love the softer sound & the booming 808 type drums(for lack of a better description) in those games. It's great in Image Fight, but doesn't work quite as well.
The arcade music is great in general, but most of it, to my ears, is too harsh sounding. The only thing I could ask for in the PCE version, is some of the sampled instruments that I definitely enjoy in the arcade.
As usual, I seem to prefer the overall color choices in the PCE version. Some of the arcade tiles look washed out. Even though it's not as detailed(less unique tiles) I generally prefer the bg in the PCE version of level 1. Makes it slightly more varied in comparison to the bg in level 2. Whereas levels 1 & 2 bg's in the arcade look too similar to my eyes.
I've always hated how simple the PCE version looks in level 2 when crossing the bridge. Even if there was no parallax, I would've liked Irem to do more with those scenes(more unique tiles & colors). I overall love the scrolling bg in level 7 on the PCE vs the arcade. It'd be great if it was more detailed, but i like that the clouds gradually move on their own & have flashes of lightning making it look more like a stormy bg.
Theres definitely aspects of the PCE version, where i wonder if there's any optimization that could've been done to improve the grfx & the flicker/slowdown. Likely, if it was made a year or 2 later, Irem would have the hardware figured out more. Even still, the PCE version doesn't feel like one of those games where the dev just treated the PC Engine like a souped up NES, which seems like a fairly common practice on the PCE compared to the Genesis & SNES which both seem like more devs were trying to push the limits.
Oh, & I'm mixed on the item display. On the one hand, i like that more of the screen is open on the PCE version, & generally like the single box indicating which weapon you have. However, like you say, it does add to the sprite count, which is a bummer for sure.
That's fine, I'm OK with different opinions. Overall I think Ninja Spirit is generally very well done on PCE and more ambitious than the average arcade conversion/port to the system. I think the color is generally better also, but there are a few places where the color reduction does hurt it a little bit.
While I do appreciate the PCE/TG16 and cover a fair amount of it's games, sound is the area of the system that I probably like the least. There are just some common instruments used that sound either very old fashioned or very harsh to me, they just grind in my brain more than most FM chip sounds. But on the flip side, I do think there are some great chiptune soundtracks on the system, like Dungeon Explorer and Legendary Axe II for example.
It's weird how much the colors were washed out in so many arcade games. I think they were probably made like that for dark, arcade environments.
@@InglebardGaming Yeah, I've never been a fan of FM. However, there are fantastic soundtracks that are FM depending on who's handling it.
Dungeon Explorer & Legendary Axe 2 use one of my favorite sound engines(also used for Bonk 1 & 2, Tatsujin, Twin Cobra, & a few others). If I ever got around to making chiptunes, that sound engine would be one I'd love to work with.
I don't get "Ninja Spirit doesn't look particularly great for 1988..." The game looked incredible in 1988 especially with the amount of sprites that are thrown around during gameplay. I would say visually it is definitely on par with games like Altered Beast, Shadow Dancer, and E-Swat.
I own Ninja Spirits on my Core Grafx Mini and it is a great game. I think it was definitely worthy to stand among the best releases of 1990. I do agree with EGM in that Strider was a much better game in every aspect but length. If you're going to get beat by something you could do a lot worse than Strider. The Genesis port was such a watershed moment in 1990 as it showed what was possible on a 16-bit console. It even stands toe-to-toe with the best Neo Geo AES games of 1990 graphically.
Addendum- Why would anyone have a problem with this comparison? It seems like a very good idea too me. I haven't seen a Ninja Spirit arcade cab in over 30 years so this is going to be fun!
Well, as to why some people have a problem with the comparisons, here are a few reasons. First, some are just console warriors that get mad at anyone that doesn't heap love on their happy childhood things.
Second, some people miss the point that it's all about seeing what compromises had to be made to get the game running on smaller roms and less powerful hardware.
While I like Ninja Spirit, as I said in the video itself, I don't think it compares favorably with say Shadow Dancer from a graphics standpoint. SD has much larger characters, way more animation, and much more color. As a game, NS is a bit better than arcade SD, though. But I think Genesis Shadow Dancer is better than both!
@@InglebardGaming
On that we agree, Shadow Dancer on the Genesis is the better game. The reason I say Ninja Spirit is on par with the arcade version of Shadow Dancer is basically looking at the game as a whole. Yes, the animations are far better with more vibrant colors in Shadow Dancer AC. However, there are things I feel Ninja Spirit AC does that Shadow Dancer AC does not...
The one spot where Ninja Spirit AC truly shines is the amount of sprites it throws all over the screen. It gets so crazy it's easy to flat lose your character in all the insanity. Then you throw in screen filling bosses with explosions all over the place which are amplified by your shadow ninja power-up guys, and you have yourself quite the spectacle. That's why I put the arcade version of Ninja Spirit in the same category as Shadow Dancer, Altered Beast, E-Swat (why am I only listing Sega arcade games?), and so on.
Addendum- Hey, there are plenty of people that think all versions of Altered Beast are terrible. I remember what I thought when I first saw it in the arcades shortly before the Genesis released....I was awe struck.
@@InglebardGaming
Hey man, you got yourself a pretty sweet channel here. Further, while we may not agree with certain things I thank you for being civil and awesome. I hope you never stop making these videos.
I love how people praise the PC Engine. The system was utterly garbage compared to Megadrive and SNES. I owned all 3 back in the late 80s early 90s when they were released. While this was a “good port” for what the PC Engine could do with its inferior hardware, it was mediocre by the standards if it had been done on its competitors. The V30 (in the IREM hardware) was a true 16 bit processor and that was the issue with the PC Engine. No matter if it had a 16 bit VDC it still sucked. Cause the bottleneck was always its CPU. Let me not even get into the sound department which was also equally as bad as it was in most PC Engine titles. It was only a bit better than most NES games. It’s the same reason why R-Type was also terrible littered with sprite flicker and lack of true scrolling backgrounds. Another feature that was almost always lacking in most PC Engine titles. Most of the developers had to fake it into the game although it wasn’t a true scrolling second layer.
The main reason why the Turbo failed in North America was due to inferior hardware which was about 8 years old by the time we got it. And to add insult to injury, NEC poor decision not to bring so many of the actual decent titles from Japan to the US was why it failed miserably.
Thank you for the comparison though. I enjoy seeing the true hardware from arcade titles of that era. It shows how all by this point we’re using 16 bit architecture and why the 68000 was so important in the Megadrive.
Being a Sega guy, I never played TG-16 back in the day and thought it crap. Playing it now, despite its weaknesses it has a lot of very good games and the graphics have their own charm. The colours especially are usually very nice, larger palette than the Genesis.
@@urdnalthe palette sizes of the Turbo and Genesis were the same at 512. It was the ability to display more colors that the Turbo could over the Genesis. 482 vs 61 which was obvious But to stay on topic of this video, the original Arcade Ninja Spirit did have a bland look to it. I do agree the Turbo version does have its own unique look to it.
I would love to see what homebrew developers can do now by remaking certain arcade ports on the Genesis that were never released. Shinobi is a perfect example and there’s a port in the works out there and it looks very close to the original.
@@landom9080 You're giving me the specs like I haven't been aware of them since 1989.
I'm just saying it's not "utterly garbage". It may have been underpowered, being the first 4th gen console and all, but it turns out it had a bunch of good games.
@@urdnalgiving you the specs? You commented on my post first.. and I made a factual statement and not directed it at you specifically. Anyone that lived thru this time and experienced firsthand knows one of the reasons why the TG16 failed was due to its inferior hardware. The tech was great when it was designed in 1985 which would put it when the NES was still new here in the US.
This was evident amongst its owners (me being one of them) and the gaming magazines at the time. It couldn’t keep up with Genesis or the SNES. And a handful of decent games wasn’t going to cut it when Nintendo and Sega were releasing tons of games with their systems employing far better hardware.
Oh but wait.. you already know this.
PCE/TG-16 was limited in arcade ports compared to Genesis/MD or SNES for the most part, its bread and butter were shmups. But it do some things better than the Genesis/MD such as on screen colors. It couldn't do true parallex, but there were crafty ways to "fake" it which sometimes were jarring like Ys 3 or Ninja Gaiden and other times fantastic like Air Zonk. It had a 8 bit CPU, so it was really supposed to be competition for NES, SMS, which it easily surpassed them in graphics and was comparable to Genesis/MD and SNES with a little trickery.