You know a port is half assed when the NES version has parallax scrolling while the SNES version doesn't. Actually, calling that half assed is giving it too much credit. It needs a new term. This port is quarter assed.

I disagree with the popular definition of backwards compatibility. To me it means being able to play the copy of the game you own on a newer system. If you have to buy the game again, it does not count as backwards compatibility, but as a re-release. Just my two cents.

A button as jump = the mortal sin of SNES. Thank god you can adjust it in Super Metroid.

Well done, this was a good and honest review. So many reviewers have rose tinted glasses on when reviewing older games but you nailed it. Your frustration comes through just enough without being over the top. Very entertaining. The comparison to Super Mario All Stars was relevant and fair. Keep it up!

Brother you save me a good chunk of money, thanks

Glad to see you went back and did a full review of this one.

This collection is on my list of games to revamp with an all-out custom hack. It will include a great controller mod, and several soundtrack options. The default soundtrack will be available (I actually like it in a "different genre-style remixes of old favorites" way) but high quality rips of the NES tracks will also be there. I'd like to even work in an option for some of the beautiful 80s synthpop arranged tracks they made for the second game, and of course eventually my own remix albums for all three games, using a lot of SNES samples with some modifications to better mimic the style of the original NES tracks. There would also be a completion bonus called "Ninja Master" that grants infinite subweapon energy and a button-select to scroll through all the subweapons at will. Now you can use the vertical blades in the first game, or the spinslashmurderdeathkillgodmove in the second and third games! :D

Shadow of the Ninja was also a great game on the NES. It's by Natsume (back then). So you know it's serious fun.

Short answer: No. Play the NES games instead.

That shitty music was the reason I put it down as a youngster.

If you want to play a decent 16 bit version of Ninja Gaiden (the first one), there's a port for the PC-Engine under the name "Ninja Ryuuken Den" that looks a ton better graphicly speaking. One thing to note however is that some tricks that worked on the bosses in both the NES and SNES versions don't work in this one, meaning you can't cheese the first 2 fights. However, some new tricks that wouldn't work in the NES game now work in this version so there's some balancing out. While the game never came out in the west, it for some reason has a full English translation already built in, just hold the I & II buttons on the title screen and press select until the text under the title is in English. It's too bad Tecmo wasn't able to make the SNES version of this games look even half as good as this Hudson Soft handled port that was done on LESS POWERFUL HARDWARE!

I bought a used copy of this when the Super Nintendo was current as it was fairly cheap at the time at that store, but it just felt off for some reason. I threw it in my box o' games and mostly forgot about it for years. Then I found out that it was a semi-rare game and happily put it up on eBay. Not a bad little chunk of change.

What track is playing in the background when the video starts?

It was so weird when that game came out, because Super Mario All-Stars had come up a couple years before, and the first two games we got with our NES when I was a little kid were Super Mario Bros and Ninja Gaiden.

I liked the music, i liked the touched up original graphics. They def shoulda offered a " button settings" option.

I actually like the SNES music versions. Maybe not all of them, but many.

Was this your first rant? Phew, exciting! :D

I remember playing Ninja Gaiden the arcade version at 7-11 after school so much. When I got the nes version of NG, was devastated by the difference and quickly traded for Bad Dudes on nes, another let-down. I never really gave it a try. So glad I picked it up a few years ago, cant get past the first phase of the last boss.

What’s the music started at 1:05? I really like it.

Very nice review, absolutely spot-on!

I actually like the music in the trilogy (5-3 in the first game comes in mind). Hey, 3 games in 1, and playing it on the SNES Mini worth it.

This was my game in that era.

Dang how do you really feel?

The graphics on this port just remind of Sega Master System quality graphics.

I'd like to read the interview that explains these ports.

It was disappointed. I definitely agree with you on the control scheme: there should've been third buttons for special moves and Y and B should've been jump and attack respective. The music and sound were definitely screechy, but I got used to them... eventually. I have to disagree with you though on the play value. Expensive, yes. Ear sore, definitely. But the password system definitely made things a lot easier and that's why I recommend this version over the NES ones. Yeah, I know, it sounds a lot like overcompensation, but I have zero patience trying to beat the whole game in one setting.

I remember when this trilogy got released and everybody got real sad those games didnt get any facelifts like the mario all stars... because of that it was a hard pass back in the day.

This is a TECMO licensed game. Yes, that's right, the same developer who made Tecmo Super Bowl, Tecmo Super Bowl 2 and Tecmo Super Bowl 3 made THIS compilation. I can tell everyone one thing: Tecmo Super Bowl is a HELL of a lot better than this compilation! Not to mention, the sound effects are ear-bleeding (in this compilation)!

Just DL'd this & Megaman 1-5 on the 3ds for for under 20 bix. It's a total steal. Love reliving my childhood!

Thank you so much for this video. I've never played NG and I wanted to try it out, and my question was exactly this. "Will playing the SNES trilogy give me the same sound and picture quality that each NES title would?" You answered my question succinctly and I didn't have to sit through an obnoxiously long video full of dumbass intros, outros and yammering. Thank you!

Hey SNES Drunk, have you played Jim Power: The Lost Demesion in 3D? It is just as hard as Super Ghouls N'Ghosts, Contra 3: The Alien Wars, and Ninja Gaiden Trilogy.

Thx heated from this from a podcast an wanted a review 😅

Those "sheesh"es were awesome.

Damn found my copy with renters case for $3.99 at CD Exchange in San Antonio.

TBH the music is my favorite aspect of this collection. I still prefer the original tracks though

Amazing game!!!!

I rented this game. I thought it was the arcade versions of those games. I had no clue.

Love this trilogy on the snes

Your original Ninja Gaiden cartridges? When did you get your hands on those? Way back in 2013?

Dunno why but this reminds me of the Master System game of all things

I actually have a fondness for this title, since it was my first exposure to Ninja Gaiden, and while I don't think it's terrible, no one should ever pay the ridiculous prices people want online for it

Ninja Gaiden Trilogy works on SNES Classic Edition microconsole. I sideloaded the game on to it.

Could anybody recommend a game that's like a melee Mega Man X? Retro, high difficulty, tight controls, 2D, but melee focussed? I hoped that would be Ninja Gaiden but I'm not feeling it.

I wish the trilogy had the graphics upgrade the PCE version had (plus actual parallax scrolling).

perfecly said

Man was so pissed that didn't even tell us to have a great rest of the day, LOL.

Amen

You failed to mention the crappy sound effects too. For me, the most satisfying sound effect was when you collected an item on the NES versions of all three games. The sound that the SNES uses sounds nothing at all like the NES version.

The first thing that hurt me was the first level of ninja gaiden and hearing that music. How do you screw up this classic music on a superior system?

O shit, good thing that i got a repro one

The U.S. version of Ninja Gaiden III benefits well from the perks of SNES Ninja Gaiden Trilogy, like the password system. Unlike in the American NES version, in the SNES Ninja Gaiden Trilogy version, there’s no limit on continues and the cheat code is no longer necessary, and you don’t have to complete the game in one sitting.

Hey! The music of the Trilogy is good! Some musics have and additional melody that doesn't exist in the NES version and the Rock style just makes me headbang (but the NES version is still better). And the graphics are good, but they updated the cutscenes and called a 5 year old to retouch the general graphics LOL! But the game looks really good in a CRT in real hardware. Yeah, I don't recommend buying this, is better to play it in a Everdrive or SD2SNES. Specially that you would prefer buying a Flash Cart with tons of games than just this 3 ports. Anyway, the Password system makes the replay factor way better than the NES ones.

I like how Mario looked being revamped for the super Nintendo but I don't like how jumping into blocks feel

The B/A instead of Y/B control scheme is why I have trouble playing NES games on my Switch. Made me go out and convert an original NES controller to Bluetooth.

Sheesh/10 Never played this one and probably never will... thanks for the heads up!

I think this is worth playing, only if you don't have access to the NES versions.

Oh god, I totally agree with NOT getting NGT This is totally how you do not remake a game for a better console. I just think its scary its so expensive.

Wow I never even heard of this game.

thanks for this video... i won't be spending 500$ on the trilogy box set for SNES now thanks to you... i'll just get the original NES games instead :)

It is sad that you can't buy an nes and all three original carts for that price anymore.

kinda reminds me of the crash bandicoot trilogy for ps4. funny how history repeats.

But this review is so accurate.

The third game in this version is the one to play as it's the better Japanese version versus the US release.

If only had i seen this video before I bought the cartridge...

lol even the menu screens are wack as fuck. Glad I watched this video though. It made me realize it's a bad idea to get any NG games on my 3DS VC(which I literally almost did last night but got Bravely Default instead) because it'll be awkward as hell using the NES controls scheme with the 3DS button mapping(same as SNES). I had to do the same shit with Mario Bros 3 on my 3DS and it was SOOOOO uncomfortable yet I still beat it for the first time with restore points ;)

I have the original trilogy on my 3DS. 😁

Wish i had some ninja gaiden trilogy its too expensive to get 2 and 3 on nes

I don't think Ninja Gaiden Trilogy is a bad game as many say, I actually played it on the Super Nintendo without knowing the NES version was better and it was still a lot of fun. You get used to the controls pretty quickly; the music isn't bad by any means, I mean, it's not the best on the Super Nintendo, but I think it's very decent; the graphics are very poor for a SNES game though, but I think there are some improvements over the NES version (though, to be fair, at times the NES version looks better from what I've seen) I'm someone who didn't play Ninja Gaiden as a kid, so I don't have any nostalgia for it. All I remember is playing it in the living room with my roomates and we had a blast. Of course, it could have been a much better port, but it's not a bad game. NES are hard to come by in Brazil, and I don't have many ways to play the original Ninja Gaidens on a CRT TV. To be fair, in Brazil you can buy this game for U$12.50 from what I looked, but I just played it in a flashcard I have no idea why it's so expensive in the US, though. I guess since the NES wasn't big here, people just aren't very aware of Ninja Gaiden

Noted... just get the other 2 NES carts instead.

I’m not a fan of the nes sound ship, so I might like this game

Actually the last one that sold, sold for 13 bucks in 2019. And it's on eBay for 13 bucks if they haven't sold out

At least it has ninjas in it.

There is a ips patch to fix the button layout issue. Or at least lets you switch on the fly with L+R github.com/jordanbarkley/Ninja-Gaiden-Trilogy That at least makes it playable

some of music was better...and since the NES kept failing to work this was a great release.

@2:18 I've been watching SNES drunk for a bit now and I think this may be the first F-Bomb I've heard. It's totally justified though.

instead of buying the cartridge. you could simply get it in Ninja Gaiden (2004) for original Xbox

HUGE difference between "backwards compatibility" and "enhanced remake". 1st one is for convenience. 2nd one is for experiencing an old game in a new way.

I played the originals first when they came out and then the SNES version years later. The new music soundfont is way better than the original. It's much more smooth and just plain inviting.

Is that the first "fuck" for snesdru k?

You didn't even touch on the huge list of errors this game adds. From a lack of color fading to removing lightning and other level effects, to playing wrong sound effects during cutscenes, all the way down to even adding spelling errors to the text that wasn't there before. Spelling errors! You know, sometime I've thought about this game and wondered if maybe the problem with colors not updating properly was actually a problem with my emulator, and maybe it didn't have that problem on the real hardware. But then I remembered that they added spelling errors to the text, and then realize that they just did a crappy job.

Nice quick review! The Ninja Gaiden Trilogy is up to about $175 or so, so now it's even more "not worth it". Shinobi is the best 16-bit Ninja video gamefranchise. Why? Because for some stupid reason, Ninja Gaiden decided to sit out the 16-bit era. What a fuck.

I like this trilogy, nes versions are better imo. It's not bad just not so greatly updated like Super Mario All*Stars. Only thing i like more then the nes versions is Ryu's shading just looks a bit better

Hudson Soft did a better 16-bit remake on the PC Engine.

I have nostalgia for this because my grandma got this game for me for a birthday, but yeah, it sucks

So at $130 title its safe to say it not worth picking up if unless you are me and just want to get it and slap it up on a shelf

played ninja gaiden 1 for the first time in my life on the switch online.. not only was i looking forward to it but actually hanging out for it, and I hate it. It's not about the difficulty.. I love challenging games.. The problem is the wall stick mechanic where control is absolutely terrible and unpredictable.

And I wonder how dumb they were to keep the buttons B and A just because it was B and A on the NES. Like, did any of 'em bother to pick up and play the game with an SNES controller before releasing this?

It looks like the Sega Master System version to me. Imagine if it got the Super Mario All-Stars treatment instead of this rushed pile. Or better yet, they released a Super Ninja Gaiden IV like Konami did with Castlevania.

Absolutely. I mean the NES versions are superior but not by a large margin. And it's always good to have different versions of games. I'm not joining the trend of bashing Ninja Gaiden Trilogy. That compilation is perfectly fine. The NES versions are just better.

I was playing this while everyone else was playing Mega Man.

First time I heard you curse...

Just play the classic Nes games

Game Gear version is pretty good tho!

Attack... ...scheme

Ninja gaiden trilogy a top twenty classic

I agree. After i blew my only on that i traded it in for aNES and all 3 original games.That music was so awful I wanted to jame screwdriver i my ears.

The only best song in the snes trilogy is swift ninja aka 3-1

Is worth playing with msu1 music..we hacked that already

def can't get an snes and all three ninja gaiden games for that now--ninja gaiden 3 is about 50-90 alone

well damn :(