Ninja Hayate

Ninja Hayate
Japanese arcade flyer of Ninja Hayate.
Developer(s)	Taito (arcade version) Telenet Japan, Wolf Team (Mega CD version) Ecseco](Saturn/PS1 versions)
Publisher(s)	Taito (arcade version) Wolf Team, Renovation, Sega (Mega CD version) Ecseco (Saturn/PS1 versions)
Designer(s)	Toei Animation
Platform(s)	Arcade, Sega Mega CD, Sega Saturn, PlayStation
Release date(s)	1984
Genre(s)	Action game, interactive movie
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players, alternating turns
Cabinet	Upright
Display	Horizontal orientation, raster, standard resolution

Ninja Hayate (忍者ハヤテ^?) is a 1984 laserdisc arcade game first developed and released by Taito in Japan only. The game became better known when it was released in North America and Europe for the Sega Mega-CD as Revenge of the Ninja.

Plot

The game tells the story of a skilled and daring teenage ninja named Hayate, whose father has been killed by the evil Lougi, infiltrating the villain's Castle of Evil in an attempt to rescue a princess he loves.^[1] Hayate must survive a collection of deathtraps and defeat a variety of mythological creatures and other adversaries on his quest to save the princess and destroy the castle.

Gameplay

The game will draw players to operate Hayate with a joystick for moving him around and one button for using weapons through 15 different stages that take place in feudal Japan-based areas. There are three difficulty levels.

Like Don Bluth's Dragon's Lair, Ninja Hayate contains traps and creatures that requires players to dodge or attack them by watching for the warning buzzer and flashing objects (e.g. arrows, buttons, light, etc.); if a player makes a mistake, one life decreases, and when players run out of lives, the game ends.

Unlike Don Bluth's laserdisc games, Ninja Hayate is animated with anime drawings by Toei Animation.

Ports and related releases

The Revenge of the Ninja Sega Mega-CD version was published by Renovation Products, Telenet Japant's North American subsidiary; this is the only version released internationally.

This game was also later converted by Ecseco to the Sega Saturn and PlayStation. These versions were released only in Japan as part of a double bill with Time Gal, another animated laserdisc arcade game conversion made by Taito. The double bill was released as Interactive Movie Action - Time Gal and Ninja Hayate.^[2]

See also

• The Legend of Kage
• Time Gal

References

1. ^ GamePro 59 (June 1994)
2. ^ Interactive Movie Action - Time Gal & Ninja Hayate

External links

• Ninja Hayate at Dragon's Lair Project
• Ninja Hayate at the Killer List of Videogames
• Ninja Hayate at arcade-history