8/10/2008 - Ninja Gaiden Full Story (2 Videos)

Much has been said about the cutscenes in the Metal Gear Solid games, specifically the latest one, Metal Gear Solid 4. The fact that some of them are over half an hour long says a lot about the willingness of fans of the series to endure such overindulgence in storytelling. There is no doubt as to the quality of the storytelling and production values in the game, but the length of the cutscenes really calls into question as to if it crosses the line from being a video game into being just an interactive movie. One of the pioneers of the video game industry in terms of including a cinematic storyline is the original Ninja Gaiden on the NES. Having richly animated cutscenes was really something of a revelation back then, when most "stories" were told through those small 8-bit sprites the size of Mario or Link. The storyline may be a little cheesy by today's standards, but the images were sure iconic. I mean, who could ever forget the opening scene with two ninjas dueling to the death? Give me that over cooking sunny-side up eggs any day. Here are all the cutscenes of the original Ninja Gaiden and it takes less time than many of MGS4's single cutscenes:





The other thing that has to be said of Ninja Gaiden is its incredible difficulty. I think a lot of us would have been frustrated enough to quit the game before reaching the final levels. But the desire to see the story through was such a great driving factor that we endured through those precarious platform jumps, and those stupid eagles.