The Ninja/Walkthrough

Step 1
In this simple stage you fight quite a few standard ninjas, some samurai warriors and finally the boss. The enemies come from the sides of the screens and the top. For the boss fight, take out the surrounding minions, then stand in front of the boss and fire rapidly up into him. Get fairly close to him to avoid his boomerang, and it only takes a matter of seconds if you have the red scroll power-up.

Step 2
This is a short diagonally-scrolling level. Ninjas pop up out of the ground along the top of the screen and large boulders come crashing down from the upper-left corner. Avoid the boulders and the ninja stars and about two thirds of the way through you'll see the boulder-ninja and some roving ninjas start to appear from the upper left as well. The boss spawns at the top center of the screen and walks straight down toward you, regardless of which way the hillside is scrolling. He is the same as in the first level, so just stay directly below him and you'll be fine.

Step 3
This stage introduces you to the wolf ninjas, which look like dogs running toward you, until you kill them and their outline reveals they were really ninjas in disguise. There is also another type of standard ninja that looks like the normal ninja in gray garb, but this one throws scythes at you. If you have the shurikens from the red scroll, you can lead all the wolves down the screen and they will line up for an easy, one-shot kill.

The wolves come from the top of the screen, while the ninjas often come in from the sides, shooting immediately. At the end of the level, you'll face three normal gray ninjas, then three scythe-throwing ninjas will box you in before the boss shows up. The boss looks the same as before, but employs a different weapons – a large shuriken that goes the entire length of the screen and is unaffected by your knives or shuriken. For this fight, you'll either need to get an angle on him, or just shoot him from below and moved out of the way of his shot whenever it approaches. He shoots a bit too fast to use your smoke ninjutsu to avoid the shuriken.

Step 4
This level is a simple cobblestone level with a stone path running up the left side. There are various arches and a few buildings along the way. A new red ninja is introduced in this level. Red ninjas come in two varieties – the ones that patrol a short path and fire shurikens at you, and ones that lunge out at you from behind buildings, then chase you and throw ninja stars like normal gray ones. The latter usually show the tops of their heads behind the buildings, but their is one hidden completely from sight at the second building where you see one.

The rest of the enemies on the level are the simple sword-wielding samurai, so there is nothing too difficult on this stage. At the end of the stage, you will be ambushed by a ton of samurai coming from all directions. Use your directional throw to take out the ones coming in from one side to open up a gap for yourself. The boss also appears after you spring the trap. He is back to his normal throwing stars and boomerang, so employ the standard strategy against him.

Step 5
This stag is much different from the previous ones, as you find yourself balancing on logs in the middle of a flowing river. The screen scrolls with you, so there is no danger of leaving the screen when moving from log to log. Enemies however, will wrap around so that a ninja floating off the right side of the screen will promptly reappear on the left side. All the ninja on the level are standard gray ones, and you'll want to just stay in the middle and stick to your directional shuriken. If you get caught with nowhere to go and some incoming shuriken, just use your smoke ninjutsu.

When the boss appears at the far bank, he will get on one of the topmost logs. Just get a good angle on him and fire away, remembering to switch to the opposite side of the screen when he floats out of visible range. It's a good idea to take him out as quickly as possible, because it is pretty difficult to navigate the logs while trying to avoid his boomerang and ninja star.

Step 6
This stage is a desert village with sections on the sides separated by small streams, which can be crossed with small foot bridges. The red ninjas are well hidden behind these buildings, so you won't see them until they're jumping out at you. This is also the first level where you see the sped up version of the gray ninja, as they pop in and out from the sides and top of the screen. There are tree in the way and enemies are often on the other side of a stream, so taking them out can be a bit challenging.

Besides the lunging red ninjas and the sped up gray ninjas, there are also some normal gray ninjas and a couple roving red ninjas, who are easily handled by shooting their legs before the whole body appears. There are two ambushes in this level, both at the ends of the two streams. After the second ambush, the normal boss with ninja star and boomerang appears. Unless you want to try luring farther down the screen, you'll have to fight him at an angle, as he comes down and left to get around the stream.

Step 7
There's not much to say about stage 7, it just has horses and fire-breathing enemies. It is an auto-scroll level, much like step 2, except it's horizontal instead of diagonal and uses horses instead of boulders. Your smoke ninjutsu will be invaluable on this level, as you'll have a hard time avoiding all the horses while taking out bad guys without it. The fire-breathers will come from either side of the screen, and dodging them won't get rid of them – they will turn back around and attack again. At the end of the level, the boss appears with ninja stars and boomerang. Rapid fire into him with left directional shurikens, and you can take him out before his boomerang or any horses get around to you.

Step 8
Continuing through the desert, this town adds a new samurai type to the enemy list. These new samurai are brightly garbed in yellow and green, and act the same as normal dark blue samurai. The ninjas popping out of the ground are back from step 2, but all in all this is a fairly simple stage. When you enter the second garden area to get the green scroll, you'll also encounter some more ninjas disguised as boulders. After that second garden, there is a small ambush and then the standard boss appears with ninja stars and boomerang.

Step 9
On this stage you find yourself scaling a large rock wall. Ninjas come in from the sides, mostly waiting for you to get in the center to ambush you with a ninja at each corner. Just use your smoke ninjutsu to avoid the initial barrage, then use directional shurikens to take out the ninjas. At the top of the wall you'll find three ports that drop cannonballs down on you. The last ambush is made more difficult by the cannonballs and the boss showing up. The last green scroll will appear if you go into the top right corner of the screen, and if you have found the other four green scrolls, the level stops right there. Otherwise, you still have to kill the boss. If you have the other four scrolls, but kill the boss first, you'll have to go all the way to step 12 to get back.

Getting all five green scrolls allows you to learn the secret to gaining entrance to the castle, so if you don't get them, you'll by stymied and you'll start over at an earlier stage so you can attempt to find them on a second run through.

Step 10
Stage 10 puts you back in a grassy level and introduces the circling ninja and a new light blue samurai. The circling ninjas will begin to revolve around you faster and faster, intermittently shooting ninja stars. The new samurai are much like the other versions, just faster. There are some ambushes on this level, so utilize your smoke ninjutsu to escape the trap, then take them out.

If you've collected all the green scrolls, you can open the secret entrance by standing to the left of the last stone lantern and shooting it three times, then disappearing three times with your smoke ninjutsu. If you haven't collected all the green scrolls, the secret combination won't work and you'll have to complete the level. Even if you have all scrolls, you can continue on without going through the secret passage.

In the rest of the stages you fight the Gyokuro himself, who is in a colorful robe and just throws small shuriken at you, albeit at a fairly rapid rate. This boss is actually easier than the earlier ones, because you don't have to worry about any boomerangs.

Step 11
The eleventh stage is inside the castle, moving up a hallway. You are beset by four groups of samurai, who all attack from both the front and rear. The first and third groups are the quicker light blue samurai, and the other are the green and yellow ones. A good strategy for these groups is to take out as many of the top group as you can with the upwards attack, then vanish and move down below the bottom group, where you can start your upwards attack again. The boss is the same brightly robed Gyokuro, who appears after you defeat the last group of samurai.

Step 12
This stage is essentially the same as the last one, where you run down a long corridor and fight the boss. In this stage however, there are only three groups of samurai – the first group of yellow and green samurai, and the last two made up of light blue ones. Where you go from here depends on how many green scrolls you've collected. If you have all five (which means you didn't use the secret passage), you'll be shown the combination on the scroll again and transported back to the beginning of step 10. If you are missing any scrolls, you'll go back to the earliest stage where you didn't get the green scroll.

Step 13
This is secret level, only accessible from step 10 after finding all five of the green scrolls. Unlike previous levels, the enemies don't stop spawning after you defeat them. If you go back to an early part of the stage, you'll run into the same enemies again. In this level there are wooden obstacles that split the area up into three vertical segments. You'll need to go down the correct ones to get to the end of the stage. Start out bearing to the left, then go far to the right when you get the chance. From there any path will lead to the end, but it may be easier to just go up the middle.

This level has a ton of bad guys, including the circling ninjas and fire-breathers. Because they don't stop coming you'll want to keep moving and rely heavily on your smoke ninjutsu to get past anyone in your way. It's a good idea to stop periodically and clear out the enemies behind you with the directional attack. Once you get to the top of the stage, Gyokuro appears and you'll have to take him out amidst many of his minions. Once you beat him, the game is over, the princess joins you and everyone lives happily ever after.