Ninja 1987

Another great game by SEEP! I am slowly going thru their entire catalogue. I liked this one very much, great ninja game reminescent of the previous old-school Shinobi or Ninja Gaiden games! Controls very well, graphics do the job of making it fell like a retro game, and I liked the level layout and boss battles. Played thru the entire game on my Steam Deck without any techincal issues. It is short, you can beat it in under 2 hours.

SEEP has been making games like these for years - unspectacular but competent 8-bit style action games that are usually worth the little bit of time and money they cost. Unlike many "retro" games on Steam, they're not straight-up clones of a particular game, but feel more like a lesser-known entry in the same genre that you might have missed until now.

SEEP is one of my favorite developers of retro pixel-art games, and I've enjoyed a number of their other games. But this one goes to the AVOID pile (along with Super Boo Quest & Caveman Ransom), because it just was not put together very well - as it lacks challenge, interesting level+encounter design, and it's just far too easy to mindlessly blast through the levels & bosses. I get it's a budget title, but there's countless other cheap pixel-platformers around too, which are much better ways to spend your time.

Ninja 1987 is a deliberately retro-styled action platformer that sets out to recreate the feel of classic ninja games from the late 1980s while smoothing out many of the frustrations that defined that era. From the moment the game begins, it makes its intentions clear: this is a tightly focused experience built around precision movement, quick reactions, and pattern-based combat rather than modern cinematic flair or sprawling systems. Its compact scope and straightforward structure give it the feel of an arcade-era challenge distilled into a modern indie release, designed to be played in short bursts or replayed repeatedly for mastery. At the heart of Ninja 1987 is its commitment to responsive controls and readable level design. Movement feels crisp and immediate, allowing players to run, jump, climb, and attack with confidence. The game provides a nimble ninja toolkit that includes melee strikes, ranged shuriken attacks, and special abilities that help deal with enemies and environmental hazards. Unlike many authentic 8-bit inspirations, Ninja 1987 avoids excessive stiffness or punishing controls, instead opting for a smoother, more forgiving feel that keeps difficulty rooted in …

If you have played THE MESSENGER then you will know this game could have been closer to the source material, in that regard, it def falls short sadly, it isn't close to a good NINJA GAIDEN clone, it would fair better just being it's own game and not modelled after that great classic nintendo trilogy, that being said, it is a fun and challenging little game, just beware, you can only restart from the beginning of the acts, so if you quit before getting to the second one, you will have to start over from the beginning, so it would have been nice to start from the checkpoints of each act, however it is still more fair than the actual classic games, all in all, not bad for what it is

As SEEP like to reference many gaming genres and classics, it's time for the original [b]Ninja Gaiden[/b] and other games about the shadow warriors of the era, albeit with one level clearly referencing [b]Contra[/b], set at a time when cheesy ninja movies were all the rage and, since it's 1987, we can't go without some ED-209, right? It's presented in what I call a "neo-retro" style, modeled on games of some generations earlier but with clearly modern elements like the 16:9 screen. Besides some effects that would have caused a NES to melt, however, the graphics are still extremely convincing and could pass for "authentic" if the screen was in 4:3. The little purple-clad ninja - all sprites are tiny and nicely animated - moves with the agility expected from his profession, in fact even too much; some time is needed to learn how to adjust his jumps, lest you end up crashing into the enemies you were trying to strike down. When just platforming, however, the double jumping feels pretty good. In a solution that potentially makes everyone happy, the game has a single life that can take several hits, infinite continues, and generous checkpoints; each time you continue, however, some sc…