Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
Electronic Gaming Monthlys four reviewers commended the audiovisual presentation and playable characters having their own fighting style but criticized the Neo Geo AES version for using unlimited continues, short length, easy difficulty and repetitive gameplay.
Dillon praised the game's audiovisual presentation, stating that "this game is fulfilling what the Neo Geo promises - a standard arcade machine for the home" but criticized its short length.
French magazine Joystick regarded Ninja Combat as one of the best beat 'em ups on consoles and comparing it with Double Dragon and Final Fight, praising the audio and visuals as well as the sprite animations and controls highly but criticized the overall short length.
Superjuegos Alberto Pascual praised the game's ability to recruit defeated minibosses as playable characters and two-player mode but felt mixed in regards to the originality on-display.
Computer and Video Games Mean Machines compared the title with Shadow Warriors, commending the audiovisual presentation but criticized the gameplay for being dull and boring to play, easy difficulty and short length.
In a similar manner, Italian publication Consolemania also compared it with Shadow Warriors, praising the graphics but criticized certain aspects of both audio and playability.
AllGames Kyle Knight heavily criticized its overall design, unacceptable graphics, audio, controls, technical issues and cheap gameplay, stating that "Ninja Combat is a poorly conceived, poorly executed game.
Eurogamers Dan Whitehead claimed Ninja Combat to be a "rip-off" of other titles in the beat 'em up genre such as Shinobi (1987), Ninja Gaiden (1988) and Streets of Rage (1991), praising the graphics and ability to recruit additional characters but criticizing the collision detection, stiff animations, poor controls, lack of ideas and short length.
Nintendo Lifes Damien McFerran criticized the visuals for being uninspired and character designs, while stating that its gameplay is not comparable to Streets of Rage or Final Fight.
In Japan, Game Machine listed the game on their December 15, 1990 issue as being the eighteenth most-popular arcade game at the time.
AllGames Kyle Knight heavily criticized its overall design, unacceptable graphics, audio, controls, technical issues and cheap gameplay, stating that "Ninja Combat is a poorly conceived, poorly executed game.
Electronic Gaming Monthlys four reviewers commended the audiovisual presentation and playable characters having their own fighting style but criticized the Neo Geo AES version for using unlimited continues, short length, easy difficulty and repetitive gameplay.
Computer and Video Games Mean Machines compared the title with Shadow Warriors, commending the audiovisual presentation but criticized the gameplay for being dull and boring to play, easy difficulty and short length.
Ninja Combat was originally released in Japanese arcades on July 24, 1990.
Its home version was released internationally for the Neo Geo in 1991 and for the Neo Geo CD on October 31, 1994 in Japan only.
Dillon praised the game's audiovisual presentation, stating that "this game is fulfilling what the Neo Geo promises - a standard arcade machine for the home" but criticized its short length.
The sentences quoted on this page were taken from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles exactly as they stand. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) — usable under those terms. They are the work of the people who wrote them.