, is a side scrolling

beat 'em up A beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in Side-scrolling video game, scrolling, 2D c ...

arcade video game An arcade video game is an arcade game that takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. All arcade video games are coin-oper ...

, released by

Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...

in 1988 exclusively in Japan. ''Mirai Ninja'' was adapted into the Japanese live-action film of the same name, which was also produced by Namco. The game runs on

Namco System 2 Namco was a video game developer and publisher, originally from Japan. Bandai Namco Entertainment is the successor to Namco and continues manufacturing and distributing video games worldwide. For Namco games released following the 2006 merger wit ...

hardware, and is the first Namco game to be adapted into a film. Character designs and directing of the film were done by

Keita Amemiya is a Japanese film and television director, screenwriter and character designer from Urayasu, Chiba. He directed the films '' Mirai Ninja'' (1988), '' Zeiram'' (1991), '' Kamen Rider ZO'' (1993), and '' Kamen Rider J'' (1994), and created the ' ...

of ''

Zeiram , stylized as ''ZËIЯAM'' (originally marketed in English as ''Zeram''), is a 1991 Japanese science fiction film directed by Keita Amemiya. The film stars Yūko Moriyama as an extraterrestrial bounty hunter named Iria, who comes to Earth to do ...

'' and ''

Kamen Rider The , also known as ''Masked Rider Series'' (until ''Kamen Rider Decade, Decade'' and except Thailand), is a Japanese superhero fiction, superhero media franchise consisting of tokusatsu television programs, films, manga, and anime, created by ...

'' fame. Both the game and the movie were released in the same year. Although the arcade game was only released in Japan, the movie was released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

overseas by Mondo Pop, under the two titles of ''Cyber Ninja'' in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and ''Warlord'' in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. In both the film and the arcade game a man's body and soul are stolen and used as part of a demon's castle. What's left becomes a cyber-ninja named Shiranui. The player controls Mirai Ninja, who must fight various enemies and bosses by rapidly throwing

shuriken A is a Japanese concealed weapon used by samurai or ninja or in martial arts as a hidden dagger or '' metsubushi'' to distract or misdirect. History The origins of the ''bo-shuriken'' in Japan are still unclear, despite continuing researc ...

s at them (and slashing them with his

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

at close range). His life meter uses

Kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

for the numbers; this was previously done in Namco's earlier Japan-only title, ''

Genpei Tōma Den is a side-scrolling hack and slash video game produced by Namco that was released as a coin-operated video game in 1986 in Japan. It runs on Namco System 86 hardware. Over a decade later, the game was released in America and Europe in the video ...

'' (1986), for the score display. The penultimate stage, "Castle Kurosagi", also only has one way out of it.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Mirai Ninja'' on their January 1, 1989 issue as being the tenth most-successful table arcade unit of the month.

References

1988 video games Arcade Archives games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Hamster Corporation games Japan-exclusive video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Namco arcade games Namco beat 'em ups Ninja characters in video games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games Science fiction video games Side-scrolling beat 'em ups Video games about ninja Video games adapted into films Video games developed in Japan Video games set in castles {{beatemup-videogame-stub