Surf Ninjas

Overview

Surf Ninjas is a third person side scrolling platforming game for the Game Gear. The player plays as the older of the two brothers with the younger brother providing hints. After doing so they player goes from level to level as they progress to the island of Patu San where they will confront Colonel Chi.

Gameplay

Much in the vein of Double Dragon, Surf Ninjas is a horizontal combat platformer. As the player navigates the environment they will encounter enemies which the player can usually avoid by just jumping until they reach the boss which the player must defeat. Jumping does feature prominently in the game in the form of the jump meter. As the player jumps continuously they deplete their jump meter until they can only do short and low jumps. In order to traverse certain parts of the game (i.e. crates) they player needs to have a full jump meter forcing them to pace and moderate their jumps with a certain amount of precision. The player can also do a double spin jump higher jumps by tapping the "2" button twice and holding it on the second tap. On top of this the play can also throw fireballs or shurikens as well as equip bladed weapons. Finding random triangles will give the player the ability to summon Zatch a warrior ninja who can instantly defeat any enemy on the screen.

In the options menu the player can go to the options menu at anytime to select weapons or check their character status. They can also go to the menu to ask Adam (the younger brother) for a hint. When selecting this option Adam will pull out his Sega Game Gear and a hint will appear on the screen of the in-game Game Gear.

Relationship to the Movie

Surf Ninjas is an early example of a video game/movie tie in however Surf Ninjas takes this concept one step further. Sega of America wanted to have the Game Gear featured prominently in a film as a form of advertising for the platform. After contacting New Line Cinema the idea of Surf Ninjas seemed appropriate and Sega began development of the video game version of Surf Ninjas when the writing and story boarding process for the film had barely begun. While they received input from the director and writer of the film the developers took many liberties and released the video game weeks before the film's release.