Pig House – the Infernum channel presents! Gradius, Road Fighter, Shadow of the Ninja (NES)

Pig House – the Infernum channel presents!

Gamer Infernum loves to complete video games for NES (Dendy) and record videos.

So, he is eager to offer you some of his gameplay videos and share a bit about the video games.

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Shadow of the Ninja

( Blue Shadow )

A platformer game, the original was released on NES (Dendy) in 1991. Later, the project was also released on Nintendo 3DS, WII U. In Europe, the game was distributed under the name Blue Shadow. At the very beginning of the game, we choose one of two ninjas. One is male, the other is female. They look different, but they behave the same in the game.

This video game can be played by two players. Overall, everything is typical for a platformer in terms of controls. However, the heroes have a special ability - to deal heavy damage to all enemies on the screen if your hero has less than half health. A similar mechanic was seen in [Golden Axe](/games?search=Golden Axe), where there were also deadly special attacks. From the start, we are armed with a katana. The game consists of 16 stages, and there are mini-bosses and bosses. The bosses explode upon death and their explosion heals the main hero.

The plot is decent for an action movie. In 2029, an evil dictator-emperor builds a castle in the middle of the United States and terrorizes the entire country. To save the country and innocent people, two ninjas challenge the evil emperor.

Interestingly, the developer Natsume planned to make a version for Game Boy, but the rights to the game were purchased by Tecmo. The enhanced version of the game was titled Ninja Gaiden Shadow – a spin-off of Ninja Gaiden, developed by the same Natsume division. The press and gamers regarded the game well, noting its decent graphics and sound, as well as the popular ninja archetypes of the '90s.

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Road Fighter

Road Fighter is an arcade video game developed by Konami and released in 1984. It was the first racing video game by Konami. The goal of the game is to drive through all the levels without running out of fuel, crashing into passing cars and opponents. You also need to keep an eye on the remaining time. Later, two sequels were released - Midnight Run: Road Fighter 2 (1995) and Winding Heat (1996).

Road Fighter was ported from arcade machines to the NES (Dendy) in 1991 and to the popular at the time MSX computer in 1985. Much later, the game was revisited and ported to mobile platforms and WII / WII U. The project can also be found in collections of arcade games.

The game doesn't have super powerful gameplay, but it is quite fun and engaging. It is simple in essence and interesting! Graphically, the game is unlikely to impress; everything is quite simple by NES standards.

So, we need to get through all 4 routes to the finish line. You have a fuel gauge. Colliding with walls further depletes your fuel. The main task is to avoid collisions and refill your fuel reserves. The game itself is quite short and serves as a decent example of a top-down racing video game. However, at the same time, the game is extremely simple, even by NES standards.

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Gradius

The famous scrolling shooter from Konami. The first installment of the series was released in 1985.

This game had a conceptual predecessor – the video game Scramble, which was popular in its own right and released on the then-popular MSX and Commodore 64.

Gradius, due to its popularity in arcades, began to appear on other systems: MSX, NES, Sharp X68000, PC Engine, Master System. Later, the game became available on PlayStation, Saturn, and other platforms.

In the early stages of development, Machiguchi Hiroyasu (the project leader) and his team referred to their project as STG (ShooTing Game). They wanted to create a cool shooter similar to Xevious. However, they decided to develop it in a horizontal projection and maximally use the developments from Scramble. At one point, they even called their project Scramble 2. The development of the game took a whole year, and the gameplay changed significantly. The development team was also heavily inspired by science fiction films and [Star wars](/games?search=Star wars), as well as the anime Lensman, which featured lasers. Thus, laser weapons also found their way into their new video game.

Everything in the game is done well, with decent sound and great controls. Undoubtedly, this is one of those video games for which one might consider buying an NES or at least another reason to support the Nintendo system. The game even has a storyline, which was considered cool for the time. Yes, it is quite simple - you pilot the space fighter Vic Viper and save the world from alien life forms. The game is also distinguished by decent graphics for its time.

At first, you might think that you are faced with a typical shooter about a flying fighter plane shooting everything that moves. However, you will quickly see that the shooter has a number of innovations. There is an interesting weapon selection system. Imagine you just killed several enemies. Some dropped special orbs – with upgrades. As soon as you accumulate several such orbs, you can upgrade your ship. There are several upgrades – from increasing speed to enhancing shields.

The system works as follows. You start the video game without any upgrades. Above you, there is a bar with possible upgrades. Every time a power-up orb drops from a defeated enemy, the indicator in the upgrade bar shifts one point to the right. You can either activate the upgrade or save it for the next upgrade point. Thus, you can combine upgrades and level up! And this in 1985, fantastic!

The game also features numerous bosses and mini-bosses. Like many projects of that era, the game is quite challenging for today's gamers. You will have to memorize enemy patterns to win.

Gradius is a legendary video game in the shoot 'em up genre. A must-play when gaming on NES. Better yet – it's best experienced on the actual console rather than an emulator.

Postscript

You have been presented with just three video games. The Infernum channel has many more gameplay videos. As the gamer Infernum himself reports, he has regular gameplay videos. And he will happily continue to play video games! Since it's impossible to play everything in the world, watching such a retro channel is extremely helpful. It provides an introduction to retro games and the NES system.

Official channel of Infernum: Pig House