The release of Ninja Gaiden The Master Collection has fans of the series excited about returning to the games they grew up failing at over and over again. Every game in the Ninja Gaiden series is tough beyond any reasonable doubt, but as with any hard game, repeated failures lead to eventual successes.
The series has been going on for quite a long time; the first game was released in 1988, almost 33 years ago. The series has amassed a huge fanbase and although the games take themselves very seriously, the Ninja Gaiden community is no stranger to memes.
10 The Dark Dragon is Wasted On Ryu
The story of Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword for the Nintendo DS revolves around Ryu trying to find the Dark Dragonstones to re-forge the Dark Dragon Blade and True Dragon Sword. Unfortunately, it ends up summoning the Dark Dragon that Ryu must then put down.
Because Ryu knows that the world cannot coexist with weapons of that unimaginable power, he refuses to use either weapon and sees them destroyed instead.
9 Everyone Gets An Izuna Drop
The Izuna drop is a very powerful special technique that lets the player raise enemies up to then drop by the head onto their spinning attacks. It's relatively hard to pull off, though, as it requires a special set of inputs to complete the combo requirement.
Players who have mastered this technique, though, find that it's ridiculously powerful. When pulled off consecutively it just wipes the floor with opponents, and it's very tempting to go for nothing but the Izuna drop.
8 The Ninja Lebowski
Meme generators online have taken on a life of their own. Do-it-yourself generators and mix-n-match generators are the simplest way to make a home-brewed, organic meme.
Twitter user @robo_hammer posted this quote from The Big Lebowski in a cutscene from the original Ninja Gaiden. Ryu's darting eyes perfectly encapsulate the reaction to a statement like this.
7 Stop, He's Already Dead!
The most well-known trait of the Ninja Gaiden series is its insane difficulty. Repeated deaths are a part of the learning process, but new players will feel especially punished until they get the swing of things.
Even Ninja Gaiden fans returning to the series with Ninja Gaiden The Master Collection find the games surprisingly challenging. Maybe it's something about aging and losing reflexes of youth, or maybe the games were always this tough, and gamers' memories have gone foggy.
6 Let Me In... Let Me IIIIIIIN!
This screencap from the original Ninja Gaiden shows Ryu iconically facing a distant castle in a cutscene from the first game. The perspective makes the size of the castle seem absolutely gigantic, a tantalizing colossus that Ryu stands courageously in front of.
On another note, bouncy castles never stop being fun – hopefully Ryu's various sharp belongings don't burst the bouncy castle, though.
5 Ninja Gaiden's Aquatic Fauna Are Unlike Any Other
Ghost Fish are one of the iconic enemies of the Ninja Gaiden games. They appear in just about every single entry, and with every new appearance, they feel somehow cheaper and more fickle than their last.
In most video games, fish are pathetic weak creatures that barely exist on a 2D plane. In the Ninja Gaiden series, though, they're a force to be reckoned with and a reason to pay attention during the watery segments of the game.
4 The Best Ninja Gaiden Isn't Ninja Gaiden At All
It's a controversial opinion to some, but many fans of the Ninja Gaiden series have been extremely disappointed with recent installments in the series. For some, the new Samurai Jack game Samurai Jack: Battle ThroughTime was the best ninja-type game in a decade.
There are lots of different ninja-type games that have come out over the last few years, but none of the Ninja Gaiden games have been well received. Fans of the series might enjoy the Samurai Jack game as well as the Nioh games and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
3 Milhouse Dreams Of The Master Collection
The Simpsons is often hailed as one of the original sources of internet memes – people in the late '90s and early 2000s just couldn't escape constant references to the show everywhere. While memes become less tied to mainstream media over time, The Simpsons is as popular as ever.
This scene from The Simpsons shows Milhouse happily dreaming of himself counting down to waking up. Ninja Gaiden The Master Collection is available already, and the meme sums up the way fans felt about waiting for the game.
2 Looks Like Meat's Back On The Menu
There's been a trend in video game design lately that revolves around rewarding players through extremely difficult and inconvenient gameplay. For a long time, games pandered to the lowest common denominator, but the success of games like Dark Souls has brought old-school game mechanics back.
Gamers who stray towards these types of games tend to be unable to return to anything easier. Whenever a "hard" game is announced nowadays, one can't go far without it being compared to Ninja Gaiden, the Seki-souls-borne series, or even Hollow Knight.
1 Tenchu: Stealth Assassins Raised Us All
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The PlayStation 1 title Tenchu: Stealth Assassins was one of the first 3D ninja-type games ever made. Because of the gameplay mechanics and standards it introduced, just about every game that features Ninja-type gameplay takes some kind of inspiration from it.
As a result, gamers who grew up with Tenchu tended to play games like Ghost of Tsushima, Sekiro, and Nioh, as well as the 3D Ninja Gaiden games.