What do you think it takes for a video game character to be considered A NINJA (*stealthy whispery voice) anyway what are the absolute fundamental requirements for a ninja in a game. A few of my personal thoughts on the subject:
Wall jump (essential) NINJA sword not a freakin katana (nothing against katanas but they are samurai weapons) The Shinobi dash And the ability to commit seppuku (which I've yet to see in a game)
hey if you guy's really want to know (this stuff is historically acurate)
the short sword is called a Wakiashi (dont ask me how to say it as i cant say it ether)
Ninja is the name given to the clans of assasians in the japanese mountains
Ninja's trained with every weapon know to them so if they became weaponless or had to get to the target weaponless.
There main targets were samuria so they trained with Katana's (long sword) and Tanto's (daggers often used as another weapon with the Katana), they were the main training weapons but they did train with others as well
Ninja's were also able to do feats that no normal man could do like run up walls to a certain height, run along them, jump off them you get the picture. (play ninja gaiden and the stunts you can do are the things ninja's can do except for running round and round a wall going up they cant do that it's impossible. And jumping in a tight space like this | | i dont think they could do that but i dont know)
Seppuku is only for samuria, ninja's didnt go into open battle one on one with the enemy most of the time the targets wouldnt see the the ninja's, those guys would go in slit the targets throut and get out honer was about gettin the target at all costs, while for the samuria it was winning battles at all costs. (one general thought that he would lose the battle so he commited Seppuku then he won the battle just after he had died)
The ninja sword was supposed to blend in and be stealthy they would paint the blade black keeping anything bright out of site and doing missions at night, the clothes would be black like a very tight fitting robe (think Ryu Hyabusa costume at the start of ninja gaiden and turn it black) and the paint on the blade would also be put on the face.
The other super human stuff like lighting coming out of the ninja, no get out go away and hide in the corner they couldnt do that. But ninpo did exist but it was the ninja style of fighting each clan had it's own style and they wanted to keep it that way, if a ninja runs away from the clan then they become a shinobi aka a runaway ninja, thease guys would only do this if they could be given shelter from another clan or if they want to commit suicied or they dont have a friggen brain cell cuz the clan they ran away from will hunt them down and kill them on the spot bad way to go.
Shurikan was used to slow down the enemy not to kill them but they did poisen them so if they did hit the chances are the poor guy wont be around for long.
as far as i can think i got all the stuff i can remeber on this bit but if you want to know more (i bet you iv forgoten something) just send me a message
Well there a couple of things a historically accurate Ninja would be that games definitely do not show.
For one thing, running around in black is a bad idea, black is actually more visible than other dark colors in low light (if it is pitch black, it really doesn't matter what color you are wearing). Besides it is a lot easier to hide in plain sight than to sneak around, a ninja would more likely be disguised as a guard or some sort of worker than running around in a very conspicous black jumpsuit.
Ninjas were mercenaries, they weren't noble warriors fighting the evils of the Samurai or any of that other bull that is made about them. One of the most famous ninjas, Hanzo Hattori (Hanzo the Demon), is best known for the aide he gave to Ieyasu Tokugawa. Ninjas were hired by Samurai to do everything from espionage to assassaination (anything that Samurai were not allowed to do because of their code of honor, but was far too helpful a tactic in war to not take advantage of).
The odds a ninja would slit someone's throat to kill them is also extremely unlikely. Ninjas favored poisons over all other means of assassaination, some clans more than others, but it still was the predominate way to kill someone since it was often misdiagnosed at the time as death by natural causes.
The whole idea of Ninjas having magical powers is obviously ludicrous. Also the idea that Ninjas had super human physical abilities just comes from the fact they have spent hundreds and hundreds of years being more and more exagerated about exploits that were virtually never actually witnessed, except by the Ninja themself (well this is misleading, most of the time they were witnessed because ninjas would hide in plain sight, but no one suspects the person who poisoned the samurai to be Willy the clumsy dish washer).
Really, Ninjas in games are nothing like their historical counterparts when you think about it.
Matt is good, indeed. But I'm glad someone other than myself has actually done some research to go beyond the the neo-traditional black pajamas and mystical monkey powers. +ditto for you.
And by the way, Seppuku is just plain suicide. Anyone who commits suicide in Japanese culture is committing Seppuku. Hari Cari is the act of getting on your knees and gutting yourself like a fish. The last instance of someone committing Hari Cari was in the 1960's, and that was just a guy who was trying to persuade people to return to a more traditional way of Japanese living and foreign relations.
And in the event that the ninja is sitting in a diner, and someone at another table drops a spoon, the ninja must flip out an totally kill the entire town.
So what you're saying is that "47" from the Hitman series is more of a ninja than Ryu Hayabusa? Cool.
But, then again, I much prefer the over-hyped ninja to the actual ones. They kick more ass. But, for a video game ninja, they all have the same things in common:
1) Fully inclosed cloth-jumpsuit, with the only flesh showing at the eyes and fingers. 2) Sword with magic properties that only the main ninja has, but doesn't understand. 3) Shuriken. Lots of them. 4) The ability to do a septuple backflip. 5) The abilty to fall from HIGH places without getting hurt. 6) Speed. Like Speedy Gonzales on crack. 7) A name that is not pronounced how it is spelled. 8) An evil mentor. 9) A beautiful/handsome ally assassin of the opposite gender. 10) A dragon involved in the story line SOMEHOW.
yep but ninja's dont use firearms (too load even with a scilencer) a bow is silent you can fire over objects the arrows can be poisend, you can make exsplosive arrows now and you can simply disgise the wound with another wound like a sword slash
Ever read the book Shogun? Great story. The end has a full on ninja assault on Yedo castle. Almost definately embellished, as ninjas seldomn staged full scale assaults of that sort. But a number of facts mentioned do seem credible...
Ninjas did paint their blades black.
Ninjas almost never spoke, using hand signals to communicate.
A cut accross the throat, or a stab in the gud, with the hand over the mouth of the victim, was a good way to take out any potential threats... be them guards or the kitchen boy.
Shuriken were poisoned, and sometimes used to kill.
If there was even the slightest chance they had been spotted during the night, a ninja would freeze and remain motionless. They could do this for a day and a night if necessary.
i thought that everyone knew that ninjas stole katana because they didnt have as good bladesmiths as samurai
and a ninja must be able to use some kind of skill learned from a scroll (like naruto or Ryu from Gaiden) and be able to hide where you least suspect(check discovery channel to find out more on ninja secrets)
I beg to differ, Katana are a Ninja sword, Its the curved Katana that is Samuria, the straight blade is ninja. And also, as far as Seppuku, there is a game in which a char commits such and act, it is in the fighting game, Soul Calibur, I believe. Now the char isn't a ninja but he has a secret move in which he can stab himself through the stomach.
im reading that at the moment great book, there is a film over 9 dvd's (bloody hell) 4 is the film and the rest are exstras
Actually, it's 5 discs... 4 for the film, 1 for extras. It was actually a miniseries. 9-10 hours total. ONLY from Blackthorne's POV. But other than that, it's good.
Yoshimitsu in SCII or Tekken I can't remember which. Oh and Rikimaru in Tenchu he stabs himself and then lies on the ground waiting for people to look away..not terribly effective but it's sort of like it.
