Image: Namco

Next week’s Arcade Archives release is Mirai NinjaA uniquely Japanese title from Namco from 1988 that has never been ported to a home system and occupies a special place in video game history.

Released the same year as Keita Amemiya’s film in 1988 Mirai Ninja: Keigumo Kinin Gaiden (known as Cyber ​​ninja In the U.S, Military leader in Canada and Ninja robots in the UK), Mirai Ninja was powered by the Namco System 2 dashboard and looks a lot like other ninja titles of the time, such as Shinobi and Ninja spirit. Amemiya, it should be noted, has since worked on video games such as Onimusha series and Shin Megami Tensei IV.

Interestingly, the game is not actually based on the movie, as is often the case. In fact it is the other way around! Namco has been actively involved in the production of Mirai Ninja, rather than using it under license. He was even involved in the cast of the film, making it one of the earliest examples of a live-action video game film, even before the likes of Super Mario Bros., Double Dragon, Street Fighter and Mortal combat.

You can see the North American trailer, intended to promote the VHS version in rental stores, below, and you can find some games from the arcade version below.

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