Ninja Ryukenden Enhanced
忍者龍剣伝 · Ninja Ryuuken Den · Ninja Gaiden
TIGERMONKEYFISH adds smooth parallax backgrounds to eleven stages of the PC Engine Ninja Gaiden, plus a stage select, an optional no-damage mode and English text from the start.
What it changes
Ninja Ryukenden Enhanced by TIGERMONKEYFISH reworks the backgrounds of Hudson's PC Engine version of Ninja Gaiden. Eleven stages get layered, slower-scrolling parallax built from the game's own artwork, with fixed scenery seams and touches like a fixed moon in a starry sky in 6-1. The author tested that the stages still play frame for frame like the original: enemies, timing and respawns are untouched.
Extras
- Press Select during play for a menu that jumps to any stage with full health and switches between the original and enhanced backgrounds.
- An optional No Damage setting (off by default; pits and the timer still cost lives).
- The game starts in English using its own built-in translation; the original title-screen shortcut still cycles to Chinese and Japanese.
The author says AI coding tools helped write the patch. It has been reported working on real PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 hardware with flash carts.
Playing it
The patch is for the Japanese cartridge and comes in versions for headered and headerless dumps; apply it to your own copy following the instructions in TIGERMONKEYFISH's repository.