Ninja Combat

[Source]
The Super Spy / Ninja Combat
Scitron / Pony Canyon  PCCB-00046  Nov 21, 1990
[Generator]
MAME 0.244 (modded by Valley Bell)

The ninja-themed beat-em-up "Ninja Combat",
developed by Alpha Denshi (later ADK), is one
of the earlier games for the Neo Geo, reaching
arcades just three months after the platform's
launch titles. As such, as the product of one
of the major contributors to the Neo Geo's
hardware design, it does everything it can to
show off the system's capabilities, from a
vibrant color palette, to filling the screen
full of sprites without slowdown, to the use of
hardware scaling effects, to full voice acting
during cutscenes. It also has the then-rare
feature of boss characters who become playable
allies after you defeat them, making up for
only having one playable character at the
start. Unfortunately, it's also a massive
coin-muncher in terms of difficulty, making it
hard to appreciate all of this without watching
a playthrough video or pouring silly amounts of
money into the cabinet.

Given how early it is in the system's timeline,
this soundtrack is not far from that of Alpha
Denshi's previous game, the launch title
"Magician Lord", but has a more Japanese flavor
to it compared to the fantasy theme of the
earlier game. It's not at quite the same level
as "Magician Lord", but there are still decent
tracks in here, including the ending theme
("Horizon Door").

Enjoy!

— The Golden Horse

Source: VGMRips