Then I remembered my desire to palette-swap the ones that were missing from the rainbow of ninjas. So let’s call it the first live action video game movie, if only to replace memories of Dennis Hopper’s fly covered pizza and fungal sphincters birthing Lance Henrikson with robot fights and wicked rotoscoped laser battles.I know I've got other things on my plate, but yesterday for some reason I took screen captures of Mortal Kombat characters. Personally, I’ll assume a Kick-Ass situation, with both going into production at the same time and drawing from each other as both projects came closer to completion.
#PALETTE SWAP NINJA MOVIE#
So maybe it’s a bit debatable to call it the first video game based film, considering the movie may have gone into production first, but there’s no denying that the movie’s structure is similar to any linear action game of the time, playing out like a sci-fi Ninja Gaiden designed to sell arcade cabinets and VHS tapes alike.Ĭonsidering the cloudy history, it could go either way. Some sources say the movie came first and others say the game was the basis for the movie, but the most likely explanation is that they were created to promote each other, going into production and releasing at the same time. So, the first video game movie? Maybe not the first overall, no, there were animated features based on a handful of games before Cyber Ninja, but it was, in fact, released as a tie-in to the Namco arcade game of the same name. Interestingly, one robotic enemy actually looks eerily similar to the form Zeiram takes in Zeiram 2. It’s not on the level of Amemiya’s later work, especially not Zeiram or Hakaider, but it’s still slick and fun to watch. His knack for surrounding himself with a great crew means that even his first movie has awesome editing and fantastic choreography with some surprisingly great special effects considering the budget. Cyber Ninja is especially good at showing off his immense talent, with almost pornographic close-ups showing off how each fictional weapon works, elegant armor designs, and villains that look like action figures you couldn’t possibly afford.
#PALETTE SWAP NINJA HOW TO#
He also knows how to make those dumb costumes look infinitely less dumb, drawing up some of the coolest looking characters you’ll see in this genre.
Keita Amemiya knows how to film dudes in stupid costumes hitting each other. And that’s because it’s the first feature length movie from a famed tokusatsu director who’s had his hand in Kamen Rider, Sentai, Kikaider, and later created his own series, Garo. For all the cheese, the fighting and visual design overall really shows an unexpected professionalism. You aren’t strapping in for a beautiful tale of woe and familial bonding across the chasm of death, you wanna see a robot ninja kick in the collective shit of dozens of faceless bad guys and a gigantic, building sized cannon blowing up an evil living fortress. But the plot isn’t what matters in Cyber Ninja. It’s bog standard Japanese camp with plenty of dumb tropes ranging from amnesia to dramatic secret brother reveals. We jump back and forth between the Dark Overlord’s evil bishop arguing with the movie’s Starscream, Shogi, the Suwabeh clan training and planning an attack on the Overlord’s fortress, and Shiranui sulking around and eventually joining forces with the Suwabeh to stop the Dark Overlord from being reborn and probably doing something evil, I guess. The next thing we see is the titular Cyber Ninja, Shiranui, having a wicked mecha ninja duel and tearing some robot heads off before being threatened by an awkwardly armored mercenary of the Suwabeh and fleeing into the woods.Īfter that, not much in the way of plot goes down. Upon climbing back up he sees his clan massacred and cheesily shouts to the heavens while clutching his brother’s bullet loaded katana behind a shitty Cyber Ninja logo. The Suwabeh Clan sees heavy losses, with the most important being a green clad warrior with an unfortunate wispy mustache, which prompts his palette swap of a brother to come to his rescue only to be blown off a cliff. According to the opening exposition dump via title card, the guys in white represent the Suwabeh Clan, while the black ninjandroids are mechanical warriors of the Dark Overlord, who happens to currently be an evil Zordon wannabe looking for human sacrifice to earn back his physical form. Only this cheap alternative to actual sets is populated by robotic ninjas, dudes with gun-blades and DBZ scouters, and AT-STs with what appear to be outhouses for heads. Cyber Ninja starts where most similar schlocky tokusatsu movies end, in the rock quarry where the Power Rangers fight Rita Repulsa’s foam rubber monsters.
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