Line #4 VideoGame/NinjaGaidenIIITheAncientShipOfDoom


1	! Due to being an interquel between ''VideoGame/{{Ninja Gaiden\|NES}}'' and ''VideoGame/NinjaGaidenIITheDarkSwordOfChaos'', {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s for both games will be left unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!
2	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ninjagaideniii.png]]
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4	''Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom'' is a Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem video game created by Creator/{{Tecmo}} and released in North America and Japan in 1991. It is the third installment of the original ''Ninja Gaiden'' trilogy, though this took place between the first and second games.
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6	CIA Analyst Irene Lew, on assignment for a mission called "Cardinal" is attacked and seemingly killed by a man resembling Ryu Hayabusa. Knowing he had no involvement in her death and demanding answers, Ryu stakes out to find out what Irene was investigating and find out what really happened to Irene.
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8	While the game was still insanely popular, the game was criticized for its increased difficulty in America.
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10	Also notable for the Platform/AtariLynx port being the last official game released for the system.
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13	!!Provides examples of:
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15	* ActionGirl: [[spoiler:Irene gets this, having been able to pull of a FakingTheDead to find her answers and ending firing a machine gun into the gut of a Bio-Noid.]]
16	* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: A villainous version. Most of the bosses in ''The Ancient Ship of Doom'' use Ryu's Ninja Arts such as the Windmill Throwing Star or mass-fire versions of the Art of the Fire Wheel.
17	* BigBadWannabe: [[spoiler:Foster puts himself in the Big Bad position, but he's only a pawn in Clancy's game and is unceremoniously ripped to shreds trying to enter the Life Energy realm.]]
18	* ClearMyName: The first half of the game involves Ryu doing this, wanting to know what the hell happened to Irene and who actually killed her.
19	* ConspicuousElectricObstacle: Level 7-2 has electric hazards in form of electric beams.
20	* DifficultyByRegion: The NES version of ''III'' has no password feature, limited continues, fewer checkpoints and stronger enemies than its Famicom counterpart.
21	* {{Doppelganger}}: Partway through the game, Ryu runs into the person who killed Irene, claiming that he was created to be like him, but even stronger. [[spoiler:He's revealed to be a Bio-Noid himself]].
22	* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler: Clancy is the true mastermind of the events as he manipulated Ryu, Irene, and Foster into being his pawns]].
23	* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: Discussed at the end of the third game. Irene cannot comprehend evil, but Ryu can:
24	-->'''Irene''': I'll never understand why people make and pursue evil plans until they wind up dead.
25	-->'''Ryu''': Humans are always striving to achieve. [[BlindIdiotTranslation All of creatures on earth, in all worlds,]] can never be just a part of someone's plans. Fortunately, mankind is never foolish enough to wipe itself out to achieve some ambitions.
26	* {{Interquel}}: ''The Ancient Ship of Doom'' takes place after the events of the first NES ''Ninja Gaiden'', but before ''The Dark Sword of Chaos'', which is why Ryu still possesses the Dragon Sword, despite having lost it at the end. The Japanese manual makes the game's setting clear, but the American manual only implies it subtly.
27	-->After Ryu's victorious duel with Jaquio, Ashtar returned to the bowels of darkness and bided his time. But another evil creature was already on its way as another adventure awaits the unsuspecting Ryu Hayabusa...
28	* MutuallyExclusivePowerups: Weapon pickups from the background destroyables will replace the currently equipped one. However, this installment is the first that shows the new weapon hidden in said destroyable, removing potential guesswork.
29	* QuicksandSucks: Quicksand makes appearance as an obstacle.
30	* RaceAgainstTheClock: In Act 7 of ''The Ancient Ship of Doom'', should you make it to the FinalBoss without dying, you will notice the timer is '''very close''' to zero once you reach the end.
31	* RockBeatsLaser: Throughout ''The Ancient Ship of Doom'', instead of heading into a hellish dimension to battle demonic creatures like its preceding games, Ryu faces a high-tech robotic army at (mostly) artificial environments, culminating with a battle within an alien ship against a laser-equipped HumongousMecha.
32	* OhCrap: At the FinalBoss of ''The Ancient Ship of Doom'', Ryu instead stutters out the villain's name upon seeing its monstrous form.
33	* SpikeBallsOfDoom: Rolling spiky balls appear as a fairly common hazard that needs to be avoided.
34	* SpikesOfDoom: Tall Spikes do make an appearance. These periodically retract, allowing the player some time to go through areas.
35	* WarmUpBoss: The Mantis Warrior from Stage 1 continues the tradition of trivially easy bosses, as he moves slowly and has a single ground-based attack that can easily be avoided. The only difference setting him apart from the Barbarian and Dando is that he can block.
36	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The game answers what happened to Foster following the events of the first game.
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Context VideoGame / NinjaGaidenIIITheAncientShipOfDoom