Let’s just say that I have a love/hate relationship with video games.
My entire life has been influenced by them in some way. I’ve spent years obsessed (8-17), years completely oblivious (17-24), and years when I considered them the biggest waste of money and time since Avatar (although admittedly....almost anything over watching a cockroach fry in the desert sun would be more entertaining than Avatar).
Anyway.
Lately, the plague of nostalgia has infiltrated my mind as I reach the magical four-decade celebration of life, which means I’m destined for one of two things; a banana yellow Porsche, or a 20-year-old mailorder wife from Russia.
Or, both? I’ll check in in a year and a half.
The whole point of this is that I’ve been recalling some of the more important parts of that bullshit period when I disappointed my parents and stunted my emotional and intellectual growth the moment I was gifted a Nintendo Entertainment System with Super Mario Brothers and Mach Rider and Rad Racer and Kung Fu and Gradius and countless other “classics” that other 38-year-old man-boys cream their pants over now.
I realize that all of this had a place and did have importance in creative development in some way, and I appreciate it all simply for that fact. I was alive, this was happening, I soaked it in, I interpreted it into my own little world and combined it with other influences ranging from Mad Magazine to Sportstalk Baseball cards. So, in that sense, these tiny simple-as-shit games are a big part of this puzzle, and as I slowly take those shaky steps toward a Porsche dealership with visions of my thinning hair blowing in the wind, I focus on one particular game that always had a strange hold on me: Ninja Gaiden.
That's right: The Fight of YOUR FUCKING LIFE.
This game is special for a lot of reasons. First, it was the game I chose as my 9th birthday present at Toys R Us when my dad decided to stop on the way home from dinner at Sizzler and allow me to pick any game I wanted (as long as he stayed in the car and my mom went with me because fuck those crowds). Second, it was the first home console game to have the story presented in cinematic cutscenes. This was amazing because instead of making Mario stomp on turtles and trip on mushrooms for no fucking reason at all (princesses don't count...kids don't give a shit), this game gave you a REASON for doing any of this (or, rather, a thin justification for spending hours sitting and staring open-mouthed at the tv to accomplish absolutely nothing worthwhile to anybody, anywhere, at all).
The story crafted by Hideo Yoshizawa feels incredibly Japanese by nature, but Americanized and filtered to feel more like a goddamn Van Damme/Segal epic. The music also has a pre-Streets of Rage quality that makes the whole hodgepodge a mess of cultures and points of view, all wrapped together with a denim and shoulder-padded bow.
I mean, just check out this opening:
And boy...revenge he gets.
Of course, along the way he encounters a beautiful exotic woman and gets involved in a very dramatic plot involving satanic statues and Amazonian ruins and demon possessions and of COURSE...
true love.
I’m a sucker for this style of crappola in movies and music, and I blame this game. Adults in costumes pretending to give a shit about ridiculous plots in movies that will never see the light outside of a Blockbuster (RIP) will be the genre that never got it’s due. A ton of professionals cut their teeth working on this crap and it shows in how much CARE there is.
Anyway, I digress. As always. Back to the point.
I’ve had this idea ruminating in my head of recreating some of these scenes from the game in real life with real people. As the NES port was very simplistic, it lent itself to photos very well. The environments are rarely not a solid color, and the costumes never changed (even though pixels are free). Fortunately, I happen to know some people who know some people who were equally into the idea, and away we went.
The images below mimic many of the scenes from the entire cutscene extravaganza, but in a “greatest hits” fashion. I also imagined that Irene Lew's hair and clothing was so obviously inspired by Rachel from Blade Runner that I would simply lean into it as much as possible. The talent on display to re-create these scenes is palpable.
And of course...there would not be a proper production without a few BTS videos. The first is the making of, and the second is a recreation of the vibe.
I can't even begin to properly express how grateful I am for all of the wonderful people that volunteered their time and talent to make this project come alive. On the production side, I legitimately loved the process of finding the proper blue ninja costume, the proper mask, and all of the random 80's accessories. It was such a great experience, and I'm hopeful that the next game recreation will be just as fun.
__
Credits:
Ryu was played by the ever-talented Benjamin Nelson (@ben_ja_button)
Irene Lew was played by the superb Whitney (@dubya_bee)
The beautiful makeup was provided by the incomparable Briana Hurley (@briana_hurley)
The Rachel from Blade Runner hair was crafted by Sarah Latchford (@sarahlatchfordhair)
BTS videos were shot and chopped by the endlessly talented and amazingly efficient and incredibly creative and capable Dinah Obeso (@agentdinah).
I have several games on the docket for this year, so look out for more!