In Japan,
Game Machine listed
The Ninja Warriors on their April 1, 1988 issue as being the third most-successful upright arcade unit of the month. It went on to become Japan's eighth highest-grossing dedicated
arcade game of 1988. The arcade game received positive reviews. Clare Edgeley of
Computer and Video Games reviewed the arcade game upon release, noted that it was one of several popular "
martial arts simulation" games at
London's
Amusement Trades Exhibition International (ATEI) show in January 1988, along with
Sega's
Shinobi and
Data East's
Vigilante; she said it plays similarly to
Shinobi, but that
Ninja Warriors has a three-monitor cabinet like
Darius (1986). She praised the large screen, "great" graphics, and fun gameplay, but said
Shinobi and
Vigilante were more challenging. Nick Kelly of
Commodore User rated it 8 out of 10, also noting similarities to
Shinobi, but preferring
Ninja Warriors for its graphics and large screen. He said it was highly playable, "gorgeous looking" and technologically "a successful step" forwards.
Your Sinclair gave it a brief positive review, recommending readers to look "out for it." The home conversions also received mostly positive reviews, especially its 16-bit versions such as the ones for the Amiga. In 2010,
CraveOnline featured the game (the arcade, SNES and Sega CD versions) on the list of top ten ninja games of all time. In 2008,
GamesRadar featured Kunoichi as the best assassin in the video game history: "She cut a memorable figure, rocking the huge blonde
ponytail and bright-red
shozoku. On top of that, she wasn't just a ninja - she was a ninja
Terminator. It's hard to imagine a better assassin than that". In 2006,
Akiman drew her as his girl of the month for the Japanese magazine
GAMAGA. Robert Workman of GameZone included Ninja and Kunoichi on his 2011 list of "best video game ninjas": "These guys are due for a return – and hopefully a better hyped one than
Kage got a few years ago on DS?" ==Legacy==