Ninja Gaiden

Ninja Gaiden, my crowning solo achievement, many would say. It gained me the title of 'master animator,' got me recognized community-wide, and is still used as a comparison block to movies to this very day (Mostly to compare to 2002 quality, though). That's... kinda all that I wanted from the get-go in this community. So I guess you could say that I achieved everything I set to by around 2002. Most importantly - I got a sparkling review and poetic word from Adrian Pikios, whom the movie was dedicated to.

Ninja Gaiden took me from early summer to Christmas to complete. Even then, the vast majority of it was completed in the last two and a half months. It started as a time-killing animation I did on my dad's computer, without the aid of 3dmmAP2. After reading through Andres de la Hoz's infamous Manifesto, I decided to take up Ninja Gaiden as a full movie, claiming that it was an experiment to do everything Andres had recommended in his text. Haha, as fate would have it, the finished product would turn out to be just about the opposite (But, really, I only said that to gather a bit of hype, anyhow).

The first scene completed in the movie is what now stands as #16. Originally, there was no animation, it was just a downward pan (Which would probably be a more appropriate shot). Since I love frame-by-frame animation, I went ahead and started doing just that. I liked certain poses, and worked to get the pieces to head into those directions. I was obviously influenced by Spiderman-esque movements, which actually came from an Adrian Pikios clip released several months prior to this. I deleted that clip because I was afraid I'd actually go in and finish the thing (Like Adrian's text asks someone to, inside the clip!). But that's all beside the point - Ryu moves more like Spiderman than a ninja here, but it all looked fluid, so I went with it. Luckily the 'backs' of the periods (Or fullstops, to you crazy foreigners) much resembled the shimmering of light on Ryu's back for this scene, otherwise it would've been a time-costly catastrophe.

Scene 17 was the second one, and while I'm still not completely happy with it to this day, I do like it. The problem was that I had my priorities mixed up - I was animating and looking for some action to animate, not assessing an action and animating to make it happen. So that's why he moves kind of oddly (And with no good reason to do so). This was a still pan as well, originally. I still believe I was truly crazy to attempt the headband and waistband, but what's fun is that I'd do it all over again. Crazy is what makes it fun!

Scene 12 was also a crazy one, back in its day. I kinda' overdid the mouth a bit (And this is the subtle version!), but this was probably the first time a convincing new face was put on a 3dmm character. It's lost most of its luster over the years, and it really isn't all that complicated if you dissect it, but it did make me proud after I finished with it.

Aedrax, the millennia beast who stars as the villain (And isn't mentioned by name, largely because Z-man wouldn't write his part in NG2 for several months yet), is an admittedly unattractive design. I was hoping for a Samus Aran look with a mix of the Bodily Functions white blood cells, but it didn't really turn out into either significantly. Aedrax's current design for NG2 is much superior.. maybe I can work that to a story-based advantage or something.. hmm.

The biggest complaint about this movie was, without a doubt, the lack of backgrounds. I've made it pretty public that I don't care for backgrounds much. They are boring, and rarely serve a purpose. It's one of those details that are only there TO be tuned out, and that's something that I don't care to put time into creating. Now, I've gotten better since Ninja Gaiden, but I still feel just about the same way. That said, the backgrounds that ARE in this movie are probably more detailed than most other movies of the time (I took way too long on those windows, the cracks on the invisible walls, and other stupid things. I let detail drop as the movie went on, however). Z-man gave a valiant effort defending me, saying that it gave the movie a much more comic-like feel, a comment which might even be true. But, for the record, it's the way it is because I didn't want to invest the time into the backgrounds (Which would've been just boring, dark walls anyway), and I'd still do it just this way today. I like it.


Ninja Gaiden was released on December 26, 2002. Andres didn't have the movie to release until that very morning! I had taken the animating right down to the wire, and didn't finish until the 22nd. At that point, I sent it to Z-man for sound effects. He was out of town for two days, and didn't get it back to me until Christmas night. I spent all that night fixing up anything I saw wrong with the movie, adding final touches, and slapping credits and logos on (Finished and zipped at 3:55 am!). Yeah, Christmas night was spent on 3d Movie Maker. Oh dedication!

Ninja Gaiden was released to rave reviews and happy downloaders in the winter Film Fest of 2002. Sure, people had complaints, but this calibur of animation-fest was pretty rare to come by at that time, so reviewing was much eased and inflated, I assume. I enjoyed my time in the spotlight while it lasted (The topic swelled to many, many pages. I was pretty jazzed!), but JP was back with a vengeance just days later. Doom 2 opened to the tops of favorites lists, great reviews, and many of the most important 3dmm.com awards months later. Much like G98PE, Ninja Gaiden was eclipsed, but this time I didn't feel vicimized at all (Mostly because Doom 2 is phenomenal) - Ninja Gaiden was a massive success, and I had earned everything I'd wanted with it. Also, testviewing Doom 2 made me realise what I would be up against well ahead of time, so what happened wasn't a surprise at all. And, for what it's worth, Andres' cryptic single comment about Ninja Gaiden still strikes me as funny to this day. Had he not of been the Film Fest host, I'm sure his choices of words would've been a little more blunt!

I did all of the voices in the movie by myself. Z-man did most of the sound effects (And did a whole lot of original mixing for the movie, too!). We both contributed about half of the soundtrack (Ninja Gaiden remixes and Guyver OSTs, generally).

It's true that I didn't watch Ninja Gaiden again for over a year after its release, but I had watched it enough before that to last me a lifetime. I wouldn't be surprised if I spent a full week's worth of time just re-playing through animations to check their accuracy. In fact, near the movie's climax, I notice that my style of animating changes pretty significantly. I can't say for sure, but I think I might've taken another look at Jay Holiday's Iron Sights clips after receiving some feedback from him on the movie. Besides Qutput, Izak MD was the only other person I sent an early copy of Ninja Gaiden to for animation feedback. I was much better at holding material to myself back then!

Oh, also a big part of Ninja Gaiden's success was its innovation in 2D animation. Before this, no one had (Successfully, for sure) achieved proper-looking 2D animation in a 3DMM movie before. Using periods as flat objects for animation was a new technique that debuts here (Which I wasn't naieve enough to believe, until Qutput said so). I'm hardly an innovator, so I hesitate to take any such credit, but I can certainly say that the 2D parts were the most successful and fun parts of the movie to both create and watch.

There was little, if any, true sound synching in this movie, which was made on Win98. XP runs it just fine!

Hey, give it a watch. If you've played the games, you'll love it (Though they are hardly related at all). Even if you don't like it, it's not much like any other 3D movie you're likely to see. For better or worse, of course.

Keep your eyes peeled for the Special Edition coming.

[Aaron Haynes]

Great flick. The storyline is a basic framework for good vs. evil, but it succeeds brilliantly in that elusive "timeless" way. That's the quality the NG universe has, a focus on the artistry of depicting simple but universal themes. Everything else is just details.

[Jon Barton]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Ninja Gaiden is easily my favourite 3dmm movie of all time. There are constant touches of brilliance in it that continue to amaze me. Not only that but it still stands as one of the first movies for its time to do what no other movie had successfully done excluding animation tests. The animation is key to its success and I frankly wouldn't change a frame of the film. You won't be wasting a second of your time by downloading it.

[Salter]

I need to watch this again with all these release notes in mind. I don't really remember this much, so it's about time to give it another view. I do remember liking this a ton, even if it was a little short.

EDIT. Whoa, 1000th post

[Gorosaurus]

Awesome, let me know how it strikes you this time around

[Arch Angel]

yeh ninja gaiden is a good game..its on xbox now believe it or not lol this should be good to watch

[Ben Rice]

Your not really supposed to bump old threads.

[Gorosaurus]

You're certainly allowed to post comments on movies, regardless of age.

However.. there doesn't seem to be a comment on the movie, there

[Little Dragon]

Well here's a compliment! This movie is sooo awesome!! I'v neva had time to watch number two but yeah this ws reli cool! Keep it up Gorosaurus! The animation of this has really rised you're rank!

[Raz]

that's ninja gayden

[Funny Bones]

https://f001.backblaze.com/file/3dmmtv/wNR.mp4