Evil Ninjas

"Zilla sends his regards, Lo Wang!"

—Evil Ninja at the start of Shadow Warrior Classic.

Evil Ninjas
Weapons:	Uzi Shuriken
Abilities:	Hide or dodge (all) Shoot rockets or heat seeking rockets (red/orange) Launch grenades (gray) Blasts magic napalm (shadow) Throws flash bombs (shadow) Nearly invisible (shadow)
Games:	Shadow Warrior Classic Wanton Destruction Twin Dragon

Evil Ninjas are enemies appearing in Shadow Warrior Classic and its expansion Twin Dragon.

Design and overview

Evil Ninjas are the most common enemy type in the game and serve as the primary foot soldier for Zilla. They are shirtless humanoid demons with pale skin and muscular bodies with some blood bruises on their upper body halves. Their hair are tied in a samurai-styled ponytail. They eyes glow bright red and mouth is full of pointy teeth. They visually differ only on the color of pants and tabi boots they wear; the Shadow variant is exactly the same, except it appears entirely as semi-translucent black.

Evil Ninjas come in five different variations:

• Brown - The most basic version, wearing brown pants and boots. It can perform all player actions (jump, duck, climb stairs up and down, swim, hide behind boxes etc). This enemy fires an Uzi and occasionally throws shurikens. Should they fail to kill Lo Wang, they will often commit seppuku (traditional Japanese ritual suicide) by firing into their own mouths with their Uzi.

• Red - Stronger and faster than their brown-panted cousins, they wear blood-red pants and boots, as the name implies. They fire Uzis and occasionally shoot small rockets at you, instead of shurikens. They may drop rockets upon death.

• Orange - These ninjas wear orange pants and boots, and have added ability to shoot heat-seeking rockets at you. Very nasty in open areas. Sometimes they drop a heat seeking card or rockets upon death.

• Gray - These ninjas in silver-gray pants and boots have been upgraded with the ability to launch grenades at you. Considering the immense blast radius of grenades, these guys are particularly nasty. After death, they can drop a box full of grenades.

• Shadow - The most fearsome of the lot, this ninja wears musk-green pants and boots, and uses ancient skills to stay nearly invisible, though becomes fully visible once killed. Apart from being stronger and faster, he is particularly dangerous due to his shady camouflage allowing him to blend in dark surroundings. He can blast you with two type of magic napalm, one being a wall of fire. Beware, because this ninja is also skilled in use of the flash bomb - once blinded, you will have little chance of survival. They may drop a flash bomb when killed.

• Mercenaries - Also known as Tong Hitmen, they appear exclusively in Wanton Destruction expansion. They act exactly like Evil Ninjas counterparts, except they have a vastly different visual design - they wear black tuxedo, sunglasses, black Fu Manchu mustaches, and a hat (whose color reveals what kind of variation the Mercenary belongs to).

Strategy

• Brown Ninjas are the easiest to deal with; they can be chopped up in one katana strike and their shurikens deal little damage; however, they can be quite dangerous in numbers.
• Orange and Red ones are more dangerous because of their ability to shoot rockets, the latter firing homing missiles. When fighting them, it is best to keep enough distance to have time to dodge when they shoot their rockets at you. The same goes for Gray Ninjas. Their danger is the immense and immediate damage they'll deal to you if they fire explosives up close - always keep your distance. Keep in mind that they can withstand a few katana slashes before being dismembered.
• Shadow Ninjas are the most dangerous of the bunch. They can easily blend in with their surroundings and be hard to see even when not running wildly about. They shoot two variants of the Guardian's Head fireballs: one fireball which shoots smaller shots as it goes, and one consecutive wall of fire straight forward. The Shadow Ninja is especially lethal thanks to his restraint from shooting his Uzi at you, "revealing" himself only to fire this second variant of fireball, which deals deadly amounts of damage. Terminate with extreme prejudice; a good way to soften them up is to disengage and throw a Gas Grenade or sticky bomb at their location, then returning after damage has been dealt. Using Night Vision Goggles can help track their location.

Trivia

• Though they are called "Ninjas" in the game, aesthetically they look nothing like ninjas or anything even resembling a human.
• Evil Ninja is the only regular enemy that can be heard speaking in Shadow Warrior Classic.

Gallery

Shadow Ninja

Red Ninjas rocket

Evil Ninjas neck bleed animation

Mercenary variation in Wanton Destruction

Evil Ninjas can be sliced in half with the sword

Committing suicide

Evil Ninja jumping around