The Blond Giant 15. TAG TEAM the Grappler & the Assassin vs the Sadist & the Kitten 29 Jun. Vs Smokie Flame 'The Phoenix' (0-0) 2 Oct. Atomos Ninja V 5' Touchscreen Recording Monitor 10bit HDR with 2X NP-F750 Batteries, Charger, 7' Magic Arm + Cleaning Cloth Bundle 4.9 out of 5 stars 16 $629.99. It's only compatible for Atomos Shogun and Ninja Assassin (Shogun Inferno, Shogun Flame, Ninja Inferno, Ninja Flame, Shogun Studio and other monitors CAN NOT be used on this cage) This device comes with arrays of 1/4'-20 & 3/8'-16 accessories mounting holes for extended functions. This is a crucial step in the process, as proper HDR acquisition is the backbone of everything in this process, the good folks of Atomos as you may remember, recently launched their latest Flame Series monitor/recorders – the Shogun Flame and Ninja Flame (HDMI Only, $1,295 at B&H), which retain the recording functionality of their predecessor.
Directed by James McTeigue (of V for Vendetta fame) and produced by the Wachowskis, Ninja Assassin is the story of Raizo, an orphan who's recruited into a shadowy clan of ninjas who carry out political assassinations. When he's forced to turn his back on the ninja clan, he finds himself in the crosshairs of the world's deadliest killers. Or, well, he would be...if shurikens and katanas and feet had crosshairs.
Atomos says the Ninja Assassin is “the only true 10-bit 4:2:2 professional recording solution for Apple, AVID and Adobe workflows and all with a price and weight amongst the lowest on the market.”.
When it hit theaters in 2009, Ninja Assassin promised all the fun of a B-movie with all the style of a Hollywood blockbuster. Did it deliver? In spades. While mainstream audiences mostly ignored this blood-filled homage to old ninja cinema, it's built up a cult following in the years since its release. Here are some cool facts you probably never knew about Ninja Assassin.
The movie originated as a joke
Remember Speed Racer? The Wachowskis were the hottest thing in Hollywood after the Matrix films, and their next project, V for Vendetta (which they wrote and produced), only showed the world that they could do even more. Then came Speed Racer. It wasn't that the movie was terrible, it just...wasn't good. They took an awful script and gave it a high-shine VFX polish to no avail, but one happy coincidence that came out of Speed Racer was interest in collaborating with Rain, an unknown actor in the West who happens to be one of Korea's biggest pop stars.
While filming Speed Racer, Chad Stahelski, a stunt coordinator who had worked on the Matrix trilogy, was brought in to help choreograph a couple fight scenes, some of which involved Rain. The whole stunt team was impressed with this seemingly unknown guy (it wasn't until later that they found out how huge he is in Korea). From there, things just kind of rolled in the right direction for Ninja Assassin. As Stahelski put it, 'We always kind of had a running joke with the Wachowski brothers about making a kickass ninja movie. We told them we found our ninja, and brought Rain in to do a fight sequence for him...and everyone was like 'Holy s***! This guy is good!' Only a few months later, production was in motion on that 'running joke,' Ninja Assassin.
Rain did his own stunts
All too often, producers will stick a handsome actor in an action movie, then leave all the heavy lifting to the stunt guys. We even kind of idolize the actors who do their own stunts, like Jackie Chan and Tom Cruise. With the insane amount of stuntwork in Ninja Assassin, it'd be easy to assume that most of that fighting and flipping and jumping out of windows was done by a trained stuntman while Rain sat back and waited for the next scene that showed his face. Only that's not the way it happened. Almost as a counterpoint to The Matrix, Ninja Assassin did it all for real—no green screen, no wires, no camera gimmicks. As Rain told Time, '90 percent of the time, it's really me, doing all of this.'
So how does a pop singer become a honed killer (at least in looks)? The answer: months of hardcore training. For eight months straight, Rain trained five days a week for eight hours a day to be able to pull off not only the fight scenes, but the ridiculous stunts, like flipping off moving cars. That goes way beyond dedication. Little League players are dedicated. This is more like Justin Bieber replacing Jason Statham in the next Transporter movie.
Raizo's chain weapon was invented just for the movie
Ninja Assassin features one of the coolest weapons ever seen in a martial arts film: that blade-and-chain thing Raizo uses to hack through mountains of ninjas. And although you can now buy it on Amazon, it wasn't even a thing before Ninja Assassin—the production team invented it just for Rain. While they were still storyboarding the fight scenes, the Wachowskis wanted something unique for the main character to use. He was already using swords and shurikens, but nothing that set him apart. So the creative guys put their heads together and decided to try out something flexible, because they liked the visual style of something whipping around the frame taking chunks out of people with each pass.
As Chad Stahelski explained the process, they started with a rubber knife on a rope, similar to a real ninja weapon called a kyoketsu-shoge. But since rope would just get sliced up by the other ninjas' swords, they replaced that with a chain. Stick a gut hook on the knife and a weighted ball on the other end of the chain, and presto—a custom-made ninja killer. Besides being badass, the unique weapon gave the story a little extra oomph. It gave Raizo something that set him apart visually from the other ninjas and made the scenes where he has to fight half a dozen ninjas at once more believable.
...And Rain learned how to really use it
Making a new weapon for Ninja Assassin wasn't enough. Rain also had to train how to use it if it was going to look good onscreen. Just like he put his body on the line for the physical stunts, Rain spent weeks learning how to swing the blade in all its lethal glory. It was a challenge for everyone involved; the weapon was entirely new, so even the choreographers were in virgin territory as they figured out new and increasingly epic ways to bring the chain weapon into the action sequences. Chad Stahelski summed it up by saying, 'As we went through the training, Rain kept getting better, so we had to keep re-choreographing. What we had designed originally, he outgrew by the time we were ready to shoot. The more Rain's abilities developed, the more our choreography had to evolve.'
The script was written in 53 hours
Ninja Assassin worked on many levels, but the most important was probably the script. Peel away all the fights and amazing effects, and you'll usually find that everything is riding on the back of a hardworking story. That's why most feature movie scripts take months to complete, but the script for Ninja Assassin was done in a record 53 hours. To pull off that insane feat, the Wachowskis brought in J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5 and screenwriter of blockbusters like Changeling and Thor. The script already had a first draft, but the Wachowskis wanted it completely rewritten because they weren't happy with the story.
After meeting with the Wachowskis, who were ready to start shooting in just six weeks, Straczynski 'went home and put on a pot of coffee, and...wrote essentially a whole new script in 53 hours. When a friend calls you and says they're in trouble, you do what you have to do.'
Sho Kosugi is a ninja legend
Younger moviegoers would be hard-pressed to recognize Ninja Assassin's brutal antagonist Ozunu in any other movies. Hell, older moviegoers probably would, too. But during the '80s in the salad days of the onscreen ninja, Sho Kosugi was one of the biggest martial arts actors to ever don a black hood. As the star of cult classics like Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, and Ninja III: The Domination, it's safe to say that Sho Kosugi pretty much was the ninja of the '80s. His films are credited with jump-starting the ninja craze that dominated most of the decade, and Kosugi garnered a cult following that's still kicking among diehard fans today.
Ninja Flame Vs Assassin
Director James McTeigue decided early that he wanted to cast Kosugi as the villain in Ninja Assassin as an homage to those old ninja films, and Kosugi was happy to come back to cinema for the small role (he'd become a martial arts teacher in Japan after retiring from acting). In fact, Kosugi said that he was honored to be offered the role after reading the script because his character's name, Ozunu, is a reference to a real-life ninja who was part of a clan of mountain warriors in Japan. The decision certainly worked. Ozunu is one of the most terrifying villains in recent years.
The orphans were random German kids
Some of the most intense scenes in the movie are the flashbacks involving young Raizo training with the other orphans under Master Ozunu. So how did McTeigue populate that mystical dojo? He just...found some random kids. Well, sort of. The movie was filmed in Berlin, so McTeigue went around to all the local martial arts schools and found a handful of kids who seemed like they knew what they were doing. It didn't matter that many of them were German—in the movie, Ozunu gets his orphans from all over the world, so having different nationalities didn't present a problem.
Once the kids were picked, they were given a little extra training and then the cameras started rolling. In his own Hollywood way, McTeigue grabbed up a bunch of children the same way Ozuni did in the film. Guess life really does imitate art.
The blood was styled like anime
Ninja Assassin has a lot of blood, there's no doubt about that. From the guy getting his head sliced in half at the beginning to the slice-and-dice choreography when the ninja clan finds Raizo in the Europol safehouse, Ninja Assassin's visceral brand of violence is a centerpiece of the film's action. You could almost say it's part of the movie's charm. And of course, it was all done on purpose.
McTeigue has mentioned in interviews that he watched a lot of anime to come up with the style he used in the film, and a lot of that was centered on the way the blood looked. While it's definitely gory, there's almost an art to the way the blood splashes across the screen when a ninja gets disemboweled. In particular, McTeigue looked at Ninja Scroll and Samurai Champloo to really hone the blood effects. Rather than going for realism, he wanted the blood to be so over-the-top, so stylized, that the audience could have fun watching dozens of people die horrible deaths—and more importantly, he just wanted it to be bloody. As he put it, 'what's a ninja movie without blood, right?' Amen to that.
A real heartbreaker
In the opening scene of Ninja Assassin, an old tattoo artist explains that he's seen the ninja assassins once before, and the only reason he's still alive is because his heart is on the wrong side of his chest; when the ninjas stabbed him in the heart, they missed. Later in the movie, that same gimmick comes up again. Only it's not entirely a gimmick, because that heart-on-the-wrong-side thing is totally real. It's called situs inversus, and it happens when a person's internal organs are flipped around to the opposite side of the body. It's pretty rare, so yeah, the chances of two people who are targeted by the same ninja clan having situs inversus is a stretch, but it's certainly not unheard of. Even some celebrities, like singer Enrique Iglesias, have situs inversus. So say what you want about Iglesias, but the guy's pretty much immune to ninjas.
Mini Ninjas | |
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Developer(s) | IO Interactive Magic Pockets (Nintendo DS) Robosoft Technologies (OS X) |
Publisher(s) | Eidos Interactive Feral Interactive[1](OS X) |
Director(s) | Jeremy C. Petreman |
Producer(s) | Jonas Lind Luke Valentine |
Designer(s) | Ulrik Hauen-Limkilde Thor Frølich Thomas Løfgren |
Artist(s) | Henrik Hansen Michael Helmuth Hansen Søren Bech Jensen |
Composer(s) | Peter Svarre Frédéric Motte (DS) Anthony N. Putson (mobile) Allister Brimble (mobile) |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, OS X |
Release |
|
Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Mini Ninjas is a 2009 action-adventure game developed by IO Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360.[3] A Mac OS X version of the game was released on July 8, 2010, by Feral Interactive.[1] In December 2011, it was announced that the game will be also made available as a browser game for Google Chrome.[4]
A Kinect/Xbox Live Arcade spin-off game Mini Ninjas Adventures followed in 2012. Another Mini Ninjas spin-off game, an endless runner titled Mini Ninjas Mobile, has been released for iOS and Androidsmartphones and tablets in March 2013.
A Shield Android TV port was released in 2017.
Gameplay[edit]
Mini Ninjas is a linear third-person action-adventure game. It features six playable Mini Ninja characters, each with their own unique abilities, weapons and skills. Players can collect special weapons, including caltrops, shuriken, different bombs and fishing rods, and a multi-functional ninja hat, as well as a variety of potions and food items. The main protagonist, Hiro, can cast spells, including fireball and lighting attacks, camouflage, and time manipulation. Hiro can also possess spirits, such as animals, for a short period of time. Spells are cast using Ki, which is dropped by enemies and can be replenished with potions.
The enemies in Mini Ninjas are animals enchanted by the main antagonist, turning them into samurai warriors. When defeated, the curse is broken and the enemies return to their previous animal form, and can assist the player. For example, brown bears can attack with their claws, warthogs charge at enemies, and panda bears can slam into the ground. All animals have a keen sense of smell for spotting ingredients and collectibles in places that are easily overlooked. Other enemies in the game include ghosts, which approach the player and attempt to drain their life force.
Throughout their journey, players can collect coins and ingredients, such as mushrooms, flowers, and ginseng roots. They can exchange these coins for weapons and recipes from the Tengu, crow-like humanoids who also give quests and advice. Fruits found on trees or bushes can be harvested by shaking the bushes or the trunk of trees, which will restore their health. Other foods like sushi do the same thing.
Scattered throughout the world are ancient shrines, each containing a scroll that grants Hiro a new spell. There are also 100 Jizo statues hidden throughout the game, which can be collected for special achievements or trophies.
Plot[edit]
In ancient Japan, an era of peace of harmony has existed ever since the evil samurai warlord Ashida was defeated at the hand of a wise ninja master. In the wake of Ashida's defeat, the ninja master hid the secrets of Kuji magic, which grants one power over nature, in various scrolls contained in shrines across the wilderness. Three centuries later, at Ninja Mountain, the ninja master has trained six orphans in the way of the ninja with the aid of the mountain's tengu inhabitants. The youngest of these ninjas, Hiro, possesses the power to control Kuji magic. Hiro lives on the mountain in peace alongside his friends - clumsy but strong Futo, flute-playing Suzume, archer Shun, tiger-like Tora, and spear-wielding Kunoichi.
The long-lasting peace begins to slowly erode when mysterious events begin to occur across the countryside, including the disappearance of animals and sightings of armored samurai in the wilderness. The ninja master eventually learns that Ashida has returned, and is using Kuji magic to convert forest animals into deadly samurai warriors. The ninja master sends Kunoichi, Tora, Shun, and Suzume to investigate Ashida's army, but all are captured behind enemy lines. Reluctantly, the ninja master then sends out his last ninjas, Hiro and Futo, after teaching Hiro how to learn Kuji spells from the hidden shrines across the country. Hiro and Futo rescue Suzume from the samurai and infiltrate the Earth Castle, where they defeat an enormous samurai boss; subsequently, the castle explodes, and Ashida becomes aware of the existence of the new ninjas.
Hiro and his allies continue to push through the wilderness, encountering many dangers, including new varieties of samurai with unique powers, as well as tortured spirits which try to steal their life force. Along the way, they find and rescue Shun, Tora, and Kunoichi from the clutches of the samurai. The ninjas reach the Night Castle and defeat its boss, subsequently doing the same for the Water Castle and the Snow Castle. An outraged Ashida taunts the ninjas to come face him at his fortress, located atop a volcano. The ninjas reach Ashida's castle, which he animates using Kuji, turning it into an enormous monstrosity. The ninjas are able to infiltrate the castle, where Hiro confronts and defeats Ashida, who falls to his death in the volcano. Peace restored in the land, the ninjas return triumphantly to Ninja Mountain.
Development and release[edit]
Mini Ninjas was announced on January 19, 2009, along with the first official trailer.[5] The game's origin lies in the developers' desires to make a game that they could 'play with their kids'.[6]
Reception[edit]
Reception | |||||
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Mini Ninjas received mixed reviews from game critics.
GameSpot review rated the game a 7.5 out of 10, saying: 'Whether you're big or small, there's a lot to like about these little ninjas and their lengthy journey.'[12]IGN gave the PS3 version of the game an 8 out of 10, finding this 'family-friendly ninja affair' to be 'an extremely pleasant surprise'.[13]The Guardian awarded the game 4 out of 5 stars, concluding that the game's 'constant charm renders it calming and even relaxing to play' and 'any parent watching Mini Ninjas being played will find it hard to resist the temptation to have a go over their own.'[14]
Tora was featured among the top ten ninja characters for PlayStation consoles by PLAY in 2011,[15] while Hiro was chosen to illustrate a similar list by Cheat Code Central.[16] In 2012, CraveOnline included Mini Ninjas on their list of five 'badass ninja games' as 'a quality ninja game that can be enjoyed with the whole family kids', adding that its 'best aspect was, without a doubt, how slain enemies burst into cute animals instead of blood clouds. Super adorable.'[17]
Other media[edit]
Mini Ninjas Adventures[edit]
In March 2012, Square Enix, who preside over Eidos Interactive,[18] filed a trademark in Europe for Mini Ninjas: Hiro's Adventure and created a domain 'minininjashirosadventure.com.'[19] That trademark was announced to be Mini Ninjas Adventures, a spin-off Kinect game for the Xbox Live Arcade exclusively, developed by Sidekick studio and released on June 29, 2012.[20][21]
Ninja Flame Vs Ninja Assassin 2
Mini Ninjas Mobile[edit]
Animated series[edit]
4Kids licensed the rights to the franchise in 2009.[22] In 2013, a cartoon series adaptation of Mini Ninjas in production by Cyber Group Studios was announced as coming soon.[23]
GameSpot review rated the game a 7.5 out of 10, saying: 'Whether you're big or small, there's a lot to like about these little ninjas and their lengthy journey.'[12]IGN gave the PS3 version of the game an 8 out of 10, finding this 'family-friendly ninja affair' to be 'an extremely pleasant surprise'.[13]The Guardian awarded the game 4 out of 5 stars, concluding that the game's 'constant charm renders it calming and even relaxing to play' and 'any parent watching Mini Ninjas being played will find it hard to resist the temptation to have a go over their own.'[14]
Tora was featured among the top ten ninja characters for PlayStation consoles by PLAY in 2011,[15] while Hiro was chosen to illustrate a similar list by Cheat Code Central.[16] In 2012, CraveOnline included Mini Ninjas on their list of five 'badass ninja games' as 'a quality ninja game that can be enjoyed with the whole family kids', adding that its 'best aspect was, without a doubt, how slain enemies burst into cute animals instead of blood clouds. Super adorable.'[17]
Other media[edit]
Mini Ninjas Adventures[edit]
In March 2012, Square Enix, who preside over Eidos Interactive,[18] filed a trademark in Europe for Mini Ninjas: Hiro's Adventure and created a domain 'minininjashirosadventure.com.'[19] That trademark was announced to be Mini Ninjas Adventures, a spin-off Kinect game for the Xbox Live Arcade exclusively, developed by Sidekick studio and released on June 29, 2012.[20][21]
Ninja Flame Vs Ninja Assassin 2
Mini Ninjas Mobile[edit]
Animated series[edit]
4Kids licensed the rights to the franchise in 2009.[22] In 2013, a cartoon series adaptation of Mini Ninjas in production by Cyber Group Studios was announced as coming soon.[23]
Sources[edit]
- Michael Knight, Mini Ninjas: Prima Official Game Guide, Random House Information Group, 2009.
References[edit]
- ^ ab'Feral Interactive: Mini Ninjas'.
- ^ ab'Mini Ninjas begin their adventure on 8th September in North America and 11th September in the UK'. August 13, 2009.
- ^Purchese, Rob (January 19, 2009). 'Eidos unveils new Mini Ninjas game'. Eurogamer. Retrieved January 19, 2009.
- ^'Bastion begins Chrome browser gaming push'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on August 28, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
- ^Robert Purchese (January 19, 2009). 'Eidos unveils new Mini Ninjas game News - - Page 1'. Eurogamer.net. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
- ^Robert Purchese (August 13, 2009). 'IO's Mini Ninjas arrives September News - - Page 1'. Eurogamer.net. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
- ^'Mini Ninjas for DS Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- ^'Mini Ninjas for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- ^'Mini Ninjas for PlayStation 3 Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- ^'Mini Ninjas for Wii Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- ^'Mini Ninjas for Xbox 360 Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- ^'Mini Ninjas Reviews'. GameSpot.com. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
- ^'Mini Ninjas Review - IGN'. Uk.ps3.ign.com. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
- ^Steve Boxer. 'Game review: | Technology'. Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
- ^[1]Archived March 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^'Top 10 Ninjas In Video Games - Cheat Code Central'. Cheatcc.com. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
- ^Erik Norris (March 19, 2012). '5 Badass Ninja Games'. CraveOnline.com. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
- ^'Square Enix retires Eidos publishing label'. GameSpot. July 8, 2009. Archived from the original on September 23, 2011. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
- ^'Possible new Mini Ninjas game in the works'. GameZone. March 10, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
- ^SQUARE ENIX > Mini Ninjas Adventures > MINI NINJAS ADVENTURES Announced
- ^'Mini Ninjas Adventures for Xbox 360 (2012) - MobyGames'. MobyGames.
- ^Roberts, Katie (September 28, 2009). '4Kids signs Mini Ninjas | Latest news from the licensing industry'. Licensing.biz. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
- ^Carmichael, Stephanie (March 6, 2013). 'Mini Ninjas invades App Store with cartoon to follow'. Gamezone.com. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
External links[edit]
- Mini Ninjas at MobyGames