Mystic Warriors

Mystic Warriors: Wrath of the Ninjas is an arcade Action Game released by Konami in 1993. It's a Spiritual Successor to Sunset Riders, except with ninjas for added awesomeness.

In a futuristic Dystopia, an evil corpration named Skull has taken over Japan and is about to Take Over the World. All that stands between them are a Five Ninja Band who are targeted by Skull forces: Spyros, an American Ninja; kabuki warrior Keima; Kojiro, a Samurai; street smart African American Buddhist monk Brad; and Yuri, a kunochi. ^[1] However, the game can only support up to four players. This is because one of your allies is captured at the beginning of the game and most of it is spent rescuing your ally from certain death.

Tropes used in Mystic Warriors include:

• Acrofatic: The big guy from the Wolfpack Boss in Stage 7 is very agile. Keima came close to being this.
• Action Girl: Yuri, if she's not the Damsel in Distress.
• Almost-Dead Guy: The 4th stage boss.

Player: "Where is our friend?"
Boss: "(Evil Laugh) Poor guy... your comrade... is now... *Dies*"

• Arrows on Fire: Some of the skull ninjas use them.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Some of the bosses are defeated this way.
• Badass in Distress: Whichever ninja gets captured. If it's a four player game, it's whoever is unlucky enough to not get picked. Otherwise, it's randomly chosen.
• Bald of Evil: The first boss and the train pilot of Stage 6, as well as the final boss before boarding his mecha suit.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Brad.
• Bittersweet Ending: Skull is destroyed, but your ally sacrificed his/her life to help you. The remaining ninjas stand and mourn their now dead friend, and leave.
• Black Best Friend: Brad.
• Blade on a Stick: Yuri and the second mid-boss of the last stage uses a naginata.
• Calling Your Attacks: Whenever you pick up a yellow orb, your character does this. For instance:

Spyros: "Ninpou Jigoku Okugi!"

• Clothing Damage: Some bosses fit this, usually overlapping with their seizure times at critical health.
• Color-Coded Multiplayer: Going by the player name tags above the characters:
  • Spyros: The Hero
  • Keima: The Big Guy
  • Kojiro: The Lancer
  • Brad: The Smart Guy
  • Yuri: The Chick
• Conservation of Ninjitsu: Made more blatant in later levels where the ninjas replace skull soliders.
• Cool Shades: Brad.
• Cores and Turrets Boss: The Skull Tank in Stage 5 and Skull Train in Stage 6.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to Sunset Riders, which had some comical moments.
• Dual-Wielding: Kojiro uses twin swords.
• Engrish: The intro during attract mode.
• Executive Suite Fight: Subverted. You find the last boss inside his office struggling to call for backup. Cornered, he gets in a Mini-Mecha, and it becomes a Rooftop Confrontation instead.
• Expy: The Stage 1 boss is a futuristic incarnation of Paco Loco of Sunset Riders while the final boss also resembles Big Fuzz (the Stage 3 boss) from Contra III.
• Eyepatch of Power: The Skull Train conductor.
• Flash of Pain: Like most other Konami games, bosses ^[2] flash white when hit and turn red when near death. Also, there are mooks and destructible objects with multiple hit points, which will also flash red when near death, so this game will be a HUGE case of "Konami seizure time".
• Flunky Boss: Stages 3 and 5.
• Gatling Good: Some of the enemies use them against you.
• Goggles Do Nothing: The first three bosses just seem to wear them because they look cool.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Your character killing the 8th boss.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Two thirds of the way into the game, your captured ally you saved in the previous level sacrifices his/her life to save you from a trap by the sixth stage boss.
• High Altitude Battle: Stage 7 has you jumping from plane to plane while trying to board the enemy airship.
• Highly Visible Ninjas
• Hyperactive Metabolism: The pickups restore a block of health, save for the Sukiyaki which fully heals you.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: The 8th boss ^[3] who kidnapped your ally asks whoever did the most damage to him to finish him off.

Boss: "I'm a good loser. Please finish it for me!"

• Life Meter: The default setting being three hits. ^[4]
• Macross Missile Massacre: The Skull Tank and the final boss.
• McNinja: Spyros and Brad.
• Minecart Madness: Stage 6.
• Mini-Mecha: The final boss faces you in one.
• Mooks: The Skull soldiers. Later throughout the game, the Skull ninjas come into play.
• Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: Similar to Sunset Riders, bosses start with one of these.
• Precision-Guided Boomerang: The first sub boss of Stage 9 attacks you with a giant windmill shuriken.
• Prehensile Hair: Keima attacks with his hair as his melee attack.
• Pyromaniac: The first boss has a flamethrower, so does one of the fifth boss' turrets.
• Recycled in Space: Sunset Riders in post-apocalyptic Japan with ninjas.
• Rise to the Challenge: Most of Stage 9. The first half combines this with Elevator Action Sequence and Outrun the Fireball.
• Rocket Punch: Used in the first phase of the final boss, except it tries to grab you.
• Sequential Boss: The last boss has three phases.
• Shock and Awe: The fourth boss attacks with electricity.
• Shout-Out: A drive-in theater in the first level is playing part of the intro to Sunset Riders on the big screen with Steve shooting an enemy. Not surprising as they're made by the same team.
• Slipknot Ponytail: Yuri.
• The Smurfette Principle: Yuri's the only playable female character.
• Spiritual Successor: It's spiritually preceded by Sunset Riders. However, this game has been spiritually succeeded by a non-Konami Genesis game ^[5] The Adventures of Batman and Robin. ^[6]
• Spread Shot: Spyros, Keima and Kojiro have this in their second power level. Brad has one in his third. Only Yuri doesn't have one.
• Storming the Castle: Stages 8 and 9.
• Stripperiffic: Yuri.
• Sunglasses at Night: Brad and the final boss when not in his Mini-Mecha.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: Stage 3, especially during the boss battle.
• This Is a Drill: Stage 3's submarine boss has this as an attack if you keep climbing the walls.
• Under the Sea: Half of Stage 3 is in a flooded cave. The boss is even fought underwater.
• Vocal Dissonance: The Dragon of the Skull forces frequently switches between a deep voice and a higher pitched voice.
• "Wake-Up Call" Boss: The one in Stage 3. It drops tons of bombs and frequently has enemies swimming in. Can also be That One Boss.
• Warmup Boss: The first one's only attack is a flamethrower, and it's really easy to dodge. The second boss is even easier, just jump over the spiked balls he drops.
• Wolfpack Boss: Stage 7 has you facing three bosses. You face the two smaller ones in a Dual Boss style before facing the third one though. However, he can still be hit at anytime, but he'll stay out of the way until the other two are gone.
• X Meets Y: Shinobi meets Contra.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Keima.

1. ↑ Female ninja.
2. ↑ That includes mini-bosses.
3. ↑ Also The Dragon of this game as well as controlling the Skull Tank in Stage 5.
4. ↑ It can be maxed out to four in the machine settings, but if it's set to one, you'll become a One-Hit-Point Wonder.
5. ↑ It's by Sega.
6. ↑ Based on the animated series.