Inindo

Inindo: Way of the Ninja

Inindo: Way of the Ninja (伊忍道　打倒信長 or Inindou Datou Nobunaga, スーパー伊忍道　打倒信長 or Super Inindou Datou Nobunaga in its Super Famicom version) is a role-playing game developed by Koei. Originally released for the PC8801SR, PC9801, MSX2 home computer, it was remade for the Super NES platform, which was released in North America. The game is a non-historical account of Japan's warring states period. In that sense, Inindo can be considered as a spin-off of the long-standing Nobunaga's Ambition series.

Chinese version was ported to MS-DOS in 1993, playable in English OS.

In 2003-8-1, the PC-9801 version of the game was ported to Windows 98 for 4500yen, as part of Koei 25th anniversary pack Vol.1. Standalone version was published on 2005-8-5 for 1980yen.

Plot

The player assumes the role of an Iga ninja whose village has been destroyed by the conquest of Oda Nobunaga. The ninja must travel across feudal Japan, enlisting the aid of numerous ninja, sages, hermits, ronin, samurai, wizards and other companions, in order to avenge his conquered clanfolk.

Several hazardous dungeons stand in the path of victory, as well as a selection of optional dungeons which can be played in any order the player chooses. Encounters with monsters and outlaws occur randomly in dungeons and in the game's world map, during which the player characters and NPCs can move around the battlefield in turn-based fashion to attack, cast magic spells and use items.

The main character can also participate in battles of a larger scale. By gaining the trust of a Japanese feudal lord, he can join in the battle for the provinces that characterized the era. The outcome of these battles changes the lords' possession of individual provinces, which can alter the outcome of the game and aid or hinder the player's progress.

In the middle of the stories, player can choose between the 'normal' path or the 'magician' path, selectable after completing the first dungeon quest. Different path leads to different enemies during random encounters. For example, 'magician' path causes Western type monsters such as Hellhound or Marchosias to appear.

In the PC8801SR and PC9801 versions, the 3rd scenario can be chosen by inserting A disk to B drive and B disk to A drive.

Localization changes

Due to the small size of SNES cartridge, character names are shortened.

Major class names

Japanese	English	Chinese
忍者	Ninja
僧侶	Sage
道士	Wizard
侍	Warrior

Class names

Japanese	English	Chinese
伊賀忍者	Iga Ninja
甲賀忍者	Koga Ninja
伊賀女	Female Iga Ninja
甲賀女	Female Koga Ninja
風魔衆	Fuma Ninja
根来衆	Negoro Ninja
僧侶	Mendicant
僧兵	Sohei
山伏	Hermit
羅漢	Sage
道士	Mystic
方士	Magician
飯綱使い	Sorcerer
武士	Samurai
浪人	Ronin
剣術家	Swordsman

Windows version

The Windows version runs the PC-9801 game in emulator. When saving, the emulator emulates drive switching operation. The Windows port requires the use of mouse. In addition, the 3rd scenario is inaccessible because of running in emulated environment.