# The Last Ninja

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/last-ninja/

12 people recommended The Last Ninja in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 12 months, in 2 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

11 of the 12 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “The 1987 Game "The Last Ninja" was 40 kilobytes”.

**Verdict:** People recommend it for its music, loading screens and animation, which stood out for a 1987 home computer. Critics say it is hard, and each failure costs one of your limited lives.

Summary written by Claude from 12 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Music and loading screens (3 comments in the sample): "The loading music is exceptional and I enjoyed listening to it while waiting." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47658314)) "the loading screens were also amazing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47660926)) "The music and atmosphere was gorgeous" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47661629))
- Fondly remembered classic (2 comments in the sample): "I grew up with and absolutely adore The Last Ninja series" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47657301)) "it was one of the best games ever made" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47659534))
- Impressive for 1980s hardware (2 comments in the sample): "they still had to stream it in tiny chunks and make it run within those constraints" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47661859)) "It had amazing animations for that level of detail" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47657736))

## What people warn about

- Failure costs limited lives (1 comment in the sample): "These are worse, because each failure loses you one of your limited lives." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47657512))

## Other action games people recommend

- [Grand Theft Auto: Vice City](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grand-theft-auto-vice-city/): 27 recommend, 6 mixed, 6 criticize
- [Max Payne](https://hackerapproved.com/p/max-payne/): 10 recommend, 1 mixed, 2 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Last Ninja", https://hackerapproved.com/p/last-ninja/ (12 recommend, 1 mixed, 2 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.