Genre: Action
Developer: BlueSky Software
Publisher: Atari

One always knows what they are going to get when kicking off a BlueSky game, and Ninja Golf is no exception, as it probably has even better 7800 visuals than "Ballblazer": the huge ninja sprites and smoothly scrolling graphics even feature parallax scrolling, and it's cool to explore the various graphics sets like forest, desert, and even underwater. Even the menu font and scroll, with a red dragon menacingly curled around it, are extraordinary given the platform.

Ninja Golf has a couple of tunes which play at the title screen and upon game over, but the developers made a wise choice to keep the songs very short, so as not to gratingly overstretch the 1970s-era audio capabilities of the system. The game's sound effects are functional and clearly let the player know when an attack has landed, or when the player has taken a hit.

This game alternates between aiming and hitting a golf ball using the most simple of power gauges, and following the ball via action sequences, which play a lot like Irem's "Vigilante", with enemies approaching from both sides. These sequences are too "cheap" for their own good, as the game has a knack for spawning projectile-throwing baddies and opponent ninjas in the worst-possible combinations. The lack of putting is also a bummer, granted the dragon fights are fun due to the phenomenal graphics.

Ninja Golf is a game with a cult following, and while it may be the most aesthetically polished game on the Atari 7800, and while it has a cool premise with a bit of nuance-- "do I take an extra shot in exchange for a shorter river bed trip?"-- the action sequences can be maddeningly frustrating, as enemies surround the player and chain endless hits together, meanwhile the actual golf mechanics could have used more sophistication.