Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom is a 1991 platform game developed and published by Tecmo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was later ported to the Atari Lynx by Atari Corporation in 1993, and was also re-released as part of Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden Trilogy Super NES compilation in 1995. Long after, it was re-released for the Virtual Console service in North America in 2008 for the Wii, in 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS, and on the Nintendo Classics service in 2026. It was designed by Masato Kato, who took over for Hideo Yoshizawa, the designer of the first two games in the NES series.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.
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- Released
- 1991
- Developer
- Tecmo
- Platforms
- 1 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- Unknown
- Download
- Not stated
The record
| First released | 21 June 1991 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Tecmo |
| Publisher | Tecmo |
| Platforms | Nintendo Entertainment System |
| Genres | platformer |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q674227, seeded 30 August 2026.
How long is Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom? How long to beat it
Total play time for Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom is about 4.5 hours to do everything, and around 2.3 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 2.3h | 62 |
| Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do | 2.9h | 6 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 4.5h | 6 |
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom sits on the grid
The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.
- Year
- 45ahead of 4% of the catalogue
- Reach
- 25ahead of 69% of the catalogue
Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.
What readers say about Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Common questions about Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom
What platforms is Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom on?
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom is available on Nintendo Entertainment System. It first released in 1991.
Who made Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom?
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom was developed by Tecmo and published by Tecmo.
How long does it take to beat Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom?
about 2.3 hours for the main story, 2.9 hours with the main extras, 4.5 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.