Ninja
Artwork fromMario Sports Mix
Species	Human
First appearance	Final Fantasy (1987,Final Fantasy franchise) Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (2006,Super Mario franchise)
Latest appearance	Triple Triad (2015,Final Fantasy franchise) Mario Sports Mix (2010,Super Mario franchise)
Latest portrayal	Scott Burns (2010)

“Nin!”

—Ninja,Mario Hoops 3-on-3

Ninja is one of the fiveFinal Fantasy characters who debuted in theSuper Mario franchise in the gameMario Hoops 3-on-3, which was developed bySquare Enix, who also produced the entireFinal Fantasy series of games. His traits and appearance are based on the Ninja job class from theFinal Fantasy games. He is the leader of theFinal Fantasy team in both games. He is dressed in a red Ninja uniform, and his special abilities deal with Ninjutsu. Ninja returns as a playable character inMario Sports Mix (which was also developed by Square Enix). Although he is a heroic character in his original game, in bothMario Hoops 3-on-3 andMario Sports Mix, he is depicted in a semi-antagonist role where he disguises himself and steals the trophy in the final cup of the game.

History[edit]

Mario Hoops 3-on-3[edit]

Ninja's profile artwork inMario Hoops 3-on-3

Ninja is a playable character inMario Hoops 3-on-3. Ninja is one of fiveFinal Fantasy characters in the game, alongsideWhite Mage,Black Mage,Moogle, andCactuar. He is unlocked by winning the Rainbow Tourney on the Normal difficulty. As his skill-set is based on his speed, grace, and power, he has anAll-Around playing style. Ninja'sSpecial Shot is theLeaf Veil, which lets him use his Ninjutsu skills to shoot the ball towards the net, and he dashes through a veil of leaves to dunk the ball with precision. The Leaf Veil is activated by tapping a capitalN, for Ninja. By completing the Rainbow Tourney on the Hard difficulty setting and achieving a gold trophy, an alternate version of Ninja's attire is unlocked.

Mario Sports Mix[edit]

Ninja is a playable character inMario Sports Mix. Ninja appears with the originalFinal Fantasy characters fromMario Hoops 3-on-3. He maintains his playing style as an All-Around character. He is unlocked by beating one of the two Star Roads, located on the Star Cup Map. He also has an alternate outfit, called Shadow White, which is unlocked by playing as Ninja 20 times, by completing Star Road 4 times, or by finding him on the Flower Cup route. Even if the player is playing as Ninja during the Star Cup, a CPU Shadow White Ninja will still steal the trophy before the finals, and the player will challenge him alongside White Mage and Black Mage.

Ninja features average power and technique, while having above average speed. He also has the highest stat total, along withWhite Mage; 10/15.

Ninja's special shot involves him making two copies of himself to throw off opponents. In dodgeball, the shots that the copies make do count. For all the other sports, only the real Ninja's shot will count.

General information[edit]

Physical description[edit]

Ninja has the appearance of a human with black eyes and a traditional Ninja outerwear attire. He is portrayed as a balanced, all-around character in his appearances, focusing on speed, grace and power.

Ninja has an average frame for a male character, with similar bodily proportions to that of Mario and Luigi. Ninja's skin is an olive, tan complexion. He has a small, button nose which, along with his mouth, is mostly concealed by his mask. His eyebrows are dark and give his eyes a focused appearance. His eyes are round, and peer out of his helmet. Ninja's face is describable as round, with soft shape.

Clothing[edit]

Ninja is portrayed as wearing a red shinobi shōzoku, with various pieces of light armor and a flowing, white ninja scarf. His top is a red keikogi with a v-neck, and short sleeves with a white rib at each opening. His bottoms are baggy, red, and include a white slit on each hip. Dark red details include fingerless gloves, a ninja mask, tabi socks, a keikogi belt, and a modern hood. Light armor pieces include red and white accented arm-guards, shoulder armor, a helmet, and metallic chainmail under the keikogi top. The arm-guards are depicted with a three end split, metallic rings wrapped in half-circle studs, as well as an orange rupee on each forearm.

Alternative Outfits[edit]

The Shadow White alternate outfit inMario Sports Mix

InMario Hoops 3-on-3, an alternate form of Ninja's regular outfit can be unlocked by completing the Rainbow Tourney on Hard difficulty with a gold trophy. It replaces the red colors of his garb with indigo, as well as the dark red with a deeper indigo. The white accents are replaced with gold, and the orange rupees in his arm-guards are made pink. The chainmail underneath his top is much darker, and his helmet has a metallic ninja band on the front as opposed to the curved accent shape on his original costume.

InMario Sports Mix, there is another alternate costume, called "Shadow White". It can be unlocked by playing as Ninja for twenty matches, by completing the "Shadow White" mission at Star Cup, or by clearing Star Road four times. His mouth piece also turns a lighter red.

Powers and abilities[edit]

Ninja's abilities deal with various Ninja skills and Ninjutsu specials. Ninja is said to possess grace, speed and power, making him well-off as an All-Around character in his appearances.

Special abilities[edit]

Ninja's special abilities are centered around his use of Ninjutsu. InMario Hoops 3-on-3, Ninja even replaces a few standard abilities with Ninjutsu skills. Rather than side-step, Ninja teleports from side to side, and instead ofground-pounding, Ninja will jump in the air and summon down a spiral of flames. He also makes use of doppelgangers when doing various swift motions while playing, such as dunking. His special move in this game is theLeaf Veil, and he uses a summoning circle to alter the effects of his ball, quickly sending it towards the hoop. This leaves him an opening to vanish through a gust of leaves directly to his ball, guaranteeing him a swift dunk.

Portrayals[edit]

Ninja is voiced/portrayed by:

• Hironori Miyata inMario Hoops 3-on-3.
• Scott Burns inMario Sports Mix.

Profiles and statistics[edit]

Mario Hoops 3-on-3[edit]

• Baller Name: Mr. Invincible
• Type: All-Around
• Special Shot:Leaf Veil
• Letter to Tap: N

• Website description:
  • English (United Kingdom):
    Speed, grace and power sum up Ninja's game. To stop him, you have to catch him, but when you think you have him where you want him, he really has you set up to be the fool. His Leaf Veil is a thing of beauty.

Mario Sports Mix[edit]

• Type: All-Rounder
• Home court:Star Ship
• Power: 3/5
• Speed: 4/5
• Technique: 3/5

Gallery[edit]

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  Mario Hoops 3-on-3

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  Mario Hoops 3-on-3

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  Mario Hoops 3-on-3

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  Mario Hoops 3-on-3

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  Mario Hoops 3-on-3

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  Mario Sports Mix

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  Ninja's Special Shot in Basketball

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  Ninja's Special Shot in Dodgeball

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  Mario Sports Mix mugshot

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  Mario Sports Mix mugshot (Shadow White outfit)

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  Mario Sports Mix CSS icon

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  Mario Sports Mix CSS icon (Shadow White outfit)

Names in other languages[edit]

Notes[edit]

• Ninja's appearance is based on the appearance of the class inFinal Fantasy games, being an almost exact match for the class as it appears in the firstFinal Fantasy game.
• His alternate costume fromMario Hoops 3-on-3 has a strong resemblance to the Ninja class inFinal Fantasy V.
• The band around his mouth is a slightly lighter shade of red when choosing his Shadow White costume.

External links[edit]

• Ninjas on the Final Fantasy Wiki

• Humans
• Ninjas
• Thieves
• Playable characters
• Third-party characters
• Final Fantasy series
• Mario Hoops 3-on-3 playable characters
• Mario Sports Mix characters

• Articles with unsourced foreign names