Talk:Dark Ninja

Might need splitting?

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From this article's inception, the boss character from The Dark Ninja & the Legion of Guards has been treated as the same person as the scroll-stealing Ninja Dūke from Ninjutsu: The Art of Rapids, but, how do we actually know that? I have looked at gameplay footage for both plays, but there doesn't seem to be a single indication that they are the one and the same, beyond MAYBE the Ninja Sparkla's line of "You will pay for what you've done!" (which could mean anything and might as well be said because he captured the Ninja Sparkla instead of the (failed) attempt to steal the scrolls).

Best I can guess is that the article's author assumed they were the same because the Dark Ninja seems to use the same model as the scroll-stealing ninja from the first play, but imbued with Grape's darkness, and since we've had bosses who get imbued with darkness in a later play (e.g. Yami no Kung Fu Master), I guess it would be fair to assume this is the same case.

...except that the scroll-stealing ninja is literally a red recolor as the Ninja Dūke that are seen throughout all of the Ninja plays, meaning that the Dark Ninja may not necessarily share his model with the scroll-stealing character, and instead might as well share that with a generic enemy type, so this still doesn't mean they are one and the same at all. The original article doesn't seem to make any indication that the Dark Ninja is specifically a member of those ninja enemies, so it might as well be possible that they somehow didn't know that.

(To be fair, we don't really have an image of the generic Ninja Dūke on the wiki yet, as far as I can tell)

The kicker, though, is that in the Japanese Princess Peach: Showtime! guide I recently purchased, the two entities have been given completely different names: on the pages for Ninjutsu: The Art of Rapids, the scroll-stealing Ninja Dūke had been given the name of 忍者にんじゃドゥーケ（巻物まきもの）Ninja Dūke (Makimono) (denoting it as nothing more than a version of a regular old Ninja Dūke like it's a color variant), whereas the pages for The Dark Ninja & the Legion of Guards gave the Dark Ninja the name of 首領しゅりょうドゥーケ Shuryō Dūke (which, in contrast, is a completely unique name). I feel like this is confirmation that they were never supposed to be the same people to begin with, otherwise they would've shared names like other bosses that later get imbued with darkness do.

Problem is I have no idea how to split off the scroll-stealing Ninja Dūke from this page, given this is in fact the only Ninja Dūke in the game that is dressed in red like that. Not only that, but is also gets an identifier in brackets much like the Mihari Musha from the same ninja levels (all of them have identifiers), or the green Kung Fu Dūke from A Kung Fu Legend. Do we call the scroll stealer's article "Ninja Dūke (Makimono)" like in the guide, or do we have to conflate it to an eventual "Ninja Dūke" page? rend (talk) (edits) 17:52, May 3, 2026 (UTC)

Re-examining the footage, and I think I found potential evidence that not only implies that the scroll-stealing Ninja Dūke is the same character as the Dark Ninja after all, but that they both also happen to be the same character as another enemy, the red Mihari Musha (either that, or there's two Mihari Musha: one that happens to be the scroll-stealing Ninja Dūke, and the other being the Dark Ninja).

So, in Ninjutsu: The Art of Rapids, we have a Mihari Musha in red armor guarding the captured Ninja Elder; he also carries a purple bag; and like most Mihari Musha, a lantern as well. After defeating the Mihari Musha and freeing the Elder, the red Mihari Musha's remains turn into a log with a Dūke's mask, and then the red-clad, scroll-stealing Ninja Dūke appears. This implies that the red Ninja Dūke was disguised as the red Mihari Musha, and performed the kawarimi technique after defeat; strengthening this is the fact that both of them are clad in red, and they are the only enemies to do so in the level.

In The Dark Ninja & the Legion of Guards, another Mihari Musha in red armor is shown, this time guarding the Ninja Sparkla; not only that, but he also carries a spear instead of a lantern, and this time, dark energy seems to be emanating from him too. After Peach and the Sparkla leave, the red Mihari Musha's remains, similarly, turn into a log with a Dūke's mask too, but with a purplish glow this time. This heavily implies this was the Dark Ninja disguised as the red Mihari Musha, performing the kawarimi technique after defeat, especially since the Dark Ninja is the only Ninja Dūke in the level this time around. Again, this is also the only Mihari Musha in the level that is red

What's notable that in the Kadokawa guide, the red Mihari Musha is in both levels called 見張みはり武者むしゃ（赤あか）Mihari Musha (Aka), implying that it's the same enemy type, but the fact that there's only one that appears in each level (and that they don't really have any different behaviors compared to the regular lantern-wielding and spear-wielding Mihari Musha) implies that it's a character. The fact that they are red just like the scroll-stealing Ninja Dūke is also really notable. The only differences is that their equipment (aside from the armor), and, again, the different Japanese names for the scroll-stealing Ninja Dūke and the Dark Ninja. This revelation now makes me unsure whether splitting is a good idea or not, now; not to mention that if we do, whether to cover the red Mihari Musha on the eventual "Mihari Musha" page, split it between both pages, or give it its own page. I suppose I should at least remove the {{split}} tag and leave a {{talk}} tag here instead. rend (talk) (edits) 16:02, May 5, 2026 (UTC)