The player(s) control robot Ninjas, which battle their way through levels using Shuriken and knives. As the Ninja's take damage, their classic Ninja garb is torn away to reveal robotic limbs, torso or head. When the damage reaches a critical level, the Ninja Robot explodes, scattering mechanical body parts.
As with Sci Games Ltd.'s later title SWIV, The Ninja Warriors uses the company's Dynamic Loading System to load sprites, sound and background graphics from disk on the fly.