 Covering the Neo Geo AES version, the four reviewers of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" offered some praise for the game's special moves and the ability to fight with or without a weapon, but generally panned "Ninja Master's" for its failure to distinguish itself from the many previous Neo Geo fighting games and for its outdated graphics, particularly the small character sprites and lack of scaling.Shawn Smith and Ken Williams remarked that the game's mediocrity is shocking given SNK's history and the $150 price tag.In contrast, a "Next Generation" critic found originality to be the game's biggest asset, opining that although "Ninja Master's" lacks the balance and smoothness of the best Neo Geo fighting games, the ability to switch between weapons and bare-handed combat in mid-fight "adds dramatically to the strategy."