Happy Friday, everyone. As I’m sure many gamers are aware, Nintendo sadly shut down the Wii Shop Channel a couple of months ago. This was a very sad day for Nintendo fans, as Wii Shop is what provided them with many memories. It also allowed them to play older video games for a much cheaper price, including the classics on NES, SNES, and N64. I myself grew up with the Wii and the Wii Shop Channel, and it is partially what shaped my passion for retro gaming. So it sucked to see such a wonderful service that built my childhood finally go after over 12 years. To honor the Wii Shop Channel, I will be talking about a game that I only found out was available on the service shortly before its discontinuation, and of course it was originally only released in Japan: Ninja JaJaMaru-kun.
Developed by TOSE and published by Jaleco, Ninja JaJaMaru-kun was released for the Famicom in 1985, serving as a sequel to Ninja-kun. I haven’t played that, but many regard it as a hidden gem for the Famicom, while others despise it for its dated design and terrible music… then again, they’re talking about an arcade game from the mid-80s. So how does the sequel hold up?
The game is an arcade-like platformer. First, the graphics are passable for an early Famicom game. You can at least tell what everything is. The music is pretty good and it has an action-packed theme that fits the gameplay perfectly.
Onto the gameplay. The object is to save the kidnapped Princess Sakura from the evil Damazu-Dayuu, while killing many ghost-like creatures along the way. The enemies you have to attack include ghost women, duck-faced creatures in blackface, skeletons, and other bizarre creatures. The stages are divided into four sections, and the player can break bricks to jump to the next level of the stage. Each level has two ghosts for the ninja to defeat. The A button will make the ninja jump while B will throw shurikens. Shurikens will instantly kill an enemy if they hit. After an enemy is killed, you can collect their spirit, affecting your high score in the end. Surprisingly, enemies cannot kill you by touch, only with their weapons. However, they can stun you if they run into you, sometimes allowing for an easy kill. It’s also a one-hit kill game, so watch your step. Lose all your lives and it’s game over and back to the start.
As mentioned, there are several types of enemies, but the differences between them are pretty minor. There’s no difference between the ghost girls and blackface enemies, while the umbrella-shaped enemies jump up and down, making it a little harder to hit them. Because the differences between enemies are so small, the gameplay may become a bit repetitive after a while.
There are power-ups you can acquire if you break the bricks. There are Koban coins that will grant you a massive amount of points, a trolley that will grant the player invincibility and speed (while also instantly killing enemies by touch), a potion that will make the player invincible for a time, a red ball that increases speed, a special shuriken that flies farther, and an extra life. Be careful, though; sometimes bombs are planted within the bricks. If you touch them, you’re dead.
The stage itself also has pellets that the player can collect for points, bombs that are dropped by Damazu, and flame balls that will also instantly kill the player if touched. These flame balls are extremely hard to avoid. You’d better time them perfectly, and run as far away from them as possible if you manage to avoid them.
If all the power-ups are collected, a giant frog will appear and the player will be able to ride it. This will make you invincible for the rest of the stage, as the frog will eat the enemies.
If three pellets are collected, there will be a bonus stage where the player has to attack Damazu with their shurikens, while he is throwing bombs down at you. If Damazu is hit, bonus points are collected. If the player is hit, it’s onto the next stage.
While the game is pretty fun for the most part, it does have a couple of shortcomings. Jumping to the next level in a stage can be somewhat harrowing, since the openings are sometimes too big. Jumping to the next level may require precision as well, which can get a bit frustrating. Also, like I said, since the enemies are more or less the same, the gameplay may become repetitive after a few levels. It’s also weird how the enemies can sometimes jump clear over gaps, but you can only jump clear over small gaps.
Is Ninja JaJaMaru-kun a bad game? Not by any means. But of all the Japan-only games to release on Virtual Console, why this one? I understand releasing something like Sin and Punishment, as N64 fans have been covering that for years and it’s considered an N64 classic. Ninja JaJaMaru-kun is decent, albeit very unremarkable.
Ninja-JaJaMaru-kun is certainly not a groundbreaking title, but it’s still a decent arcade-like game overall. It may be too repetitive for some, but others may enjoy its action and challenging gameplay. Go ahead and grab this if you have $4, but only after you get tired of Nuts & Milk.
Rating: 7/10
IN MEMORY OF WII SHOP CHANNEL – 2006-2019