Happy Friday, everyone. A while back, I talked about a little gem called Ninja JaJaMaru-kun, released for the Famicom in 1985 and Wii Virtual Console in 2007. It wasn’t the first game in the series, however. It was the second. Today I’m going to discuss its predecessor: Ninja-kun.
Developed by TOSE and published by Jaleco, Ninja-kun was released for the Famicom in 1985, but in a lucky red cartridge. However, unlike its purple cartridge sequel, it got released in arcades before being ported to the Famicom. I cannot comment on the arcade version, as I pretty much have no chance of finding it, but I will talk about the Famicom port. Let’s dive in.
The game is an action platformer. First, the basics: the graphics are fine for the Famicom. The characters look overly simple, but you can still identify them. The backgrounds have more detail, so I’d say the graphics balance finely. The music, however, is an entirely different story. There are too many high notes across the board, and my ears started ringing when I turned the game off because of it.
The gameplay itself encourages the player to climb the vertical-scrolling level and defeat every enemy on screen before time runs out. Enemies are comprised of ninjas, samurai, and daimyo lords. You can throw a shuriken, and if it hits an enemy, it will instantly kill them. However, they can throw shurikens, too, and they will instantly kill you if they hit. You have three lives to lose before it’s game over.
The first major problem with this game is the control. The jumping is extremely delayed, registering nearly a full second after you press the A button. Also, when you want to jump, you have to be doing it while running. If you press A at a standstill, you will not jump. You will, in fact, drop through the mountain. This makes the gameplay incredibly frustrating, because there may be times when you want to jump up a level but find yourself going down. Tell me, what was wrong with pressing down to descend a level? It would’ve made the controls much easier to work with.
While you can’t change direction in midair, you can still throw shurikens. This can be helpful, but sometimes enemies will relentlessly throw shurikens in your direction. If both shurikens hit, they will disappear. Once a shuriken hits yours, they will immediately throw one more after the other until they either hit you or you hit them. This borders on relying on luck to kill your enemies. Not to mention, sometimes after you kill your enemies, their shuriken will still come flying and hit you, a lose-lose for both parties. On the bright side, enemies can’t defeat you by touch. However, they can stun you, giving them the advantage. You can also stun them by jumping on their heads Mario-style, so I find that fair.
Enemies do not respawn, even if you lose a life, and when they die you can collect their spirits for bonus points. At the end of each level, you can also gain bonus points depending on how much time is left on a level.
Now here’s the second-biggest problem with this game. Remember that Pokémon episode that was banned in Japan due to seizure-inducing visuals? Those are all over the place in this game! There’s flashing in the intro screens and the castle levels, and they are a pain to the eyes. If you don’t look away whenever these parts of the game come up, you’re going to get a headache for the rest of the day.
There are orbs you can collect throughout the game, and if you collect three of them, you will be able to play a bonus level. In the bonus level, you have to collect all of the orbs before the time runs out. It’s as simple as that.
Ninja-kun’s three biggest problems are its jumping controls, terrible music, and blinding visuals. Because of this, I’m having a hard time giving a recommendation. If you can get used to the jumping controls, just turn off the volume and look away before each level starts, it’s a passable experience.
Rating: 6/10