Legend of the Mystical Ninja (SNES) - Quick Review
In this Super Nintendo release, the (minimal) story follows the characters of Kid Ying and Dr. Yang. They've noticed some odd occurrences in their home town involving a ghost woman at a nearby temple, so they set out to investigate. On their journey, they learn that the Emperor's daughter, Princess Yuki, has potentially been kidnapped by a band of counterfeiters known as the Otafu Army. Together, the duo set off to located and save her.
This game plays out in two sections for each level. The first is an overmap of the town they're in where you can wander around, defeat enemies, and visit shops to buy food (to heal), gear (for weapons or armor), or play mini-games to wager money. The mini-games are numerous and include things like air hockey, memory games, and even a redone level from Gradius.After you're done exploring the towns, the second part of the level's take place as a side-scrolling platformer in which you have to navigate through a level to eventually meet and defeat a boss.
I spent a while hunting this one down for my collection, so let's dive in and look at the good, the bad, and see if this one's worth it (for me and for you).
The Good
- The game can be played either alone or with a second player, which is a pretty nice touch. It doesn't change the game or how you see it so it's cool to have the option to go it alone or bring a buddy to make things a bit easier.
- Mini-games are a lot of fun. They all cost money, but most of them include ways to earn your money back, and the money can be found just about everywhere because all the enemies you kill drop one of few different things, one of which is money. The fact that they included a level from Gradius makes this one a double-good point, but even without it, it's a fun game-within-a-game aspect that is very much enjoyable.
- All the bosses are different. It's tiring playing these older platforming games where every boss in the game is a carbon copy of the earlier bosses. But it's not an issue in this game. They're all different, and therefore all have different methods of being defeated, which I think is a nice touch because it keeps you on edge that much more while fighting them.
The Bad
- This one is sort of a half good, half bad note. The good part is the game does have a save feature in the form of a logbook, you can make an entry in it and it will give you a code which you can enter upon restarting the game to return to where you made the logbook entry. The bad part is, well, this picture can speak for itself.
The codes are complete gibberish and unless you take a picture like this for reference, you'll be stuck going back to the beginning of the game. You're almost better off looking online for the specific level passwords and entering those to start a level from the beginning because those codes are only six characters long.
- Kid Ying and Dr. Yang have no discernible difference between each other. First off, Dr. Yang is only usable if you are playing in two-player mode, otherwise you must use Kid Ying. Secondly, it doesn't really matter. While he and his weapons look different, they are used and upgraded in the exact same way and do the exact same damage.
Is it Worth it?
For me, it definitely was. I absolutely loved the blend of the town exploration and side-scrolling in the boss areas, its a fun mixture that I've enjoyed and I'm glad I hunted this one down. For the more casual gamer, this one would be a nice addition to anyone's collection, but the value might be the biggest hurdle to jump to get it. At the time I got it, this game was valued around $45, and has since dropped down to the lower $30 range. So it's not horribly expensive, but it's not pocket-change cheap either. But honestly, other than the price, this game is a lot of fun to play, and it would be well worth adding to your collection. It has a fun blend of comedy added to the gameplay as well. Whenever you stop in a shop or a building with a mini-game, when they give you the option of selecting Yes or No to buy/play, if you select No, the animation for the storekeeper's face will turn very angry and they'll generally yell at you to get out of their store. So, again, a bit higher in value due to it being a Japanese game that eventually saw a western release, but honestly worth it.
This game plays out in two sections for each level. The first is an overmap of the town they're in where you can wander around, defeat enemies, and visit shops to buy food (to heal), gear (for weapons or armor), or play mini-games to wager money. The mini-games are numerous and include things like air hockey, memory games, and even a redone level from Gradius.After you're done exploring the towns, the second part of the level's take place as a side-scrolling platformer in which you have to navigate through a level to eventually meet and defeat a boss.
I spent a while hunting this one down for my collection, so let's dive in and look at the good, the bad, and see if this one's worth it (for me and for you).
The Good
- The game can be played either alone or with a second player, which is a pretty nice touch. It doesn't change the game or how you see it so it's cool to have the option to go it alone or bring a buddy to make things a bit easier.
- Mini-games are a lot of fun. They all cost money, but most of them include ways to earn your money back, and the money can be found just about everywhere because all the enemies you kill drop one of few different things, one of which is money. The fact that they included a level from Gradius makes this one a double-good point, but even without it, it's a fun game-within-a-game aspect that is very much enjoyable.
- All the bosses are different. It's tiring playing these older platforming games where every boss in the game is a carbon copy of the earlier bosses. But it's not an issue in this game. They're all different, and therefore all have different methods of being defeated, which I think is a nice touch because it keeps you on edge that much more while fighting them.
The Bad
- This one is sort of a half good, half bad note. The good part is the game does have a save feature in the form of a logbook, you can make an entry in it and it will give you a code which you can enter upon restarting the game to return to where you made the logbook entry. The bad part is, well, this picture can speak for itself.
- Kid Ying and Dr. Yang have no discernible difference between each other. First off, Dr. Yang is only usable if you are playing in two-player mode, otherwise you must use Kid Ying. Secondly, it doesn't really matter. While he and his weapons look different, they are used and upgraded in the exact same way and do the exact same damage.
Is it Worth it?
For me, it definitely was. I absolutely loved the blend of the town exploration and side-scrolling in the boss areas, its a fun mixture that I've enjoyed and I'm glad I hunted this one down. For the more casual gamer, this one would be a nice addition to anyone's collection, but the value might be the biggest hurdle to jump to get it. At the time I got it, this game was valued around $45, and has since dropped down to the lower $30 range. So it's not horribly expensive, but it's not pocket-change cheap either. But honestly, other than the price, this game is a lot of fun to play, and it would be well worth adding to your collection. It has a fun blend of comedy added to the gameplay as well. Whenever you stop in a shop or a building with a mini-game, when they give you the option of selecting Yes or No to buy/play, if you select No, the animation for the storekeeper's face will turn very angry and they'll generally yell at you to get out of their store. So, again, a bit higher in value due to it being a Japanese game that eventually saw a western release, but honestly worth it.
