celerystalker
06-01-2016, 01:11 AM
93319332933393349335933693379338
Ninja Kid for the NES is pretty well known these days for being a license-stripped release of a game based on GeGeGe no Kitaro, a popular horror manga and anime. It's a horizontally scrolling platformer in which the titular Ninja Kid must scour the fields around the evil Shangri-La's hideout for a challenge scroll in order to challenge him and free the stolen souls of innocent humans. Not quite GeGeGe no Kitaro, but close enough... and, hey, they even left the eyeball as the icon for lives.
Anyway, the game places you on a semi-random overhead mission map littered with little dungeons, temples, and caverns. Entering these structures starts off a level with its own unique winning condition. Some task you to simply kill a pre-set number of enemies, some have you collect floating souls, and some have you guide a ghostly flame that follows you to light candles. Clearing these objectives opens a pair of doors, one leading to an exit, the other to a boss battle with a giant monster that wants to be smacked in the face with some shuriken. Stages loop indefinitely until objectives are met, and if you take too long, you'll be hunted by an invincible creature Evil Otto-style.
Clearing enough stages and finding a challenge scroll allows you to take on the diabolical, often comical Shangri-La. He has eight increasingly challenging forms, and one appears at the end of each mission map. The game loops with a challenge boost after those 8 are cleared, as it is intended as a high score challenge. There are many power-ups to help along the way like invincibility, weapons like a boomerang or shuriken, speed boosts, and even flutes, of which up to three can be collected both for points and to summon helping critters in the battles against Shangri-La. It's a simple, classic arcade-style approach that works pretty well, and the risk-reward concept of racking up points in stages comes into play, as free lives come at every 60,000 points, but staying too long in a stage will get you killed.
Ninja Kid's graphics are simplistic but effective, and the backgrounds definitely show that weird NES horror vibe off pretty well. I much prefer the character sprite from Kitaro, but the gameplay is basically identical. Once you get a feel for the pace of the game, it's a fun score challenge to play, and conquering each of Shangri-La's forms is satisfying to me. It's not necessarily a masterpiece, but its horror flavor and interesting format have made it fun for me to play many times, though admittedly I usually play the licensed Famicom game.
Played this one?
Ninja Kid for the NES is pretty well known these days for being a license-stripped release of a game based on GeGeGe no Kitaro, a popular horror manga and anime. It's a horizontally scrolling platformer in which the titular Ninja Kid must scour the fields around the evil Shangri-La's hideout for a challenge scroll in order to challenge him and free the stolen souls of innocent humans. Not quite GeGeGe no Kitaro, but close enough... and, hey, they even left the eyeball as the icon for lives.
Anyway, the game places you on a semi-random overhead mission map littered with little dungeons, temples, and caverns. Entering these structures starts off a level with its own unique winning condition. Some task you to simply kill a pre-set number of enemies, some have you collect floating souls, and some have you guide a ghostly flame that follows you to light candles. Clearing these objectives opens a pair of doors, one leading to an exit, the other to a boss battle with a giant monster that wants to be smacked in the face with some shuriken. Stages loop indefinitely until objectives are met, and if you take too long, you'll be hunted by an invincible creature Evil Otto-style.
Clearing enough stages and finding a challenge scroll allows you to take on the diabolical, often comical Shangri-La. He has eight increasingly challenging forms, and one appears at the end of each mission map. The game loops with a challenge boost after those 8 are cleared, as it is intended as a high score challenge. There are many power-ups to help along the way like invincibility, weapons like a boomerang or shuriken, speed boosts, and even flutes, of which up to three can be collected both for points and to summon helping critters in the battles against Shangri-La. It's a simple, classic arcade-style approach that works pretty well, and the risk-reward concept of racking up points in stages comes into play, as free lives come at every 60,000 points, but staying too long in a stage will get you killed.
Ninja Kid's graphics are simplistic but effective, and the backgrounds definitely show that weird NES horror vibe off pretty well. I much prefer the character sprite from Kitaro, but the gameplay is basically identical. Once you get a feel for the pace of the game, it's a fun score challenge to play, and conquering each of Shangri-La's forms is satisfying to me. It's not necessarily a masterpiece, but its horror flavor and interesting format have made it fun for me to play many times, though admittedly I usually play the licensed Famicom game.
Played this one?