The Legend of the Mystical Ninja

Many an odd title exists on the little island known as Japan, and many of them have never seen the light of day in the West. Fortunately for us, Konami used to like us and let the world see parts of its Ganbare Goemon series - back when the latest powerhouse console was the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Ganbare Goemon in Japanese roughly means “Go for it Goemon” or “Do Your Best Goemon.” Unfortunately, Konami have never really allowed the Goemon series to “go for it” in the West. The games have always been oddly localised and their release order is, at best, questionable.

The Legend of The Mystical Ninja sees two misfit ninja known as Kid Ying and Dr Yang go through their land to save it from the grasps of evil. Naturally there’s a dashing lady involved, and it’s our spikey blue Ninja’s duty to save Princess Yuki from the grasps of the Dragonbeast.

The opening level is set in Edo, as this is where our two heroes seem to live. The entire level is based around the old fashioned houses from the Edo time period; however, the enemies to begin with aren’t what you would initially expect. The townsfolk who live around the heroes will run around, carry coy with them, and once touched, damage is taken. But be careful when attacking the townsfolk as if a woman is attacked, money is used to compensate the injured.

There is little backtracking involved across each of the levels, as for the most part it’s just pushing right and avoiding the obstacles and enemies. Yet, between levels our misfit Ninjas must also work their way around the different towns and forests to get from Point A to Point B. This is where the Goemon series really shows its colours. There are various mini-games from working through a maze to catching fish to win a prize. Not to mention there’s also a variety of non-playable characters who each only say a few things, but they’re normally an in-game-joke or references to other Konami games.

Our heroes must work their way across ten different levels, each with their own bosses, enemies and individual environments. Owing to the diversity between the levels, and the sheer number of different enemies, The Legend of the Mystical Ninja is one of those games that at first may feel a little sluggish owing to the initial simple level design and the basic controls, but after thirty minutes, gameplay will become incredibly rewarding. This is purely because the game really picks up after the first level and a bit and the storyline starts to flourish.

At no point does the game take itself seriously, and this is something that is emulated across the Goemon series. There are plenty of references to the fact that it’s a game, there are undertones to more dubious acts than one expects in a kids game and at all times the title makes sure that fun is at the top of the agenda.

Luckily, it can get away with this because the graphical quality of The Legend of the Mystical Ninja is stunning. Throughout the entire title the graphics are clear, sharp and colourful. The Japanese houses at the start of the game look like drab, lived in houses, but the multi-coloured castles actually look like the luxurious castles of old. Of course, they are all in a weird 2.5D design and there are some repeating backgrounds, but considering this game was made in 1991 the odd flaw can be forgiven.

The music quality is also fantastic. The sound effects for attacking enemies is distinct and unique, the collection of money is memorable to the series and jumping around and being harmed by an enemy is unheard of in other series. The soundtracks for the opening titles of the game and the background music to the individual levels and towns is an odd mix of traditional Japanese music and 90s electronica. These tracks will be burnt into your brain after just a few short hours.

The co-operative play option is a great part of the game that can really help when playing the game the first time around. As the health gauge doesn’t really increase in size throughout the game, it can be very useful to have someone else there to take the brunt of the damage, especially as this game doesn’t have any form of save function.

That is the game’s biggest flaw: the lack of a save function. Similar to Desert Strike on the SEGA Mega Drive, the individual levels are governed by lengthy and complicated passwords. Fortunately, on the Virtual Console, if you just turn the game off, it’s saved at that point, anyway. So it’s just if you want to move to or from co-op mode where the problem may arise.

Buy It!

For a game that originally came out in the very early days of the SNES’s lifespan, The Legend of the Mystical Ninja still holds it’s own against many newer games, even on the Wii and DS today. It’s not as good as its N64 counterpart, but it’s still an amazing game that requires playing.

*Note, Virtual Console games do not have a rating aside from Buy It or Miss It