Little Ninja Brothers

"Look closer, young grasshopper, because appearances can be deceiving"

Little Ninja Brothers is an RPG for the NES ... or so it seems. Look closer, young grasshopper, because appearances can be deceiving. Little Ninja Brothers packs a whole RPG, but instead of your run-of-the-mill turn-based RPG battles, this game features action segments that let you punch, kick, flip, and slash enemies. You can use items like ''T-stars,'' which are essentially shurikens, and bombs, as well as weird magical powers and other cool stuff.

The plot goes as follows: the Emperor of Chinaland has been captured by Blu Boltar, the leader of the Yoma Clan. Jack and Ryu, two ninjas who are being trained by their wise mentor, set out to collect seven ''Bells of Prism'' so they can consult with a mystical being that will help them save the Emperor. What follows is a decent RPG, with those extremely innovative battles whenever you encounter an enemy. But Little Ninja Brothers has another trick up its sleeve. Multiplayer mode! That's right, Little Ninja Brothers may very well be one of the first multiplayer RPGs. (The only one I can think of that may have preceded it is Gauntlet, which some might argue isn't an RPG.) Multiplayer is what really sets Ninja Brothers apart, even more so than the fun battle system.

The graphics are average quality. They're sort of anime-esque, which is interesting because this game came out in 1990, before anime was popular in the USA. The sound is excellent, and really adds a lot of atmosphere to the game. I first played this on my NES, many years ago, and the music stays in my head to this day. (Try using the password ''SOUND'' to enter Sound Test mode, where you can listen to the tunes of the Ninja Brothers to your heart's content.) A fun feature is the difficulty selection mode, which is not often used in RPGs. ''Easy'' is recommended, because ''Normal'' is hard and ''Hard'' is much too hard.

The major drawback to this game is the save function, or lack thereof. Instead, there is a password function, which was employed by many games for the NES around the time Little Ninja Brothers was released (read: the Mega Man series). Usually, though, RPGs and big adventures had the ability to save to the cartridge (Zelda, Final Fantasy), and Little Ninja Brothers' inability to do so makes it difficult and annoying to progress very far in the game.

Graphics - 7.5/10
Control - 8/10
Sound - 10/10
Replay Value - 8/10
Difficulty - 8/10
Overall - 9/10
A very innovative RPG with an Action battle system and a multiplayer mode. A must-play if you like RPGs and have a friend who does too. Otherwise, it's still a decent game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/13/02, Updated 11/13/02