The Legend of the Mystical Ninja

"That cat isn't really talking...is it?"

As many know, the advent of the Super Nintendo spelled out a new dawn for video gaming. Some of the most epic, classic and otherwise hallowed titles of our lifetimes were released on this system with outstanding acclaim. Games such as Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger and even Super Mario World revolutionized the gaming scene and earned themselves legendary status for all of time. Certainly these games are worth the accolades they've received, but are they the only ones? There have to be those other SNES gems out there that were just as good as any old Final Fantasy but just didn't get the exposure they needed, or didn't quite fit in. The Legend of the Mystical Ninja is one of those games.

Let's face the facts, folks. You can love the offbeat and quirky Japanese culture of this game as much as you want, but it's not going to find the series any sort of mainstream success. The chronicles of Kid Ying and Doctor Yang are, without a doubt, an acquired taste. Most people were initiated to the series with the first Nintendo 64 title, which was rife with puns about fruit and naked fat men trying to seduce shop owners into discounts. Naturally, not all video gamers are going to find themselves picking up a copy of the game. Its SNES predecessor suffers to the same extent; despite some astonishingly good platforming action, a great aesthetic presentation and an overall complete gameplay package, it just kinda slipped through the cracks.

It's easy to tell if you'll like or even appreciate the game within the first minute of playing it. Legend of the Mystical Ninja starts out with a hilariously cheesy snippet of exposition between blue-haired dynamo Kid Ying and a man named Doctor Yang who looks a lot like a blueberry -- they banter nonsensically about a ghost woman in a nearby temple who turned evil or something, then decide to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! in traditional unprepared video game hero fashion. Of course, if the two knew that their new job entailed smacking possessed women in the streets with a yoyo, or felling fish-sellers with a party whistle, they probably would have just stayed home and caught some Sailor Moon reruns.

Since that wouldn't make for much of a game, we instead get to experience the inexplicable bliss of mowing down waves of enemies with some unconventional weaponry. Almost all of the insignificant foes in the game die in one hit, which is oddly satisfying, and it keeps the combat fast-paced and fresh. The enemies don't have many attack patterns at first, generally just walking back and forth menacingly, but eventually they learn to throw coins, shoot bombs and dump scalding hot tea on your feet. And like everything else in the game, the enemy design is full of off-kilter humor. The game isn't even trying to take itself seriously, if the convoluted and senseless plot wasn't enough indication for you.

It doesn't slack off where it counts, however, and the gameplay keeps itself taut throughout the game even if the story isn't always important. You collect either money, scrolls or a weapon upgrade every time you knock a foe to the ground. The money, surprisingly, is used to purchase things at the shops scattered throughout the game. You can indulge in anything between a few pairs of sandals to increase your moving speed and jumping distance, or some pizza to pick you up from the verge of death, or even a few bombs to add some explosive force to your artillery. The scrolls are used for learning magic at the game's Judo Halls, which is a neat touch...if not rather useless. Personally, I've gone through the game twice and never bothered to pick up magic either time, so don't feel obligated to put down the 400 dollars for a tutorial. Weapon upgrades, in the form of a Lucky Cat (Maneki Neko), take your piddling Level 1 weapon and substantially increase the length; getting two will take you to Level 3 of yoyo/party whistle fame.

If the main game ever gets too dense for you, which is unlikely considering the amazing variety of levels, enemies and dungeons, then you can take yourself to play a minigame. And boy, are there a lot of minigames. Legend of the Mystical Ninja offers you so many diversions that you'll probably never want to leave the Carnival level, which features every minigame crammed in the cartridge. What's great is that, no matter which you choose to play, all of them pay out in cash (except for the Arcade Center, which goes to show that video games don't pay in the end) so you're ultimately not wasting your time. Like I said, though, with so much for you to do on your actual quest, you'll never grow bored of smacking down the miscreants of feudal Japan. The boss design is especially inspired, featuring such colorful baddies like a Chinese dog burdened with fire-spitting lanterns and a pair of sumo wrestlers determined to crush you with a glowing orange ball.

Unfortunately, the game really lacks the universal appeal that made other smash hits of the generation as popular as they were. Quite simply, Mystical Ninja's fundamental downfall is that it did not open itself up to a large enough audience. The game is so steeped in Japanese culture, folklore, and humor that most any American gamer would be completely overwhelmed. The localization is decent, but it wasn't good enough to rescue the game from relative obscurity. And though this is really just an annoyance, the password system seriously sucks. No, I would rather not enter a 30-character password, navigating a cursor one by one with the damn control pad. And what if you copy down a character wrong? Yeah, then your life's gonna suck. Despite these complaints, any gamer tolerant enough of Japan's weird schtick will find a worthy platforming adventure in Legend of the Mystical Ninja. Sure, it wasn't a major breakthrough in the SNES gaming scene, but it's an important and fine game nonetheless. In what other game are you going to get shot at by a baby in a carriage? In what other game will you beat a wild boar to death with a peace pipe in? Yeah, didn't think so.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/25/06