3 Ninjas Kick Back

"The Ninjas had a good kick. But they stumbled."

Everyone knows that when a good movie (or in this and many other cases, mediocre) is released in theatres or on video and has some degree of success, the makers and publicity people related to that movie must capitalize on that degree of success. They will drain the franchise of all that it is worth to make some kind of profit, no matter how limited the movie is. You have seen it all the time, and not just in video games: bad book adaptations of the movies, poor DVD extra features or stuff on the end of VHS tapes, and mediocre toys based on the movie. Though the movie may have been so-so, this makes the makers of the movie seem desperate to make a movie. So whenever the makers of a movie needs some cheesy stuff based off a movie, they turn to the more-than-eager video game companies that would like some chump change themselves. The makers of the movie want the game to be out in quickly so that the movie is still fresh in the minds of fans, and that they may make the decision to buy these games for the novelty and love of the movie without thinking about the purchase. As such, a sacrifice of quality and depth is made for the quick release of a game. This is the case in Three Ninjas Kick Back for the SNES.

Developed by Mirage and published in North America by Sony (a SNES game by Sony, who would have thought…), TNKB is a platformer that is more or less based on the movie of the same name. You can choose to play as one of the Three Ninjas – Rocky, Colt, and Tum Tum – although they are essentially the same and have no unique skills because at points in the game certain skills are required. I was somewhat disappointed at this, because there should be unique characteristics in a game that lets you choose from three different characters. Still, the character select screen may be as far as some gamers get. This game is very bad on first impressions, due to the fact that it has a very steep learning curve that makes it almost impossible for younger gamers and frustrating and boring early on for older and/or experienced gamers. If you rented the game, you would probably stop playing it after you attempted the first level because it is really freakin’ hard the first few times through. Yet, TNKB is not a bad game. What it is not is impossible, or bad, or anything. Just a mediocre game based off a mediocre movie. It is not deserving of anything below a score of four in my opinion. You’ll get used to the game. The learning curve is just a learning curve, meaning that it indeed can be overcome. I will explain this in detail in the following sections.

Gameplay – 6/10

This game seems to be just your standard platformer at first glance and this idea is enforced during the first couple of levels of the game. Yet, a few things separate it from the crap-heap, and a few things push it closer. The difficulty is, well, very high for the first few times the game is played. Boulders that give an instant kill roll behind you on the very first stage of the game, with rocks falling on your head and spikes that require rope use (see control section) make it very hard for the gamer with any expectations of a training session. However, the game play learning curve because naturally gone after you learn the controls and become familiar with the methods of doing things in the game that require moderate amounts of dexterity. You will become able to maneuver through the game eventually if you just give the game a chance and go with the gaming grain, not against it. After the learning curve has been mastered, some other general gameplay negatives come into play. I have noticed that there is a lack of some kind of password or save system in this game. Although save features in action games of TNKB’s age were few and far between, the majority of games had some kind of password feature that would allow for inevitable time when you die a horrible death at the hands of a geezer ninja and don’t want to go through the annoying first level of the game again. Apparently, this game apparently lacks that feature. I have been through the entire game and have not seen anything like it (although there is supposedly one as listed on the GameFAQs cheat pages, I think it is a hoax). This can make it difficult although there are plenty easy extra lives are available and you have Continues supplied to you, as well as inter level checkpoints, so it somewhat makes up for this lack. After this, there is the issue of the timed level. Normally, this would not be a problem for a standard platformer. You would quickly get through the level and hope not to get killed, knowing that there are not many extra secrets or things to do in the level. This is not the case in TNKB. There are three kinds types of levels in TNKB: Objective Based, Timed Rush (get out of the way before a boulder consumes you), and Standard (get to the exit within the time limit). Thought the latter two are standard issue in any platformer, a positive point in this game is that there are objective-oriented levels of the game. These are essentially “collect the item” or “search and destroy” type missions, which are mildly innovative and add some spice to the game. As well, there are quite a few well-hidden secrets in the game, almost Super Metroid-like, which makes TNKB’s levels moderately interesting to play through. This allows for a bit of a boost in the replay value section. But finding these secrets within the time limit poses a problem because when the slow 99-second clock ends (which it does very often, usually when you are searching for the last part of the completion goal or are in the middle of getting the loot from a secret), you die and the level must be restarted which is irritating. Yet you don’t have to get all the secrets, so the next game play negative is that there are a lot of cheap enemies and methods to get damaged, as described in the challenge section of this review. Then comes the part about beating the levels. THIS is where the standard platformer issue comes in. There are, well, a lot of platforms. Yippee. Moving platforms, platforms that flip around when you stand on them for two long, platforms that collapse on contact are all in this game, as they are in every other platformer in existence. This doesn’t necessarily make the game tedious, but it does lose some of its credibility as a unique game with the additions of these. Now with those negative aspects of the game out of the way, there are a couple neat ones as well. At least back in 1994 this was a neat concept – the idea of terrain interaction. Some examples: You can whack things like ovens and such in the background and they will turn on; hitting things like electrical devices with an enemy in front of you will neutralize the enemy; the striking of seemingly harmless things on the ground like basketballs will cause the enemies in the vicinity to get hit. These aspects appear in the second and third levels of the game and kind of disappear to a degree at the end – which is kind of disappointing – but I still enjoyed using the terrain to my advantage. There is also a system based on getting coins for extra lives, and I think but am not sure that you can get points for extra lives as well. This makes it feel like getting all the secrets is not such a waste. In addition, the powerups in the game are pretty cool and unique in flavor. There are some that freeze the clock, give you throwing weapons for limited time (a la Castlevania), give you little bombs and make you stronger. Finally, at the end of each stage, there are little bonus levels that will let you account for your losses, which can give you some reconciliation for all the pain that you have endured through the levels. Unfortunately, these positive aspects are more of an “extra” than an actual part of the game. These extras will not be apparent to most gamers because they will simply give up before getting these extras.

Control – 6/10

As stated, this game has a steep, but doable, learning curve that starts from the very beginning of the game, and this is due in part to the challenge of the game and the controls of the game. The controls are somewhat quirky early on. Like a true ninja, you can grab onto tree branches and strange brown things extended from the tree branches (and there are other things in the game that you can grab onto, by the way – though trees make up the majority) – but grabbing onto these objects can cause a problem which leads to frustration and death (of the in game character, hopefully). Grabbing onto things require you use the analog pad, not a button, which is very awkward and confusing for players that start the game. In addition, the use of “trampolines” requires that you use the analog pad to determine height and direction, which could cause some gamers to go into a muddle the first time they encounter these trampolines. Other than these two exceptions (which actually make up a large part of the game), the controls are fairly fluid, with the basic skills of Hitting Things, Throwing Things, and Jumping making up the rest of the game.

Challenge: 7/10

Indeed, the learning curve issue is in full force here. Nevertheless, once you overcome the obstacle of Grabbing Things, then you can proceed on with the real issue: the challenge in the levels of the game. There are a lot of cheap enemies and methods to get damaged. Little motion-activated flamethrowers, spike shooting statues, boulders, boulders, boulders, and heat-sensing fire (that makes little sense) are around every corner, making it annoying for you to get around a level without losing your health points, which indeed are vital to your survival. There are many health items about to counteract these; however, it won’t usually be the actual enemies that lead to your downfall but these inanimate traps. Luckily, however, they didn’t include the “Pit of Death” in this game; this means that there are really no jumps that you have to make; therefore, there is something that the programmers didn’t include that was a good idea. That being said, while the obstacles pose a gaming challenge for some a frustrating obstruction for others, the enemies in this game pose neither. The enemies in TNKB are so incredibly easy. Once you learn how to Hit Things multiple times in succession, the challenge against the non-stationary enemies is over. Even the level bosses and the final boss in the game are so incredibly easy that it makes me feel that the only skill needed to beat the game would be to jump and kick. But I once again digress. The bosses could have been painfully hard but they weren’t, kudos to Malibu for not making that mistake so the game wouldn’t have been totally unplayable.

Visuals: 9/10

The visuals in this game aren’t really that bad. The character sprites have some interesting and funny animations, such as cowering in fear and getting knocked out. The backgrounds in this game are also quite nice – they have some shading and nice colors throughout the entire game. There are even fog effects and other nifty things like leaves falling from trees and so forth. The bosses and most of the enemies are convincing. The place where the game suffers is from none other then the Conventional Ninja Baddie, where at least four palette swaps occur throughout the course of the game. However, beside that, the game looks good for a 1994-era SNES game, and there are no real negatives to point out in comparison to other action games from that era.

Audio: 5/10

Well, the game is so-so in the sound department. On the positive side, the weapon sounds are convincing: slashing, clanging, slicing, and explosions – the game has it all. There is nothing really to complain about in relation to these sound effects. There is even an instance of voice acting in the game, when little Tum Tum quotes “Lets murderlize them!” at the beginning of the game. So the sound effects work for me. The music is where the game suffers. There are 16 tracks of music in the game (interesting side note – the sound test menu is listed in hexadecimal) and though they do sound kind of cool the first time you hear them, you are likely to turn down the volume on the TV set because the music is basically a 5-second melody repeated over and over again. In contrast to the sound effects, there is nothing really positive to say about these tracks.

Story: 4/10

It seems to me that the story in this game is based on the movie of the same name. This is not a good thing considering the movie was really not that good. The concept is that there is an old dagger that the master wants returned to a dojo or something. I really wasn’t paying much attention. The game follows the movie to some degree (although for the most part the environments where the game is played are somewhat questionable in relation to the story) and the story is progressed in intervals between levels. The old ninja master (Mori) appears more in the games storyline then the actual characters do, which is slightly confusing. Some characters appear and go with no meaning, like Kiba. The story doesn’t progress during gameplay, and although the objective levels are cool, there are no storyline meanings to them (find the eight birds! Okay, why?). And in truth, the levels themselves for the most part don’t progress the game, the intervals between the levels do, which is disappointing. At least, I guess, the story was kept to a minimum for the sake of gameplay.

Playtime/Replayability: 5/10

This game is kind of a painful experience. You probably won’t want to go through it again. But if you do, good for you. As previously stated, there are a lot of well-disguised secrets that you could go back and find if you want. They make the game more satisfying. However, this game is a very short game. It has about 20 levels, and while that may seem like a lot, this includes bonus levels, boss levels, and little pointless levels that make the actual level toll to about 10. A level can take 5-15 minutes to complete, depending on your skill level. The game may seem like its taking forever, however, because you are constantly slipping on the steep slope of the learning curve, and this can negatively affect gaming time. Therefore, the first few levels may take a couple hours to complete, but within these couple of hours, you will also overcome the learning curve, which will allow you to complete succeeding levels in a very short time span. Summarized, this game could take a while if you have no patience, but could be quick experience if you go with the aforesaid gaming grain (and god forbid, maybe even an enjoyable one).

Final Judgment:

I like a lot of games of many different genres. I like this game. It is older now, but go to a video game specialty shop and they will have it in their SNES bargain bins for like $10.00. This game has been treated like just another SNES platformer based on a movie. I can tell you right now that is and is not what TNKB is. There are definitely some positives that raise it from the limbo of the regular SNES platformers based on movies, but mistakes were made in order to spew this game out that the regular characteristics that define cheesy games based on movies were included and thus overshadow the neat and unique things about this game. The graphics and sound are about equal to other games of the 1994-SNES period. The story of the game has little to no depth, but being based on the Three Ninjas series it may appeal to some nostalgic fans as a collector’s item. Controlling your characters requires a little practice but you will get used to it eventually. The gameplay, although with a precipitous learning curve, presents itself in a nifty way that will either be challenging or frustrating depending on what kind of gamer plays this game. If you have patience when leveling up in an RPG or finishing a level on the hardest difficulty in a strategy game, TNKB is for you. Otherwise, it may leave you annoyed and wanting more. Definitely buy since you cannot rent it anymore from any of the major chains. However, if you could, then I would rent it to determine what kind of game you are actually looking for. This game could have been so much better.

Score Summary :

Gameplay: 6 / 10
Control: 6 / 10
Challenge: 7 / 10
Visuals: 9 / 10
Audio: 5 / 10
Story: 4 / 10
Playtime / Replayability: 5 / 10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/19/03, Updated 04/19/03