The Legend of the Mystical Ninja

"A great cult SNES classic."

This was a game that I had played as a young kid, and didn't quite 'get it'. Several years later, more culturally educated, I bought this game, and now realize the full enjoyment anyone can get out of this game. It's a lesser known game, but not hidden from the public eye, that came out a few years after SNES's launch. It's actually part of a series of games, based around the hero, Goemon. In Japan, it was a popular franchise, with games for NES, and still going on the PS2 now. It's also an anime series in Japan.

Unfortunately, the Goemon franchise is too filled with Japanese humor and more than a few nuances at feudal Japanese culture for any American company to take the risk of supporting. Well, with the possible exception of Konami. They Konami developer was nice enough to pick up this game and translate and release it in the USA for us, and have gone ahead to release another Goemon game for Nintendo 64, yet not as good as good as this. There were actually at least 3 more Goemon games on the SNES that were only released in Japan, though you can emulate those if you really want to. Konami took the risk of bringing this game to America, but not without Americanizing it a bit. The name Goemon has been changed to Kid Ying, and his partner is Dr. Yang, cute, but not accurate. Also, some of the Japanese humor has been slightly lightened, as is shown in the intro video. This doesn't take away much, though.

The gameplay takes effect in two different ways, a pure side scrolling mode, and more frequently, an kind of overhead mode, where you character can move up and down the screen, as opposed to ducking when you press down. The graphics of the sprites characters don't change in the two different modes. These are some of the cooler sprites in an SNES game. They represent, in a cute little way, what feudal Japanese citizens looked and dressed like. Many of them look like animated townsmen out of a Kurosawa movie. Each enemy does they're own thing, be it simply running into you, stealing your stuff, throwing fire at you, shooting projectiles at you, etc. When you destroy an enemy, you pick up a spoil, like money, or a weapon upgrade. The weapon aspect is simple. Kid Ying has a what looks like a pipe, and Dr. Yang has a dangerous yo-yo. You can pick up upgrades from enemies twice, and your weapon will become more powerful or have greater reach.

You may also find money. This can be used to buy items, or as a weapon. You can use coins as a projectile, and you must use it on some boss fights. You can also use it to buy necessary items at stores. A few of the useful items are armor in different forms, pizza which substitutes for your health until it's up, and sandals. Sandals are necessary as well, because they can increase your speed from walking to running, increase your jumping length, and jumping height. They also prove useful for defense. Money can also be used for mini-games such as Break-Out, the first level of Gradius, some old arcade games, lottery, mazes, a game show, and, depending on how much you're willing to spend, will alter some little cut-scenes.

Each level has it's own distinct theme, and ambience. Yes, even on an SNES game. They each represent a time or place in feudal Japan, from a small village, to a tribe where there's a festival, to a large fair, and a Japanese military base. Each one either has a clear-cut boss at the end, or a quasi-boss that's not nearly as hard. Each has it's own specific pattern and weakness. Don't worry, it's not hard to find out how to beat each one.

The music in this game is wonderful. It's some of my favorite on SNES and in video games, simply because it's amazing diversity, and accurate reproduction of the Japanese sound without being lost from being in MIDI. It's very snazzy and has almost anyone humming along to any song.

This game also features a two player mode. It's essentially the same as the single player, but with another player. I know that's not a very good explanation, but it's not too advanced. It is, however, great fun to play if you've got a friend over.

Overall, this is one of my favorite games for SNES. It's a very good game if you just want to kill some time. Very nonchalant in it's attitude, it's very clear that it was based off of an anime. I applaud Konami, even all these years later, for their excellent work on this game. If you see this game, go ahead and buy it. It's not too much, and is thoroughly entertaining.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/11/04