The Legend of the Mystical Ninja

"Konami takes a different approach at platform games, and it's good!"

Mystical Ninja is by Konami, 1992. The story is pretty corny as is the game itself, but ironically the corniness makes it even funner to play. It takes place in ancient Japan, where Kid Ying (Goemon) and Dr. Yang (Esimburu) must first stop an evil ghost from haunting thier hometown. After defeating her, they realize that the Princess has been captured, and they come off from their to rescue her. A lot more occurs in the story, and it begins to unravel after you beat each level. Overall though, it's a fairly silly story, and it wasn't translated well.

Graphics: 10/10
Excellent for the early Super Nintendo! The game is silly, so the cartoony graphics are excellent for the game! There are funny facial expressions whenever your character or one of the enemies has been hit! Also, backgrounds are very color and detailed as well!

Sound: 9/10
The sound works very well with the game! A lot of it has a Japanese feeling to it, which is perfect for a game like this! The sound effects are mainly quirky, as is the game. The squeals that Kid Ying and Dr. Yang let out when they've been hit are pretty funny!

Gameplay: 8.8/10
This is a fun game, and it's very different from other side scrollers! It's hard to describe what game it's most similar, but I'd have to say it's kind of a mixture of River City Ransom and a typical Kirby game. When you are venturing through towns, it has the type of overhead view you would expect from River City Ransom, and you're able to purchase items as well. Once you enter a level, it has a normal side-scrolling view, and the game is somewhat similar to Kirby, except you can't fly or copy the enemies' abilities. Overall, it's quirky, it's silly, but most importantly, it's fun!

The game has 10 levels, and the difficulty level is fairly easy. That boss on level 6 should really give you some trouble, and so will level 8, but overall the game is pretty easy.

This game has better replay value than most platform games. There are many minigames to play, including a hockey game similar to Pong, a poorly done version of Breakout, a maze in which you can find items, a fun little Gradius minigame, a game show, and more. Also, some platforms games are pretty boring to play again from the beginning, but this game is still pretty fun.

Overall: 8.5/10
I recommend a purchase, because this game is funny, graphically great, and a fun 2 player game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/27/00, Updated 05/27/00