#ninja-kun

Ninja-kun / Ninja Kid (Famicom) (1984)

Actually I do know what I was thinking. (A Ninja-chan? No, I wanna draw Ninja-kun's kitty. Wait, maybe I should doodle his family. But how would they pose? Okay, I don't feel motivated anymore.) I'll post (or send) the clean sketch if anyone wants to color it.

Names on Games 03: “Katayama” (Hoshi no Kirby, Ninja-Kun, Mighty Bomb Jack; Famicom)

Jajamaru is back again and we can see the influence Super Mario Bros. has had on the games scene, because instead of a stage-based challenge game, Jajamaru is now a side-scrolling platformer very much in the vein of Mario. The little guy still very much controls the same way, but now you gotta move inexorably to the right to progress instead of killing all the enemies. Honestly, it's weird to think there was ever a time in games where you didn't move inexorably to the right to progress. It's certainly no Mario in terms of play feel, but a good enough entry for fans of the series.

You would be forgiven for thinking this was a sequel to May's Ninja-kun, given that it plays exactly the same, the main character looks the same, the music sounds the same, and it was developed by the same company. You would be wrong though! Jaleco developed the Famicom port of Ninja-kun, but decided to make this game without the permission of the actual rightsholder to that game, UPL. At this time in Japan, computer programs were not considered copyrightable, so there was not really anything UPL could do to stop this. To make matters worse, when UPL eventually went belly-up, Jaleco inherited the Ninja-kun rights, retroactively validating this game. It's just as well, though, because Jajamaru-kun is a much better game than the original. Instead of just climbing the stage, you have to break blocks to access the different levels, and there's more enemy variety, plus a period boss fight that appears as a bonus stage if you do well.

Once you figure out how to control your little dude, the game is honestly pretty fun. You always jump at a predetermined angle so there's a lot of planning your jumps and shots and you can also stomp on enemies to stun them. The level graphics are pretty nice, too, especially the castle level (above), but apparently about 40% of the stages from the arcade version were excised to fit the game on the ROM. If there's one problem with the title, it's the music: it's way too high-pitched and simple and honestly kind of hurts to listen to.

...these are all still unopened. Man I’m so lazy... orz

A Ninja-kun idea(?) that was on my mind all last week. (Good luck identifying the other chibi in the preview window~ )