Ninja Kid
System: NES
Release Date: October 1986
Developer: Tose
Publisher: Bandai
Genre: Platformer
Ninja Kid is the third Tose developed and Bandai published game for NES in October 1986. It’s a platformer, but quite different from Chubby Cherub. I was told before playing from a friend of mine that Ninja Kid was the best of the bunch, but that’s not saying much. It’s a coin toss from where I stand. The premise is a bunch of demons are looking to conquer the free world. It’s the duty of Ninja Kid to put a stop to them by killing the Giant Demon, ruler of Demon Island.
The game starts with Ninja Kid on an overworld map. There, he sees some fighting fields, a witch’s hut, and the demon’s castle. Ninja Kid must collect a magic scroll on one of fighting fields in order to get the witch to chant a spell to open the doors to the demon’s castle on the lands of Shangri-La. Ninja Kid is equipped with an unlimited number of throwing daggers and can pick up special weapons in the form of shurikens, boomerangs, feathers, and fireflame.
The meat of the game takes place in the fighting fields, which all have an objective to do ten of something. You must kill ten demon enemies on the Dog Fight and Guerilla Warfare fighting fields. Ten spirits must be collected on the Poison Field. Ten candles must be lit on the Blazing Inferno fighting fields. After three of the ten objectives have been filled, a special weapon appears on screen that you can collect. After nine of the ten, a whistle drops down, that can be collected to help you on the demon castle. On one of the fighting fields a scroll will appear after five objectives are completed.
After completing the ten objectives, two doors appear on screen. One door takes you to the overworld, the other to a battle in Demon Hell. Yep, Demon Hell made it into a Nintendo game instruction manual. Crazy, must have been one of the things that made Nintendo of America so heavy on the censorship in later titles. This involves jumping up some platforms and throwing the daggers at the large demon’s eye(s).
After unlocking the demon castle, Ninja Kid must defeat the strong demon waiting inside. I found this a good time to use the special weapons. It’s also possible to summon helpers, if you were able to collect the whistles in the fighting fields previously. You start with a wild pegasus who blocks attacks from the demon. Then a big eagle, who freezes the demon in place. Finally, the old witch who weakens the demon by throwing magic sand at him. Once defeated, you move on to the next map and repeat the process indefinitely.
Graphics: 2.0
The graphics are certainly decent. The sprites are big, but not everything is very detailed. The stages look decent enough.
Sound: 1.5
The sound got too repetitive for me during my playthrough.
Gameplay: 2.0
The controls were fine, although somewhat floaty.
Difficulty: 2.0
Don’t get me started on all that was left out of the manual. It would have been fairer if I knew what the items on each stage did.
Fun Factor: 1.0
I was at the point where I was playing for footage, not enjoying myself.
Overall Grade: 1.6
Ninja Kid gets a C-. It’s better than Chubby Cherub, but I enjoyed playing M.U.S.C.L.E. more. I’m happy to be done with these.