Platform	SNES
	Genre	Action/Adventure
	Publisher	Konami
	Points	800
	Rating	6.5 / 10

Review

How do you go about explaining a completely insane game to sane readers? How can you explain a game where the main premise is running around, avoiding the entire male population of Japan and attacking ghosts and demons? And how do you describe what is clearly the most drug induced ideas ever conceived by any human being? Well, here goes…

The Legend of the Mystical Ninja was originally released in 1992 and is one in a series of Japanese games bearing the same characters. You play as Kid Ying and Dr. Yang as they go on their adventures throughout the strange world; however, why you actually are on these adventures is extremely vague.

The game play consists of several different parts. Each level seems to be split into 2 main parts with mini-games spattered here-and-there. The first part of each level is a pseudo 3D environment in which you run around avoiding the local Samurai, Fishmonger, Lunatic, or whatever male characters seem to be heading your way. Again, the reason the entire male population of Japan is out to get you is unclear, and has led me to believe that is purely down to the fact you have blue hair and that you are friends with a fat ‘doctor’. However I’m not entirely convinced Konami would release a game based on prejudice and racism so the only other conclusion is that the games designers were so drunk on Saki that the random ideas that spilled out of their heads were just simply implemented into the game without vet or review! Despite the complete randomness of the game, it is fun to play.

The second part of the game play takes on a Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, 2D platform feel. In these sections you jump from place to place attacking all the enemies in your path. I would try to describe some of these enemies but I don’t believe there are words in the English dictionary that can. The enemy’s are fairly simple to defeat with most of them taking only one hit from your American Native Peace Pipe (I’m not joking, that is you main weapon) or one coin to the skull (That’s also right. You can throw money as a weapon!). The game bosses are more of a challenge and offer some very interesting problems for you to overcome. The character design and animation is somewhat brilliant. The characters are so colourful and random that they are a treat for the eye.

Most retro classics lacked game depth. Most had a game play design, a premise and that was it. The game stuck to the design and the premise and what you ended up with was a fairly basic game. With Mystical Ninja this is not true. Mystical Ninja has mini-games dotted throughout the world which are accessible via the buildings dotted about. You can buy food, weapons and armour, play the lottery or even enter a mystical maze where items can be found and kept. These little extras expand the game and give the user more of an adventure feel, allowing them to control more than just the movements of the characters.

This entire game is made up of completely random characters, enemies and environments alike, although this becomes it’s charm. The game is so quirky; you accept it as the norm and go on about your business. Nevertheless, The Legend of the Mystical Ninja is defiantly not for everyone. If you like your crazy Japanese Nintendo games that have no premise behind them other than jumping around and attacking colourful, crazy enemies; then you will want to have this on your Wii console.