December N-E Game Club: The Legend of the Mystical Ninja

[S.C.G]

Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Released: 1994
System: SNES

Ah yes, who could forget good old Goemon? Well apparently a lot of people, as this series always seemed quite niche in its appeal to me but I've always loved it even when looking at reviews of the games in the series in Nintendo magazines back in the day, The Legend of the Mystical Ninja is an RPG adventure game featuring a brilliant cast of characters, some really bizarre moments and would go on to spawn not one but two N64 titles. But the charm of this 16-bit title is still very unique all of its own and although I've played it on the various Virtual Consoles I've always wanted to play it from the original cartridge; regardless of that though, it's a game I would say is worthwhile of anyone's time, regardless of how they choose to play it.

Available on: SNES, Wii, WiiU, New 3DS

Verdict: Only choose this one if you really want to play an excellent 16-bit RPG like no other and if you want me to blow some cash on an original copy.

 

And here is that physical copy, as promised...

Time to play this underrated gem in its original form.

Edited December 12, 2018 by S.C.G

[nekunando]

Has anyone started playing..?

I have

[RedShell]

17 hours ago, nekunando said:

Has anyone started playing..?

I have

Let me guess... you hate it, right?  

[RedShell]

On 12/12/2018 at 5:47 PM, S.C.G said:

Time to play this underrated gem in its original form.

[nekunando]

13 hours ago, RedShell said:

Let me guess... you hate it, right?  

I played it a little bit.. and now I'm playing it another little bit..

#enthusiasm

[Ike]

FYI, you can get 40% off as a My Nintendo reward.

https://my.nintendo.com/rewards/435546d21247bfe4

[nekunando]

Update..

I played a little more!

[Ike]

I'm up to zone III. This game is weird. 

[nekunando]

1 hour ago, Ike said:

I'm up to zone III. This game is weird. 

Weird probably isn't the [only?] word I'd use as I progress through the fifth zone!

EDIT I just hit a grind. I don't even know why I'm still playing..

Edited December 15, 2018 by nekunando

[Jonnas]

As I said elsewhere, I've been crazy busy this week, and I have a feeling this'll keep up until Christmas. I'll see if I can find a spot to sneak some Goemon in-between Smash and Real Life, but I get the feeling I won't be able to finish this until January. Hopefully before the 12th!

[Ike]

Zone IV done, not a huge fan of that stage, some good use of Mode 7 though and the boss was pretty cool/weird.

[Dcubed]

It's a good game, great in co-op! (probably one of the best co-op games on the SNES, period).  Real shame that we never got the sequels over here in the west though...

11 hours ago, Ike said:

Zone IV done, not a huge fan of that stage, some good use of Mode 7 though and the boss was pretty cool/weird.

Yeah, the bosses are awesome in this game! 

[nekunando]

I've just reached Warlock Zone VIII and it's another grind

At least the graphics through the the game are pretty nice..!

[nekunando]

Time for the final zone..

[nekunando]

Finally got back to this after suspending the game earlier today!

The credits are rolling and I'll never play it again

[Jonnas]

So, I managed to reach Zone IV. So far, I'm having fun with the game, as it's very engaging to play (killing dudes in towns just feels natural) but the structure of the game does feel weirdly... disjointed, let's say. Every time I feel like I'm about to start getting into the "meaty" part of a Zone, it's over, and then we're off to the next town. Might be better that way, I am spending enough time already fighting with the populace, and I have zero interest in the minigames.

Dialogue and humour are still good, "Kid Ying and Dr.Yang" notwithstanding. Still a highlight of the series.

Edited December 27, 2018 by Jonnas

[Jonnas]

By the way, I forgot to ask: what are the jutsus, exactly? I bought a couple a while back, but they never triggered, nor showed any significant difference.

[Ike]

4 hours ago, Jonnas said:

By the way, I forgot to ask: what are the jutsus, exactly? I bought a couple a while back, but they never triggered, nor showed any significant difference.

You have to press the select button, choose the juistu then press Y after collecting 10 scrolls or something. I've had one that lets you ride a tiger and one that lets you fly for a bit. They're a bit useless since they only work in that zone, and expensive. 

 

[Ike]

Finished off the last couple of zones today.

I think the game was something you have to have played when you were younger to appreciate fully. I found the endless respawning enemies in the towns a bit annoying and their rather random (seeming?) attacks where hard to avoid. Maybe it's because I was trying to jump over them rather than attacking them which is more effective.

Not sure why the stages have time limits, to stop you grinding? But the game requires a lot of money at times. Seems a bit odd when the game has a lot of mini games (the Phantasy Star 1 dungeon style maze was my favourite).

The writing is pretty funny and the game makes some good use of Mode 7 which I've mentioned previously.

[Jonnas]

Just wanted to say the Zone VI boss is the most annoying bullshit I've seen in the game... and then Zone VII one-ups that with bombing crows. Their hitboxes make no sense! You get hurt before the balls hit you, but the explosions are harmless!

Regardless, that pier/bridge zone seems fun, and it's the next thing I'll be doing (spent some time grinding for armour before proceeding).

[Jonnas]

Beat it on the first day of the year!

Unfortunately, the last few bosses were disappointing, mechanically. The game is designed around getting weaker every time you're hit, and then suddenly, you're thrown into boss gauntlets in the last couple of levels, with no hope of restoring those power-ups in case you die. Ditto for ammunition, which is limited, and there's no way to replenish it during those fights.

Despite those hiccups, it was an enjoyable game that was happy to be itself. It had pointless minigames, weird mechanics, houses that existed for the sake of lame jokes... But it was definitely proud to try and do all that. That's the game it wanted to be. Not among the best of the system, but I'm glad I played it I certainly had more fun with this than with Yoshi's Island, if you can believe that.