The Last Ninja Collection + Bonus Games Review (Switch)

Of all the collections we thought might make their way to the Switch, we didn’t have a Last Ninja collection at the top of our likelihood list. With the prevalence of C64 releases on the Evercade that seemed like a far more likely destination. We are however delighted to see one of the most iconic franchises of the 8-bit computer era find its way to a new audience.

One-time British powerhouse, System 3 has been pretty quiet for a long time. We had a Putty Squad release a long time ago and Constructor, but this is by far their most high-profile release for decades. Even then, it took a Kickstarter campaign to finally get the franchise over the line in some form. In terms of context of why a Ninja game was out on the C64, it can help to remember that the West was absolutely obsessed with Kung Fu and Eastern culture back in the 80’s, with martial arts movies prevalent at video rental shops.

What you get included here is The Last Ninja one, two and three and the Last Ninja Remix with the C64, Amiga and ZX Spectrum versions of the relevant titles. As well this Internation Karate and IK+ are added in as bonus games along with the easily forgettable Bangkok Knights.

There’s no hiding that anyone new to these games is going have a steep learning curve to go through. The games are difficult and the controls and isometric viewpoint will take some time to adjust to. The basic layout of all three games is similar. You explore a level, pick up weapons and key objects and then progress to the next. But you can leave key items behind and then find you can’t progress later such as the glove in the first game which is needed to pick up a poisoned rose later, or the shuriken’s in the second game.

There are also traps and puzzle elements to overcome and the river and swamp jumping sections were infuriating even in the 80’s. All that said, the first two games are stone cold classics and when it clicks, they still offer a unique experience. The Last Ninja 3 isn’t as strong sadly and the emphasis on almost constant combat makes things very frustrating.

Which brings us to the added quality of life features. Or lack of them. There is no rewind function which is the biggest shame as that would have really made these games accessible, and no way to implement any kind of cheat codes. There is a save function. But each game can only have one game saved and there is also no quick save and load option, meaning you have to quit and then reload when you want to load again. Why we couldn’t just have a load option in-game I don’t know. That said, the screen transition very quickly so we didn’t find it to be a major issue and we were loading a lot. It’s strange though as the Steam version seems to have one.

The other disappointment is the extras. It seems clear the museum text is pretty much all identical for each game with a few words (such as the platform) changed. That’s a real missed opportunity as getting a real insight into some of these titles would have been great.

We are somewhat surprised that IK+ doesn’t get a bigger billing on this collection as it was arguably as iconic as the Ninja games back in the day. Here you have three combatants on a single screen trying to score points to win a round of karate. As these are 8-bit computer games, controls are based around a one button joystick configuration. In this case, you hold a button then press a direction to break out different moves. It actually works really well, and no matter which version you are playing it’s a great high score chasing games.

We found that the Last Ninja games where best played in their C64 guise. This makes sense as this was originally the main platform for games. The ZX Spectrum version of Last Ninja 2 is also remarkably playable. We found the Amiga versions, although they look a lot better, to be far less playable. And if anything, the extra graphical detail made the environments more difficult to traverse and objects more difficult to find.

Overall, we are just really happy that this collection exists at all. These are games that really should be preserved with Last Ninja 1 and 2 and IK+ being among some of the most iconic games the British games industry has ever produced. Yes, there could be more here in terms of the quality of life and museum features, but we can hope for that in an update. We just hope that this gives System 3 some latitude to get other release out the door, we would love to see a Putty or James Pond Collection in the future also.

Overall 7/10

The Last Ninja Review (C64)

Think back in time to when music was going through that New Romantic thing, people thought shell suits were the height of fashion and Ninjas were very cool. In the eighties there were many titles featuring everyone's favourite import from the East. Most of these titles were terrible but a few managed to capture the Ninja spirit, such as System 3's The Last Ninja series.

The story goes that during a secret ritual the evil 'Shogun' sprung a trap and killed all of the Ninjas except for one. The Shogun's aim was to steal a scroll that contained the secret of Ninjitsu. Now you must go into the warlords land and reclaim the scroll. Yes indeed, ladies and gentleman, welcome to a much simpler time where plots were made up on the bus to work.

The title is played from an isometric perspective. Everything on screen is clear thanks to a simple colour palette and clearly drawn graphics. This means that even going back to the game now it still looks passable. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the sound. The C64 is not really up to the task and we are left with a combination of irritating high pitched noises trying to pass themselves of as a soundtrack. This is a shame but something you have to expect from many retro titles.

What is truly remarkable about The Last Ninja is the sheer amount of weapons and moves available. The Ninja can kick, punch and block as well as being able to somersault along a full three-hundred and sixty degree axis. You will need to use all the ninja's versatility as there are many tricky and unforgiving jumping sections ready to put your skills to the test. Just mentioning the swamp and river sections to many will see them start to shake uncontrollable with fear.

In terms of weapons there are (among other things), a Katana, Long Staff, Nunchucks, Shurikens and Smoke Bombs. Each weapon acts in a different way allowing players to change their style depending upon what their opponent is armed with. There are also numerous items to pick up to help aid puzzle solving. The best part of it is you get almost everything in the first section of the game, meaning you truly feel prepared for what may lie ahead.

Though level design is generally of a high standard they do get less enjoyable the further into the game you get. It never completely spoils the experience however. Each area is different from the last in both design and graphical representation and range from the outskirts of the Shogun lands to the dungeons and court yard of the highly fortified palace.

What raises the title up an extra level are the little touches that have been lavished upon it. The whole experience of finding the weapons and items is highly enjoyable. Getting certain objects really makes players think - taking a claw from a stone lion statue to help climbing for instance, or taking a large Bamboo cane to use as your staff are just a few moments of invention shown by the development team.

Overall, The Last Ninja achieves something very special. Due to the great control system and solid graphical style it still feels great and fresh today. If the control system was given a slight tweak to make it more flexible, and the graphics given an overhaul, the title could be released on a hand held system quite easily. It is very hard in places, but then that goes with the territory for the time of release. The Last Ninja is a classic game that deserves to be played by everyone

Overall  9/10

The Last Ninja Review (C64)

A review of The Last Ninja on the C64. The game is also available on the Wii Virtual Console.