| Introduction:
Legend of the Mystical Ninja is the true definition of "sleeper hit". An incredible game in itself, yet it was somewhat ignored because it wasn't really marketed well and the fact that it had a cultural barrier to cross. The game takes place in feudal Japan, and is filled with very odd Japanese humor. The game is very popular in Japan and has spawned several other games, products and even an anime!
Graphics: [8/10]:
Excellent. Especially for an early SNES game. The characters are fairly large, colorful, and they animate very well too. They stand out from the background very well. While we're on the subject, the backgrounds are nicely done too. There are lots of nice little effects like grass blowing in the wind and some neat Mode 7 effects, like the boss on the kite in Stage 5.The only real complaint is the game has some slowdown problems in some areas, but it's no big deal.
Music and Sound [9/10]:
The music is great. It's traditional Japanese shamisen(I think that's what it's called). The music is very fresh and fits the stages very well. Stages 1,4,5,6, and 9 have great music. The tunes stick in your head, which is good. The sound effects are OK...you won't hear anything too realistic but early SNES games had some sound limitations so just live with it.
Game Play [9.5/10]:
Now THIS is what makes the game. Basically there are 2 sections to each level(most of them anyway). The first is a town-like section which is LOADED with things to do like minigames(the minigames are awsome by the way, there's even a scaled down version of Gradius!), shops and such. It kinda looks like Zelda, but with more of a side-view. Enemies patrol these areas and you can kill them for money and items. The second part is the "dungeon" of the level. These levels are side scrolling and feel like a traditional platform game, and the boss is at the end. The bosses are great too, you'll have to think to beat some of them. Oh, and did I mention 2 PLAYER SIMULTEANEOUS? YESSSS!!!!
Challenge/Replay [7/10]:
The game is definitely hard. Especially for the beginner, but if you get a lot of money early on, and stock up on healing items, you should do just fine. Unfortunately, after you beat the final boss(the ending is really lackluster too). There isn't much else to do except go to the carnival level and play the minigames.
Overall [9/10]:
This is one of those games... You must get it. It's challenging, funny, sounds great, and most of all, the gameplay rocks. It's pretty cheap from what I've seen, but I'm not sure how rare it is.
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