As promised, the next game is Ninja Spirit, for the TurboGrafx-16. According to most accounts, the story revolves around a ninja seeking vengeance for his father who was slain by an evil spirit. This isn't entirely accurate, though. In truth, the main character is a magical white wolf named Tsukikage, who assumes the form of the fallen ninja in order to exterminate the evil presence that killed him.
Tsukikage comes equipped with four different weapons: a katana called Righteous Cloud, shuriken called Swirling Leaf, bombs called Bamboo Thunder, and a kusarigama named Rising Dragon. Don't ask me why anyone would name their bombs. In addition to the standard weapons, upgrades are available which add range, power, and other special abilities to Tsukikage's weapons, as well as special power-ups that create clones that follow Tsukikage and allow significant attack advantages.
The game is a simple side-scrolling platformer with lots of evil ninjas, monks, and the occasional evil flying wolf trying to bring you down. There is a vertical stage, though, where you scale a mountain by jumping from outcropping to branch and vice-versa, and also a couple of areas where jumping high enough causes you to begin walking on the ceiling. But even then, you're still fighting the same few enemies, so I'll be concentrating on the large and sometimes ridiculously difficult bosses.
The Ninjaville High Eagles have ninja spirit!
He should have ducked.
Ooh, sparkly... GWOOORGH!!!
This'd go great on a T-shirt.
First Boss: Ashura
The battle with Ashura is prefaced with an assault by several groups of ninjas, who leap high into the air, throw a few shuriken, and then sink back into the ground. Luckily, the powered-up form of Righteous Cloud coupled with some clones makes me pretty much impervious to their attacks. Finally, after the ninjas have cleared out, Ashura rises up from the ground to get the actual boss battle started.
He's too large to actually move around, so his attacks consist entirely of summoning lightning bolts, which he then splits into little balls of energy that fly off in eight directions. Without power-ups, this might be a difficult fight, since his weak point is his head, and he uses four of his six hands to summon lightning at different points on screen. Luckily, I was fully powered up, so not only could his attacks not reach me, but I was also able to position a floating clone right next to his head to repeatedly attack him.
Left-hand ninjas don't concern me.
Do you think he even notices me?
Second Boss: Soufuki
His name means "twin-axed demon", and that sounds about right, as Soufuki wields twin axes, leaping directly at unsuspecting ninja wolves to chop them up. He moves from tree to tree, trying to find that perfect angle from which to corner and trap you, and he's fairly quick. Since he's always on your tail, defeating him requires a lot of careful footwork, basically dodging him and letting any clones you might have do all the attacking.
That tree won't save you. We jump high.
See?
Third Boss: Makai Hanzou
I'm not sure if this is supposed to be Hattori Hanzou himself, but it's definitely a very large ninja who's been summoned from Hell to get in my way. And you know he's there to cause trouble, since he's got a sword with a blade that's taller than I am. Good thing he's still a bit groggy from his eternal slumber, because it makes him slow to react and easy to jump over. So the battle plan is simple: let him get sort of close, then jump over him and use your clones to lay into him for a while. Once he starts getting close again, jump back and repeat. Easy peasy!
How do we deal with a 6-foot blade?
Surprisingly well.
Fourth Boss: Jubakuseki
At the end of the first ceiling-walking stage, we encounter the Jubakuseki, or Cursed Stones. These two large square stone blocks slide around their cramped little room, constantly trying to crush anyone who dares enter. They do adhere to a couple of convenient rules, though, that make them less of a threat. First, only one stone moves at any given time. Second, they can only move horizontally or vertically, never diagonally. And as a possible third, they seem to always alternate movements, which makes them fairly predictable. Besides, they don't really move that fast, and we can just about jump to the ceiling, so we've got the maneuverability advantage.
Great, so now gravity's an enemy too?
These are special ninja rocks.
Fifth Boss: Fuuma Kyuuninshuu
This gang of nine ninjas from the Fuuma clan arrives on a giant kite, and they seem to think it's wise to all stay strapped to that kite, throwing various ninja implements at us. Each of them can take a good bit of damage before finally vanishing, but the only one who really matters is the guy in the middle, the leader of the group. Since he doesn't attack, it's easiest to get rid of the rest of them first and then take him out in peace. The fight can get a little hectic if several of them decide to throw things at you all at once, but as usual, the powered-up form of Righteous Cloud protects me from everything they've got, so it's really not a tough fight at all.
You guys look silly strapped to that kite.
That's a bit better.
Sixth Boss: Ochimusha Reigun
DO NOT WANT.
This boss consists of a number of fallen warriors (the "ochimusha" part), reanimated in groups of up to three. Each appears right where you're standing at that moment, so you constantly have to watch your step, or you'll be on the receiving end of a surprise zombie blade before you know it. I lost count of how many times I died in this fight, and looking back, I probably should have used a ranged weapon like Bamboo Thunder instead of relying on my sword so much. Eventually, though, I was able to defeat enough of them to run their supply dry.
The final stage is another gravity-defying ceiling walk stage, this time set in a dark cave full of powerful samurai types who can follow you to the ceiling, are quite quick, and kill with one hit. Needless to say, the stage was tough. And to make matters worse, the cavern dead-ends above a seemingly bottomless pit, where the souls of ninjas rise from the depths with their swords drawn, killing on contact. This was the single biggest life-waster of the entire game, and in an arcade setting, would have cost a stupid amount of money to get through. There's a pattern though, and an area where no ninjas ever appear toward the left side of the screen. After dozens of deaths, I finally found the spot and was able to glide safely to the bottom of the pit, which it turns out leads straight to Hell.
Ninja zombies! Or is it zombie ninjas?
Neither!
I sense much evil in this cave.
Ack, there it is!
Final Boss: Daisokushinbutsu
At the bottom of the pit, a very large and powerful old monk awaited my arrival. He was a Sokushinbutsu, a very disturbing kind of monk who attempted to achieve Buddhahood by causing his/her own mummification. This one looked to have been physically successful, but I guess the process turned him evil, because he's the source of all the bad stuff that's been happening. In fact, his main method of attack is the exact same sparkly magic that killed the ninja in the game's opening.
The spark trails follow you around the room, forcing you to jump around roughly in a figure-eight pattern, attacking whenever you're both close enough and high enough. But they're fast, and he's always creating new ones, so it's easy to get caught off-guard. This is another fight where I regret not using a ranged weapon, but after several failed attempts, I managed to stay alive long enough to take him down using Righteous Cloud.
So YOU were the one who made those sparkly things!
Well, I'll be putting a stop to that!
With Daisokushinbutsu destroyed, his control over the ninja of the land ceased, and peace returned to the land. Thus, Tsukikage was free to return (albeit seemingly painfully) to his original wolf form until his powers are needed again. Three cheers for Tsukikage!
This is kind of painful to watch.
No staff roll, but here's your ending!
All right! Well, that was a nice quick one, wasn't it? The next game is still a bit up in the air, but I've got a few ideas. Stay tuned!
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