Growing up in the 80s I had an appreciation for old Kung-Fu flicks and ninja movies thanks to my older brothers. Yes, the English dubs and lip sync were bad but I didn’t care. Seeing one man fight off an army of martial artists or a ninja leaping in the trees was mind boggling to a kid used to watching frickin He-Man. I thought this stuff was the most bad ass in the world but I also thought ninjas were real so go figure. Any game that can catch capture even a little of that magic should have been the most awesome in the world. Yet somehow the Legend of Kage wound up being a disappointment even though it delivered some of what I was looking for.
In terms of story Legend of Kage is just as funny as Double Dragon. Kage is walking through a forest with Princess Kiri when she is kidnapped by ninjas. It’s not so much the act but how it is done. Here the Princess is blatantly snatched from your arms by a ninja who probably laughed his ass off while doing so. That’s like the most bad ass dinner party story ever in my book.
The Legend of Kage is a victim of timing. The original arcade game was released in 1985 and popular for its time. So popular in fact that nearly every platform available received a version of the game. Most of those ports were timely. The NES version however did not come out until 1987. In that year some of the most seminal games of all time were released. The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Mega Man, Rygar, the list goes on and on. Titles like these were pushing the boundaries of game design and offering meatier experiences in the process. Compared to that list the Legend of Kage can’t help but seem old in comparison. This is the kind of game that is perfect in the arcade but not so great as a home title.
As Kage you can live out your Kung Fu movie fantasies. You can leap among the trees with the best platforming heroes. While it is cool to see it isn’t exactly optimal. Once airborne there is no way to stop your momentum, leaving you vulnerable. Kage can deflect shuriken and attacks with his short sword and toss shuriken. There are a few power-ups such as extra attack power and speed that also protect you from a single hit. The most useful is the scroll, which causes you to meditate and kill all enemies on screen for ten seconds.
That brief rush of leaping from tree to tree is about all the excitement you will get. Unfortunately, the Legend of Kage is incredibly short. There are only four levels and a single run will take a few minutes. Some levels have an objective like killing ten enemies or reaching the top of the castle alive. Structurally I like the set up. You begin in the forest outside the shogun’s castle. Next you sneak in through the moat before scaling the castle walls. Finally inside the fortress you simply save your beloved before escaping to live happily ever after.
Or do you? No sooner do you rescue Princess Kiri she is taken hostage again. Legend of Kage loops and you’ll have to complete it again. In the arcade you needed to complete two complete loops to fight the final boss. The NES version extends that to three for no reason other than to stretch the already thin level of content. The only difference in each run are the changing seasons and one or two new enemies. Even with multiple runs it takes less than ten minutes to complete. I distinctly remember when a neighborhood friend bought this. We kept going even after saving the princess because we didn’t know any better only to complete the game in less than thirty minutes. And at that point Legend of Kage went on the shelf never to be seen again.
In Closing
And that is where it belongs. As an arcade port the Legend of Kage is faithful to the source material. But as a game it isn’t very interesting. You are better off watching Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon than playing this. Legend? No my friends, this is a short story.
