Developer: Tecmo Publisher: Tecmo Release: 07/19/91 Genre: Action
I remember Samurai Pizza Cats as that weird anime that came on at the crack of dawn before Sailor Moon when I was in high school. The series, about a mechanical Little Tokyo full of cybernetic anthropomorphic animals starred a trio of pizza delivery cats who were also samurai (originally ninjas). The English dub tossed aside its more serious tone for one of comedy, full of pop culture references and self-awareness. And it was completely awesome. What I didn’t realize was its age, dating back to early 1991, which means it was ripe for a video game adaptation. Tecmo created a fusion of Ninja Gaiden and Mega Man in Samurai Pizza Cats that is also one of the NES’ best action games.
Each level in Samurai Pizza Cats plays out is if it were a random episode of the TV series. Generally Little Tokyo is under siege by minions of the Big Cheese, who is also the current ruler of the city and the Samurai Pizza Cats must stop each of his plots. There is an eventual narrative thread that pops up late in the game as a mysterious Dr. Purple is enlisted to create a super weapon for the big cheese, leading to the game’s conclusion.
I am used to licensed titles being absolutely terrible and usually sporting the Acclaim/LJN banner. However Samurai Pizza Cats bucks that trend. It is right up there with Konami’s Bucky O’ Hare and Sunsoft’s Batman games as a lesson in how to treat a license with respect. Not only does it manage to shoehorn everything that made the show so fun but it does so naturally. You would be hard pressed to find many titles that are better than this and it’s a damn shame it wasn’t brought over in one form or another.
At the start of each level you can pick from any of the main trio. There are slight differences between characters: Polly’s claws has the shortest range while Guido reaches the furthest with his spear. Their special powers also differ but largely fall in the category of projectile weapons. For the most part it comes down to who is your favorite. Special attacks have three power levels and use the ninpo meter. The name might be different but it functions largely the same as ninja magic in Ninja Gaiden.
In addition to the main heroes you can call on the members of the Rescue Team for assistance. Each has their own unique ability to access new areas such as breaking rocks, flight, swimming and digging. They also have many of the same special attacks as the main cast essentially giving you seven characters to play as. To avoid abusing them the game limits their use with the Help meter. The longer you use them and their abilities the faster it depletes. It slowly refills once you switch back to your chosen character. In practice it is not limiting at all and pretty clever. It is like a better version of TMNT NES.
What makes Samurai Pizza Cats so great aside from its general mechanics is its level design. It is a greatest hits of the best NES games. You have special skills like Ninja Gaiden, the platforming of Mario, the level selection and mechanical design of the later Mega Man games and the character swapping of TMNT. Yet despite this melange of ideas it retains its own identity. Every level is massive with multiple paths to the end boss. Many of these paths and their secrets require the different members of the Rescue Team. This leads to entire new areas like an underwater lake or treacherous platforming segment. I say treacherous but the only danger is falling and retracing your steps. The design is creative and will loop around to itself or make paths converge. Combined with the sheer variety in the series and you have a game that rarely repeats itself.
The ease of the game almost ruins all of the game’s side characters and extra features. Perhaps this was a response to Ninja Gaiden’s extreme difficulty, who knows? There are very few bottomless pits with most leading to underground passages and items. Despite life restoring hearts being in short supply you will still rarely die as items respawn after leaving the screen. It isn’t until the last third that the challenge picks up and provides a test for dedicated platforming fans. In spite of this the game is immensely fun and less stressful than most 8-bit action titles.
Samurai Pizza Cats easily stands shoulder to shoulder with the very best on the NES graphically. Parallax scrolling is used liberally with the backdrops exhibiting a level of detail not too common for the platform. It even bests Tecmo’s own Ninja Gaiden 3 in a few areas, namely character animation. The game also benefits from the diverse world of the series and has mechanical enemy designs that rival the best of Mega Man’s NES entries. The music doesn’t reach the same heights but is unobtrusive with a few catchy tunes here and there.
In Closing
It is too bad the animated series was localized too late for the game to have receive the same treatment. Samurai Pizza Cats is one of the finest action platformers for the NES. A fan translation exists that manages to keep the same tone as Saban’s English dub. For those who do not want to go that route the game requires no Japanese knowledge. It is worth it to experience such an excellent game.
