Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Release: 03/07/93 Genre: Action
Of all of Konami’s late NES titles Zen: Intergalactic Ninja is the most obscure. Konami’s later output for the grey box mostly consists of licensed titles like Mission Impossible, Bucky O’Hare, and The Lone Ranger. Bucky O’Hare I can understand as there was a cartoon and a toy line. But this one is the most puzzling. The comic is as underground as it gets so I can only assume someone at Konami was a big fan. Regardless Zen: Intergalactic Ninja is a game that is big on ideas and variety. It executes on a lot of them and is pretty decent. But it lacks the polish to place it in the upper echelon of action games.
The story for the game is simple. Zen is sent to Earth by the Masters of Om to stop Lord Contanimous from desecrating the Earth’s environment. The game is loosely based on the 1992 Archie Comics series, Defend the Earth. This was the first Zen comic to be published in color. With the banner of a large publisher under its belt this is probably what allowed the series to get popular enough to catch Konami’s eye. With its eco-friendly message and colorful cast of villains it is perfect for a video game adaptation.
The controls and mechanics are simple and easy to grasp. Zen attacks with his staff using a swipe or a longer reaching jab. Once you jab an enemy you can grab them and slam them in a similar manner to TMNT III. He can also wall jump on the few side-scrolling levels that allow it. In addition you can hang from pipes and other such surfaces. There are few items outside of 1-ups, a shield that protects from a few hits and life items. These allow you to refill your health to the maximum at any time but are rare and precious. There is no other way to restore health which makes the game all the more challenging.
Calling Zen a side-scrolling action game is selling it short. The game switches gameplay styles in almost every one of its levels. Looking at it overall there is actually only one traditional action stage which is surprising. Variety is the game’s strong suit as each level has you doing something. In one stage you are on a high speed mine cart ride from hell. Another sees you battle one of Contanimous lieutenant’s while also protecting flowers from dying off. Speaking of Contanimous he shows up early and kidnaps Jeremy the Starchild and initiates a wall jumping climb to get him back. A few levels take on an isometric perspective and are reminiscent of Isolated Warrior. Thinking about it now it almost feels like a collection of minigames except you are controlling a bad ass ninja rather than a cartoon character.
That variety is also the game’s weakness. Because Zen moves from one gameplay style to the next they are brief and feel underutilized with a few exceptions. Zen has an agile move set yet the game makes little use of it. The acid rain forest would work better as a full level rather than a brief boss encounter with a frustrating mechanic. I feel similarly about the cesspool. The longer set pieces are the game at its best. The aforementioned mine kart ride is challenging yet thrilling. Falling down a long shaft, defeating enemies and navigating around platforms to avoid being crushed is similarly awesome. More of these moments would have made for a more complete experience rather than the scatter shot approach here. It is almost as if they could not make up their mind as to what direction to go and threw everything in to see what sticks.
Zen: Intergalactic Ninja presents a high challenge but not always for the right reasons. The game is heavily unbalanced. Zen feels under powered compared to his opposition and boss battles tend to drag too long. The last few encounters are especially bad in this regard as they fully heal multiple times to continue the battle. They require a level of execution that is frustrating rather than challenging despite cool mechanics. The isometric levels are similarly exasperating due to platforming which is functional at best with this viewpoint. Konami is usually good about balancing their games so this one stands out as pretty bad next to their usual output. A little polish on top of more continues would have gone a long way toward making this one better.
In Closing
Zen: Intergalactic Ninja is often forgotten but a solid endeavor nonetheless. While it does not reach the heights of other late Konami NES games like Bucky O’Hare or TMNT III it remains a hidden gem for those looking to plumb the depths of the NES library. This is one of the strangest licenses out there, especially this late in the game. But sometimes they make for the most interesting titles. Considering some of the tripe releasing on the platform in 1993 kudos to Konami for not half assing it.
