Developer: Riot Publisher: Micro World Release: 03/12/93 Genre: Action
Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi made me a fan of ninja action games. While Sega received the lion’s share of attention thanks to the quality of the Genesis Shinobi games the SNES could hang just as well. Cybernetic ninjas were all the rage on the SNES. Between Hagane, Sasuke in the Goemon series, and the Ninja Warriors this niche was well served. One lesser known entrant in this genre is Edono Kiba, one of the strangest games I have come across. But that is par for the course when it comes to Telenet. Edono Kiba is a mish mash of genres that is very divisive and an acquired taste.
In the year 2050 a terrorist named STEM run rampant in the streets of Tokyo. A cybernetic police officer named Kiba is sent to quell the terrorist uprising. There is more story between levels but sadly there is no fan translation available. Most of it is mission confirmation and irrelevant dialogue but it would be nice to at least know a little more about what is going on.
Edono Kiba is a combination beat ‘em up, side scrolling action game, and shooter. It sounds strange but bear with me. The playing field is a belt scroll like Double Dragon. However you are always running with enemies picking a lane and streaming in like waves in a shooter. You have two attacks, a short range sword slash and throwing the sword like a boomerang. You can also block projectiles, a skill called on during boss battles. Some levels see you board a floating platform and take to the skies to take out a flying battleship or nuclear missiles.
It is a strange setup. For the most part it works. Most enemies die in a single hit enabling a fast pace. Because there are different lanes you can choose where and when to engage. Speaking of pacing even though you are always on the move it is not always at full speed. Some stages are slower and almost move at a normal pace. It almost makes you think of what could have been if this were a normal brawler. There are downsides to the game’s forward momentum. You are always facing forward and can only attack in one direction. That means you must carefully position yourself to attack. It adds an element of strategy but in practice feels stiff and unsatisfying. The game was also not designed around this and with its large sprites feels cramped. You can work around it but it should have been designed better.
Edono Kiba is big on its set pieces and epic boss battles. The future setting gives the game a cyberpunk look and feel that is cool as you dash through the city streets and the Tokyo highway. You also assault an aircraft carrier and fight a Buddha statue for some god forsaken reason. The game’s finale sees you destroying nuclear missiles while atop a rocket on your way to the final confrontation with the terrorist leader. It is one of many cool moments alongside the boss battles. These bad asses are mechs like yourself and provide some of the coolest moments in the game despite their length. I just wish the game’s mechanics were more fleshed out. You can see the bones of an awesome action game there and in the moments it delivers it is satisfying. But they are fleeting with too much annoying fluff in between.
Despite the limitations of the game’s mechanics Edono Kiba is an insanely easy game. There are no power-ups, items, or even scoring. This means there is no reason to go out of your way to kill every enemy. Since there is no way to heal outside of completing a level it is actually more prudent to avoid combat if possible. You need to reserve health for the boss battles which can drag on a little long. Not because they are hard but because they soak damage and have easy patterns. By default you have five lives and five credits. That is more than enough to easily beat the game with credits to spare. For such a short game its easy difficulty even on the hard setting leaves little room to replay it.
In Closing
Edono Kiba is an interesting experiment. For what it is going for the gameplay is solid although a bit limited. But that also means it is not interesting enough to hold your attention for long. This is the type of game that you finish during a rental and never think about again.
