Developer: Culture Brain Publisher: Culture Brain Release: 04/93 Genre: Action RPG
I was late getting around to Little Ninja Bros. on the NES. It was a game I always meant to get around to but never did. But despite only playing it recently I still enjoyed it for what it was, a fusion of beat em up combat and RPG mechanics. Culture Brain was fond of this pairing but it did not always work out. Little Ninja Bros. was a success in that regard. I went in to Super Ninja Boy expecting more of what I enjoyed on the NES but more refined. Instead I found a game that magnified the flaws of its predecessor and was a chore to play. I did not enjoy this one at all.
One day a spaceship lands in Chinaland and begins broadcasting a message of peace. The ship’s leader, Rub-A-Doc begins meeting with the various leaders around the world and signs a peace treaty with Emperor Chin before leaving once satisfied. But the peace left in his wake does not last long as monsters begin roaming Chinaland. Could their appearance be tied to Rub-A-Doc? When the workers of Yokan village are kidnapped the ninja brothers Jack and Ryu depart Mount Edin to investigate.
Super Ninja Boy continues the gameplay established by its predecessor. As a RPG you wander around towns receiving information from villagers and buying items and equipment. Once in the field you encounter random battles. Except in this game they take the form of a beat ‘em up as you unleash a few moves to defeat a set number of enemies to end the fight. Unlike Little Ninja Bros. the battlefields scroll like Double Dragon and is more varied. Depending on the map there is some light platforming to get to enemies or even avoid attacks which is cool. Speaking of platforming, there are numerous side scrolling action stages that serve as transitions between locations or training. These…..are not great and come with a number of issues. But you can say that about the game as a whole.
Combat in Super Ninja Boy is a regression from the first game. You can no longer attack in every direction which is incredibly limiting. On top of that the hit detection is flat out bad. You would think only attacking left or right would enable the game to be more accurate. Yet attacks frequently whiff and do not register. The hit boxes are very particular and I do not like it. Your move set is also more limited despite the controller featuring more buttons. You essentially have three moves for the entire game. You learn a slight variation of one but otherwise that is it. This makes combat insanely repetitive and it is even more egregious in this game considering how often you engage in random battles.
The sluggish combat and terrible hit detection are bad enough. What truly ruins Super Ninja Boy is the frequency of random battles. It is no exaggeration when I say Super Ninja Boy has one of the worst encounter rates I have ever experienced. This goes beyond a battle every few steps. There were times a new encounter would begin before the world map loaded! I could not even move! This was an issue in Little Ninja Bros. but not to this extent. With all of the game’s myriad flaws fighting every few seconds becomes laborious. But you have to as the turn based boss battles are extremely difficult and you need to grind. It makes some of the longer dungeons a grueling endeavor that almost made me give up. Honestly if it were not for this review I would have. You are welcome by the way.
The story and pacing move at a glacial pace. The game is a little too fond of having you backtrack to distant lands with only the slightest means of shortening the trip. With the frequency of random battles it gets to be a bit much having to traverse the entire overworld multiple times to have a simple conversation. The game’s other big addition, the platforming segments add to the slow pacing. Super Ninja Boy runs at a subpar framerate and it feels off. The controls for these levels are slippery but beyond that any time you revisit an area you replay these tedious side scrolling levels again. Where Little Ninja Bros. was a game with some good ideas that needed a little work Super Ninja Boy comes across as a game that got lost in the new technology of the SNES. It does not come together in the end.
In Closing
The best word that sums up my experience with Super Ninja Boy is disappointing. Between the bad hit detection, slow pace, and atrocious encounter rate I struggled to see this one to its conclusion. How the game was released in this state I will never know. Games that combine multiple genres usually have issues but Culture Brain seemed to nail the formula with Magic of Scheherezade and Flying Warriors. Super Ninja Boy is a regression in that regard and a title that you should avoid; the SNES has far too many classic RPGs to bother with a subpar one.
