As a child it was a huge deal when my parents offered to rent me a video game. The problem was choosing a game. The right choice would ensure a fun and thrilling weekend, and picking out a dud would leave my childhood self utterly disappointed. A lot of the time this was a crapshoot. I would spend a significant amount of time reading the backs of each game box and weigh my options. One title I picked up, that I had never heard of, was Little Ninja Brothers. I was a big fan of RPGs and I figured it would be worth a look.
I was surprised to find that it was not only an amazing action RPG, but also a compelling multiplayer title. The rental store eventually closed down and I never saw Little Ninja Brothers in the wild ever again. Years later I still have fond memories of the game and picked it up on Ebay. I’m happy to report that it’s just as fun as it ever was. It’s one of the most unique multiplayer experiences on the platform, that’s for sure.
Little Ninja Brothers puts you in the shoes of two ninja brothers named Jack and Ryu who live in fictional ‘Chinaland.’ Their peaceful lives are disrupted one day as a broadcast hits their television. The evil Blu Boltar and the Yoma clan have apparently kidnapped the president of Chinaland. With no one else stepping up to the plate Jack and Ryu set out on an adventure to collect seven magical bells and eventually defeat this menace. The story is pretty decent by 8-bit standards with the high point being the memorable characters that you meet along the way. I especially like the town wherein the boss character fattens up young men to later eat them. It’s hilarious and off the wall.
The game at first appears to be a traditional RPG. You walk around on a world map traveling to towns and dungeons all the while encountering enemies at random. In traditional fashion when a fight breaks out you are whisked away to a separate screen in where the battle takes place, but the action occurs in real-time here. In the battle sequences you can move your character up, down, left and right. By default your character has the ability to punch, but you can also jump atop enemies.
The battle ends when you either lose all of your HP or defeat a specific number of enemies, and in typical fashion victory grants you both money and experience points. What makes battles interesting are the powerups. Smashing rocks releases items, and these offer a variety of bonuses. Some restore your hit points while others will give you new abilities such as the dragon kick or shurikens that you can throw. This makes battle significantly more interesting. Planning things like this with another player can make things really interesting.
What’s also cool is the fact that wherever your character is standing when the battle breaks out has a direct effect on the battlefield terrain. Sometimes you will have to deal with ponds and lakes (falling in water hurts your characters) as well as moving platforms and more. Scenery in the stage is more than just cosmetic which makes Little Ninja Brothers more interactive than most other RPGs. The enemy types are also extremely diverse. Many are simple palette swaps, but others use a variety of different techniques and can jump as well as throw projectiles.
One of my favorite features in this game is that in some areas if a battle has occurred over a specific amount of time a super powerful enemy will appear that is almost impossible to defeat early on. There’s a random factor to his appearance, but when he shows up the gameplay takes a frantic turn. Multiplayer is a welcome feature in this game and makes it feel almost like a beat ’em up RPG hybrid because gameplay is simultaneous. Bringing a friend along makes the game a little easier, but it’s still no cakewalk.
In a rather interesting twist many of the boss encounters play out like in a traditional turn based RPG. You input commands from a menu, and exchange blows with the enemy and all damage is calculated numerically. It’s a little on the simple side because the only characters that ever join your party are Jack and Ryu (thankfully you can use both in these battles when playing solo) and they have the same commands. These include punch, kick, dragon kick and item. Though comparable to Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy these boss battles aren’t as fun as they sound. These are very difficult, and I found myself being forced to retry numerous times. It’s a nice feature, but the developers should have balanced these encounters out a little more.
Little Ninja Brothers isn’t a particularly good looking game. The characters look really nice inside of battle, but while on the world map the models are extremely simple with bland environments. It’s a stark contrast for sure. The game also suffers from a fair amount of slowdown which can make battles move at a snail’s pace, but it isn’t game breaking by any means. The soundtrack fares a little better in my opinion. The NES’ sound chip is able to create music that sounds very traditionally Chinese, and it adds tons of atmosphere. The soundtrack isn’t exceptional by any means, but it fits the game really well.
Although Little Ninja Brothers, with its theme and zany atmosphere, is an extremely niche title (and not particularly valuable) I still recommend it. So few have ever heard of this game, but it’s one that I will never forget. Little Ninja Brothers is one of my favorite multiplayer titles on the NES. This is a genre that most developers weren’t experimenting with multiplayer, and it makes Little Ninja Brothers so unique from everything else. Just be prepared for a very difficult game. It’s not Ghosts ‘N Goblins hard, but Little Ninja Brothers packs quite the punch.
