This week's Arcade Archives release is... The Ninja Kids (Taito, 1991)
Despite the 1990 copyright date, The Ninja Kids was released in early 1991 according to アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971-2005) , a source used for many arcade game release dates. Both the Japanese and World ROM are included, meaning the censorship introduced in the US ROM as documented on The Cutting Room Floor is not present- references to THE SATAN and the pentagrams are all present and correct! Slight edits have been made to flashing colours- the legal notice seen on boot-up in the Japanese ROM, as well as removing the text, massively reduces the speed of the colours that flash and Hanzo's Ninja Magic causes the screen to flash a dull grey instead of white. Preference settings allow players to adjust the time it takes for the hurry-up crows to appear- keep it the same, slow it down or make them not appear at all.
I will present to you, in full, the opening text of the attract mode of The Ninja Kids to summarise the plot:
... In the 7th month of 1999,
A great king of terror flyed
down from the sky...
Now is the end of a century.
Because of the "SATANISTS"
who wished the resurrection
of satan realized, the town
became an unlawful town.
But, there is a ray of hope.
Four young men who have
mysterious "NINJA" power;
people call them
as "NINJA KIDS"
Are there any questions? As one of the four Ninja Kids who are all dolls or puppets of some kind (Hanzo in blue with a katana and the power of water, Sasuke in yellow with a chain-sickle and the power of wind, Akane in red with shuriken and the power of fire and Genta in green with a three-point staff and the power of earth) or up to four of them in co-op (set via dip switches), you've got to take the city back from the forces of THE SATAN! As well as their weapon of choice for attacking and a nimble dash, each Ninja Kid can use scrolls to use their Ninja Magic to damage everything on screen, plus there are many items to discover that do things like stop time or make your ninja invincible, but you'll have to find them by destroying the scenery to uncover the goodies within. Save the town by destroying a lot of it, just like my idols, the Dirty Pair!
So, if you've never seen The Ninja Kids, this game is a lot, and it's one of those Taito games I had no idea existed until I played it in RAINE way back when and immediately developed a soft spot for it. Taito wanted that scrolling brawler money but the ones they developed are all very different from the norm- there's this, Growl, Riding Fight, Pu.Li.Ru.La and Warrior Blade, which all either utilise themes very different from others in the genre or just play strangely. The Ninja Kids is a bit of both, with unique presentation and some interesting mechanics. As mentioned, you can destroy the scenery to get new items and that doesn't always mean the usual things like phone booths or oil drums, that can mean walls, counter-tops, parts of buildings, the entire set of chairs and tables in a fast food restaurant, if it's not nailed down you can probably destroy it! It's pretty satisfying to trash these scenes, but it does frontload a lot of it- there's less destruction to be had past the first round, but it's still there and there's also hostages to rescue for extra items.
The combat itself might be a bit flimsy for some, definitely more along the lines of earlier Konami brawlers than Capcom ones, with collision detection that can sometimes be frustratingly vague and a surprisingly punishing health system where almost every hit will take off one block of health, and you can only have five! However, the characters are all a little different from one another (personally, I think Hanzo's the best because of his dash attack, but maybe you can pick out a favourite) and there's even an evasion move not only for horizontal movement but vertical movement too, a bit of a rarity at this point in time. It's definitely improved by playing with a group of friends, but generally it's fine enough and worth at least one session to see how the combat feels to you.
Of course, there's two things that really stand out about this one, and that's the story and the presentation. Well, I say 'story' but what I really mean is the English text- this is present in the Japanese ROM too (with Japanese subtitles!) and, well, no-one tells Taito to proofread any English text they put in their games, it is beautiful. You have round names like AN AIMED TOWN and THE LAST SEVERE FIGHT and cutscenes peppered with incredible phrases like "HERE IS A GRAVEYARD OF YOU!", "DO YOU FEEL OUR POWER." (no question mark or anything) and my personal favourite pictured above, "WRETCH! NINJA KIDS!". It is so goofy and precious, I wouldn't change a single word of it.
The presentation is also really interesting, as it goes for a puppet-like look for most of the characters. Big googly eyes, large noses, giant mouths that flap up and down... It's certainly an eye-catching choice and different from what you can see in the early design docs in the Hamster stream even if not every character neatly fits into it (the Satanists in particular). This is something that contrasts a little with the extreme violence on display, as enemies get split in two, have their arms lopped off, burst like balloons, explode into paper confetti... It's bloodless violence (well, except for the zombie dragging its entrails across the floor) but it's really over-the-top, plus you're also fighting THE SATAN so it's clearly all a little silly. Also, searing-hot jams. The main issue of the presentation is a few enemy types lean into unfortunate stereotypes and charicatures that stick out nowadays, a bit of a shame. Still, it's certainly a memorable game and one that leaves an impression, so perhaps you'd like to give it a try and fight THE SATAN together!
