Arcade Archives Ninja-Kid Review

Arcade Archives Ninja-Kid was a game I was about to write off until I actually played it.

First off let me say that Arcade Archives have been putting out some excellent arcade ports to the PlayStation 4. Ninja-Kid is currently the 6th Arcade game released. 

Ninja-Kid was originally released in Japanese arcades in 1984 by UPL. In Ninja-kid you play a ninja your objective is to clear out each screen of enemies to advance to the next. Along the way you will collect scrolls from fallen enemies which will add bonus points to your score, also you will come across falling balls, collecting three will take you to a bonus stage where you will collect more balls for bonus points. 

This game has a fair difficulty level, The Jumping mechanics will take some getting used to but once you get the hang of it you will feel like a ninja. The way you jump up is by pressing a direction left or right and holding down the jump button, simply pressing it will make you drop down a level. This can cause frustration at first but it won't take long for you to master. You have one attack in the game and that is your ninja-stars, you also have the ablility to drop down on your enemies and stun them or jumping up on an angle and hitting one will also stun them. This is great and provides solid tactics for taking on enemies, especially later on when things get even more challenging. 

The music in the game is very charming and suites the tone well, I keep having to tell myself this is an arcade game from 1984, while playing it because the game is excellent from a sound and music level. Visually the game looks excellent for the time it was made, if you are very much a fan of retro games you will love this, the stages will repeat and can look bland at times but the game shifts the stages up by switching from day to night which changes up the color pallet. Over all I was very impressed.

Ninja-Kid was a game that I honestly didn't think I would like, I figured Hamster the company that produces these games would eventually falter, Ninja-Kid isn't that game. In Fact it is one I strongly recommend to any fans of  retro games, modern gamers will find enjoyment as well just know before going in this game is all about the highscore, which like all Arcade Archive releases the game supports online leaderboards.

Over all Arcade Archives Ninja-Kid is a fun arcade port, of a game sadly most will have missed out on when it was first released (myself included). The game isn't perfect but is definitly fun and addictive to play for short periods of time. I would have liked this update to have fixed the jumping mechanics, but that's the only major negative I can come up with, Excellent graphics for an early 80's game and enough enemy diversity and fun gameplay mechanics, make this worth checking out. The game is currently available for $7.99 on PlayStation Network, and is a PlayStaion 4 exclusive. Check it out. 

Score:

7/10

-Retro Forward Dave: likes retro games and you can follow me on twitter @retro _forward