Mystical Ninja is one of those games that you look at, and initially don’t think much of. Once you pick it up and play it however, most people will change their mind.
The game starts in an overhead view, which allows you to move up, down, left, right, and lets you jump. You are armed with a pipe, and your objective is to banish a ghost woman haunting the local temple. Despite this noble cause, all the villagers seem to be out to get you and you must defend yourself with your pipe.
The more you play, the longer your pipe will get, and then eventually transform into a yo-yo. That has spikes on it. In addition to this basic weapon, you can also attack with money and bombs. Once you manage to pass through the village and enter the temple, the gameplay switches to a platform mode. Left, right, jumping, and falling. This happens throughout the game, with the more RPG like parts of the game keeping the overhead, and the dungeons playing as sidescrollers. A fun little combination of several game styles.
The temple is saved, ghost woman defeated, and the storyline quickly develops into the rescue of the princess of the cats, which may sound ridiculous, but no more so than some other games. You are automatically
sent to the next village, where you again begin to explore and find out what the local troubles are.
While this sounds fairly boring, you also have an assortment of armors, hats, and shoes that you can purchase through the game. These will help you defend yourself against damaging hits, and improve some of your moves, such as jumping and running. Later in the game you will also have access to magic, for some ridiculously high costs which you have to re-purchase in every region.
In addition to the main story, there are a huge number of minigames spread throughout the towns. From whack-a-mole to painting as much of a white screen as possible. There’s also lotteries and horse racing, all sorts of ways for you to make more money, which can be used to buy more equipment, pizza, or to be thrown away to defeat your enemies.
Altogether an enjoyable game. It may not be the most challenging to people who are expert gamers, but it will entertain and let you waste some time.
