Nerdicus SNES Review #1 : 3 Ninjas Kick Back

Title :  3 Ninjas Kick Back

Publisher : Sony Imagesoft

Genre : Beat Em Up

Players : 1 / 2 Player

Release Date : 1994

Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $10-$15

So it's time to spice things up a little bit. I know it could be quite tiresome to deal with reading NES reviews constantly, so after hearing the feedback from a few people about doing some 16 bit reviews, I figured the best course of action would be to alternate during the week.

I'll be doing mostly SNES / GENESIS games for my 16 bit reviews and trying to switch off between the two systems as the reviews progress. Also, if a game happens to be released on both SNES and Genesis (which there are a lot), I'll just pick one and review that. Unless there are MAJOR differences in games, I won't review both. I can think of one major difference is the JURASSIC PARK game for SNES and Genesis...two ENTIRELY different games that need to be reviewed separately.

I may even throw in a few NEO GEO games.....if I have the patience for it, and if I can get my game system to work for games that I own.

Anyway, in order to do this effectively, I'll be cutting down my reviews on games I absolutely despise. If I can't get into the game after a few minutes, it's obviously going to be a miss and I'll just review it as is. After all, I've got a huge library of games to go through and little time to do it. Come on, people. I work and write for a living. I've got to bring home the bacon.

So on to the first of many new 16 bit reviews, I'm throwing in this "MEH" version of a platform-esque beat em up inspired by the 3 Ninjas kid flicks. Please tell me you remember the 3 Ninjas movies....do I need to remind you?

Just look at these punk ass kids. LIGHT EM UP!

Well, folks - here we go.

Alright, so it looks like the crew from Home Improvement, but it's not. The three ninjas have been tasked with finding a magical dagger stolen by your sensei's rival. OH and your sensei is the dude from Big Trouble in Little China. Bah, who cares. Let em keep the dagger. He probably sold it to a pawn shop anyway. You start off by choosing your kid ninja, and without a doubt I'm choosing TUM TUM. I mean, who doesn't want to be TUM TUM. His name is TUM TUM. And it's even more classic when you click on his name and he says "LET'S MURDERLIZE HIM" - OH, TUM TUM! You're such a little devil.

As with any beat em up, you just rush through the stage, kicking the crap out of enemies as you go and moving on to the next level. You collect power ups, you make tricky platform jumps, and run to the right...or up or down depending on the level. Traditional formula, nothing crazy done here.

Visually, the game is meh. I've seen better. The cartoonish style was a little jarring at first and looked like an old school Double Dragon, but I got used to it. Music was pretty damn catchy too. So the game doesn't sound too bad, right? The real problem with this game is that it's insanely easy. The characters aren't any different besides the weapons they use, and the levels are so quick and painless. A traditional beat em up would have more enemies on the screen, so this game plays more like an easy platformer.

But then again, this is a 3 Ninjas game, and its catered to a fairly young audience. Can't complain too much. It wasn't too bad, wasn't too great. Not a bad start for my 16 bit reviews......but I don't have any need to fight my way through the game and battle Koga just for a dagger.

I'll leave that to TUM TUM.

Final Score (out of 5) :

Until next time. Keep on gaming!