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- T H E L A S T N I N J A
- for the C-64
- by Cleveland M. Blakemore
-
- You stood by the burning ruins of
- your dojo, cradling your master's head
- in your arms as he breathed his last
- breath. Before the light faded from
- his eyes, he spoke one final time.
-
- "Grasshopper. You must revenge the
- school, or all is lost," he said,
- coughing up blood. "Go and get your
- uniform out of the dry cleaner's."
-
- "Master, who did this to you?" you
- asked.
-
- "You ask who has done this,
- tadpole? The temple of Hakuro. The
- evil Ninja sect has been raising baby
- dragons to use as weapons against
- their enemies. You must penetrate the
- temple, battle the evil Ninja, and
- slay the dragons, or this will happen
- to all of Japan!" he said, waving his
- hand at the scorched rubble of the
- dojo.
-
- "When you have defeated the
- guardians of the temple, you will
- reach the upper level of
- consciousness, and meet your greatest
- enemy!" he said as he collapsed.
-
- Right up to the end, none of his
- words were in sync with his lips, in
- the tradition of the true martial
- artist.
-
- The Last Ninja is a multilevel
- game with smooth scrolling scenery
- from right to left. You are a black
- Ninja armed with a sword and an
- endless supply of shurikens (throwing
- stars).
-
- You must confront a multitude of
- deadly opponents, from sword-wielding
- evil Ninjas to fire-breathing dragons.
- You will also have to learn how to
- deflect or avoid flying objects and
- use your acrobatic skills to leap
- bottomless pits which are placed at
- regular intervals throughout the
- temple. Each opponent is stronger than
- the last, and you may have to hit him
- numerous times to destroy him.
-
- You have only one life per game,
- with a limited amount of "chi," or
- life-force. When this chi is used up,
- you are dead.
-
- Being struck by projectiles takes
- away chi, and so does falling in pits
- or touching your lethal opponents. The
- only way to protect yourself is with
- your sword and your mobility.
-
- You can raise your sword to block
- missiles, and you can do gymnastic
- flips over the bottomless pits. You
- can flip backwards as well as
- forwards, which can come in handy if
- you are trying to leap out of the path
- of projectiles.
-
- You can also throw shurikens, but
- you will soon find it takes a great
- deal of practice to develop accuracy.
- A shuriken does a great deal of
- damage, however, if it makes contact.
-
- The controls, with a joystick in
- Port 2, are as follows:
-
- UP: Go into kneeling position. Your
- hand will start flicking up and
- down. Press the button to release
- the shuriken when your hands come
- together on the screen to throw
- straight ahead of you. Pressing
- the button at other angles throws
- the shuriken in different
- trajectories. When your upper hand
- is pointing in the direction you
- want the shuriken to fly, press
- the button.
-
- DOWN: Go into ducking position. You
- will kneel down on all fours. If
- you release the joystick, you will
- stay at floor level, but holding
- it down will cause you to crouch a
- little lower.
-
- RIGHT w/button down: Slash sword
- right. You can deflect any
- projectile that touches you if the
- sword is forward when you make
- contact with it. If it is back,
- the projectile will hit you. If
- you strike an opponent with the
- sword forward, he will be knocked
- back and will suffer damage.
-
- LEFT w/button down: Slash sword left.
- Can sometimes be used to hit a
- projectile after it has passed
- you.
-
- RIGHT and UP: Flip forward. You must
- time this move perfectly to leap
- over a pit in a spinning flip. If
- you time it right, you will land
- on the other side safely. If not,
- you will fall in and lose
- life-force.
-
- LEFT and UP: Flip backwards. If you
- are feeling cocky and think you
- have the timing down sufficiently
- to pull it off, you can use this
- move to flip over low flying
- objects as they pass under you.
-
- RIGHT: Move right. If you are
- kneeling, you will continue to
- creep forward on your toes. The
- screen scrolls left as you move
- along.
-
- LEFT: Move back. The screen will not
- scroll when you move left.
-
-
- When the game begins, you will
- appear at the entrance to the temple
- in a position of prayer. Move the
- joystick to get up. Whenever you
- stumble into a pit, you will also need
- a moment of prayer to summon your
- internal powers before you continue
- with your quest.
-
- When you reach each new level in
- the temple, the screen border color
- will change. This is to alert you that
- the level challenger is approaching.
- The challenger will not begin to hurl
- missiles at you until he has moved 1/4
- into the screen. You can use this time
- lag to strike him with shurikens. When
- he begins to throw missiles, however,
- be prepared to duck!
-
- Each challenger has a different
- type of projectile, and they travel at
- different speeds. The challenger may
- hurl a shuriken, fireball, or even a
- baby dragon. If you do not duck, you
- will lose life-force when you are
- struck.
-
- When your chi is completely gone,
- the game is over and you will return
- to the title screen, with your rank
- displayed in the red bar at the
- bottom.
-
- The ranks are as follows :
-
- 1st level: Adept
- 2nd level: Shugyo
- 3rd level: Yudansha
- 4th level: Tiger
- 5th level: Dragon
- 6th level: Ninja
- 7th level: Shinobi
- 8th level: Sensi
- 9th leven: Shidoshi
- 10th level: Jonin
-
-
- The game is fairly difficult until
- you can master the skills of the
- Ninja, so don't be surprised if you
- spend a lot of time practicing as an
- Adept. You can stay in one place and
- practice throwing at projectiles
- before moving onto the next level, so
- try to develop some accuracy with the
- throwing stars!
-
- For those of you who make it, you
- will find a very unusual opponent at
- the end of the Temple of Hakuro. Here
- is a hint...
-
- To be Ninja is to know oneself,
- to face the dark side of the
- inner soul and conquer....
-
- -Daisuke Nishina
- Founder of
- Tokakure Ryu Ninjutsu
-
- CMB
-
-
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