The origins of the Ninja JaJaMaru-kun series are all but perfectly detailed within the pages of the excellent HardcoreGaming101 website yet perhaps the final series’s entry: this sole original 3DS entry from 2013 – and one sadly destined never to be localised – not only encompasses everything that is great about Ninja JaJaMaru-kun but also mixes (nearly) all the series’ best bits together, adds in a bit of 3D and jam packs everything into one tiny cartridge (hiya guys!).
If first impressions truly count for anything then Ninja JaJaMaru-kun is an instant 10/10 to most hardcore Famicom fans. Not in the Kickstarter or iOS ‘throw a few pixels together’ kinda way but in an absolute homage to old-school Family Computer ethos with truly beautiful sprite work that looks like a game pushing the Super Famicom to its utmost limits as opposed to the inauthentic attempt at ‘authenticity’ with the advent of hipster sprites from this smartphone generation.
Add in the most stereotypical Japanese of music which sounds like a hybrid of both Ganbare Goemon and ‘80’s WWF racial profiling and it soon becomes clear who Hamster/Jaleco are marketing this 3DS platformer towards. With the inclusion of superb presentation comprising of non-intrusive cutscenes which appear as the storyline unfolds then Ninja JaJaMaru-kun: Sakura-hime to Karyu no Himitsu (to give its rather cumbersome full name) is almost the perfect package.
Obviously having excellent graphics, soundtrack, presentation and ethos count for little if the platform action is subpar. Fortunately Hamster not only reap the catalogue of the Ninja JaJaMaru-kun series for inspiration but the whole 8 and 16-bit eras too with a multitude of weapons, collectibles, power-ups, warp-zones and excellent enemy sprites ‘borrowed’ from popular series even adding in rope-swings from one of my childhood favourite games Donkey Kong Jnr.
Unfortunately (or fortunately if you are actually competent at gaming) this means the often lethal dose of intense difficulty from the ‘80’s is too intact. On the plus side restart points and continues have a distinctly more modern mindset in their distribution resulting in this inevitable frustration being somewhat short lived. The difficulty still maybe problematic to some and the game’s jumping only intensifies this but overall if this is Ninja JaJaMaru-kun’s final game then it certainly is a fine way to die.
8/10
Review by Bri Bri. For more information on Ninja JaJaMaru-kun: Sakura-hime to Karyu no Himitsu go here and buy your own copy here.
Sakura-hime to Karyu no Himitsu isn’t the only Ninja Jajamaru-kun title on 3DS as the original Family Computer platformer from 1985 made it to the Virtual Console. Each level is horizontally scrolling although plays more like a pre-Super Mario Bros. platformer (it came a couple of months later) in being little more than a single screen per level with levels continuing on a loop getting progressively harder each time. Graphically it’s incredibly basic although is quite clearly still a Ninja Jajamaru-kun game. Sadly the game hasn’t aged all that well and despite holding some appeal, there are literally dozens of Famicom games on 3DS I’d recommend before this. 4/10
Oira Jajamaru! Sekai Daibōken is probably known to many readers as it’s one of only two Ninja Jajamaru-kun games to be localised (where it is known as Maru’s Mission). Tarnished with a terrible reputation (Nintendo Life scored it a pitiful 2/10), Oira Jajamaru has beautiful sprites designed for a portable screen (think Kirby’s Dreamland or Super Mario Land 2) and is more of a traditional 2D plat ormer much like Ninja Jajamaru-kun 2 (and unlike the first Famicom game above). The controls are whacky (that jump!) but the game is certainly a fun little platformer, although it never realistically challenges the examples set by Nintendo’s first party Game Boy line-up. 6/10
Japanese Nintendo 