Please login to submit a screenshot

Last Ninja 2
◾Platform: C64
◾Wii Points: 500
◾In Real Money: GBP 3.50 / EUR 5 (approx)

So, it seems I incensed many C64 fans with my savage dismissal of The Last Ninja when it popped up on the VC recently. Here's the sequel, and with it a chance to clarify my divisive stance. Or at least annoy everyone all over again. As a craven attention whore, I'll obviously take either.

ln2


You see, I come not to mock The Last Ninja or the fond place it holds in many people's hearts. It is, however, an old game designed for a very specific hardware, now revived under different circumstances where that design is now a hindrance. I'm mostly talking about the control scheme, curious even in the 1980s, which opts for rotational directional movement while mapping vital functions to counter-intuitive tugs on the stick, all of which vary depending on the way you're facing. Throw in an isometric viewpoint and simply gauging distance, and position, results in frustrating trial and error.

This was just about workable on a big chunky eight-way joystick of the Kempston variety, but on the Wii remote's tiny d-pad it's an absolute horror. Even when played with a joypad, the small and sensitive analogue sticks are an awkward fit with this unique method of control, especially when trying to activate items with a diagonal movement or line yourself up with an enemy. The game's infamously fussy precision jumps have been compounded over the years by this fundamental hardware change.

While Last Ninja 2 was a welcome sequel in 1988, it's still blighted by these same problems when played on the Wii twenty years on. Remember then, that this score is not just for The Last Ninja 2 in general, but for The Last Ninja 2 as a digital download on the Wii. Dig out your old fudgebox and load the tape and I bet it's still a blast. Playing it through the prism of this technology? Not so much.

3/10