Man i played this for hours and never realised you could just run past them and not bother to fight.. I hardly got anywhere, so used to just load the game up and listen to the music! Happy days though :)
I used to love this especially the music.C64 music was the greatest. 20 years on and I still have my c64 which still works. Its been in the attic for about 17 years but I took it down the other day with about 200 games I had and it works a treat. My favourite machine. I will never get rid of it. A classic
This and Last Ninja 2...the top of the line of all times. The dearest games from the past, the most lasting effect, the most enduring memories, the game and the time will never be forgotten...my God this music is brilliant, they have never outshined this and they never will.
Nothing on this earth can beat old school game music. It's just so brilliant, it brings back so many nice memories from a time that I will never forget...
This was my favourite C64 game. I bought my C64 to play this game after playing it round my mate's house. And the music on level 1 was my favourite computer game music of all time. In fact music for the whole game was great. Work of genius. Ben Dalglish, I salute you.
the loving memories, just to think how many countless hours i spent playing this game and the music in the game just gives me the chills, i love this game
One of the first complete games in my mind when it was released back in 1987. Not only was the gameplay awesome, the problem solving puzzles, great humour, cameos and superb music made this game one to remember forever. In a time when most games had 1 or 2 melodies at best (usually short and repetitive), The Last Ninja had really great music for each level, and also for the casette loading too. Who doesn't remember the creepy melody from the Dungeon?
Man this was "The" most anticipated game back in the day on the C64 - I remember they did a give away on a magazine called Zzap64 which had a tape (showing age) with a demo of one level of the game on it way way before it came out. When it finally did, I ran to the shop to get a copy clutching my £10 birthday money. Every level of this game was a jaw droppping experience as a kid - truly a great game and a fantastic post. Congrats.
xussia I agree and remember it myself. I also had only seen screenshots from magazines but that alone seemed impressive enough.When I played the game for real my jaw dropped,it was better than I had ever hoped for.The design of the levels,the puzzles and nice detail.Lovely fountains and waterfalls.The music was in a class of its own back in 1987.This game made my summer of 1987 one of the best ever.
Definitely one of my favorite games of all time.I even remember some of the frustrating moments (like swamp jumps) with a sort of nostalgia. And above all, the music that seemed to stretch C64's capabilities to 110%. These longplays make it seem easy... Of course, it seems much easier now that I'm older (was 12-13 when I first played it) but it certainly needed a good deal of effort and thought.
Wow. Some serious ninja skills on show here. Having played the game in the late 80s I know how hard the swamp and stepping stones are on a kempston joystick. The music is timeless,pure brilliance. Great upload sir!
Wow, after watching This I'm gonna take out my Old Commodore 128 and Start Playing it Again, brings me Back to my Childhood, such a Masterpiece of Video Games
Jesus, making so various soundtrack like this on C64, was achievement all by itself. This was one of my favorite games on C64, even If I didn't know how to complete it. Bruce Lee was great too.
This game was THE block buster in 1987/88. I just hope that younger generations watch this, study it and learn the history of computer gaming. Don't know if it's nostalgia that gets to me but I find this software has got more soul than with any today's releases like "Halo" and such.. 3d games...naaah, who needs it when you've got 45 degrees ninja style?!!! :-D
Ah the memories.......... What a cracking game. Reminds me of when I was 8 year old. I can remember that neither me or my mates could get past the dragon on the 1st level. We were stuck for months. I'll never forget the moment I tried out the smoke bomb and killed it. I couldn't sleep that night waiting to tell everyone the next day. How good is the music too!!!!
looking back at this game remindes me of why i started to play videogames, this game was fantastic when it was new, and il bet some agree whit me that it still is.
I bought a C64 to play this game, after playing it round a friend's house back in I think 1987! I completed the game and my friend didn't believe me as he couldn't get past jumping the water! Absolutely love the soundtrack. Games back then had a certain class that you don't get nowadays - especially this one. Fantastic game with fantastic music. I remember wondering what to do once I'd completed it! Then Last Ninja 2 came out...
Oh my.... Last Ninja 1 and 2 were my most top famous game. Got them when I bought my first Commodore and instantly when the parts came to the market. The coolest games of all times. For the music... Last Ninja 1 first level...... best gametrack ever!
@corgan59 I agree. The graphics in the old games fired up the imagination like a book or listening to the radio, and each person created the best images for themselves. When I played this game, it was magical. I can't say I feel this way anymore, but then again, I was ,,5, 6 or 7 years old when I played c64, and a lot felt magical.
WTF...that's crazy that the length of the song for the 2nd level is exactly as long as it took you to run through it. That song is so nuts, btw. My favorite SID tune. Straight up psychedelic, could never get away with it today.
Today I have plugged the good old C64 in my TV - the equipment slept in the basement for 25 years, entered the well known command > Load "THE LAST NINJA",8,1 < and to my surprise this game still works :-)
I was playing this with the Commodore Datasette 1530, and the loading times were half the experience... You had to take a 20 min break between levels, eat some homemade cookies grandma made and pray to the electro God nothing went wrong. Gaming was magic back in the days...
Now that is a tune. I used to time doing certain things to add drama to my game play. For example... picking up the sword just as the music starts to rev up (1.07 on this video). Wow. I was awesome.
It really is amazing how they could squeeze so much animation, background graphics, (awesome) music and programming into 64k! One of my all time favourite games, and the music takes a big part of the credit for that. They don't make soundtracks like these anymore.
heck with you i think actually given the sfx possibillities they really worked a really eufioric cathy music that gets you in the mood ;) (asap posted as one of my favorites ;)
What a classic, I remember the Last Ninja games well. It's funny how difficult I find them when playing on emulators etc - I must have been damn determined to complete them.
man... he jumped the swap and the stones on the first try. remember the first tries to do that (impossible!!!!) i remember the music. dropped dead when i heard the soundtrack in the first stage. still is THE best game music. and when listening to the "the garden" music, it just grows on you! in my opinion it's in the top 3 of all games ever. Hej då!
Oh the memories this was hitec graphics back in the days !!! Lol C64 & The Amiga good times Head over Heels, IK+, Yie Ar Kung-fu, Speedball, Bubble Bobble, Barbarian 1&2,Wizball,RoboCop, gods, ohh GOODTIMES!!!
I remember back in 1987 when this game was new... i was amazed how good the graphics were. I couldn't imagine better graphics!! Haha! It's funny to think about today. The music is just classic!! I've heard techno remixes of this song in this decade. It still lives. I've also heard that they've been trying to make The Last Ninja 4 since 2003 or 2004 now but they can't get it good enough.
I played this game when I was like 6 or 7 and I remember that the dungeaon level scared the crap out of me. The combination of the music, the skeletons and the dread of the big spider. Great times. Was a bit of a masochist sine I kept playing this game :)
This was my brothers favorite game for years. The river part was always a pain. Hah.... I used to play it alot as well when it first came out. Best sid music ever.
@laffer35 I know what you mean, I'm addicted to c64 games soundtracks. The fact that you can program a computer to surpass human beings and make it play what you want is pretty amazing.
The days where programmers would make some amazing with a fraction of storage space. Today a new game comes out and immediately has a 10GB patch the next day......................... Props to the SID chip.
I agree, these games have some of the best soundtracks ever. And the jumping becomes easy once you've done it a few times, just have to memorize the pattern :)
This was when I was in 6th grade... I was kinda terrible at this game but I loved the eerie ambient music. A couple years later I found out about Aphex Twin...
The game has got really good music and much better fantasy than today games! today the programmers mostly fill their energy to make good graphics! The last ninja is the best c64 game with wonderful music!!! I really love it and play with it for more than 19 years
this game and Internatonal Karate have the best music in history of games. Just a couple of synths and that's it but it has lot of emotion, represent perfectly the mood of the game.
One of the best series of classic games ever. The classic part of the music from 2.02-2.40- Has anybody ever heard the Dragonforce song, "Revelations"? Theres a part in its guitar solo,round the 4 minute mark,thats a complete steal of that Last Ninja Music!
Nice speed run. The stupid swamp in Level 2 cost me more lives than any other part. But good times. Still love the creepy theme of the Dungeons. I haven't found that many games featuring music by Ben Daglish (Vikings,e.g.)
The best game I had on C64. I actually got this game maybe a year before I got my Amiga 500. I'm hoping maybe they can bring this awesome game as a PSP mini or something! The ultimate ninja game would perhaps have this kind of music with Ninja Gaiden Sigma/Tenchu Shadow Assassins mixed elements of gameplay...
The most wonderful music ever created for a video game in 1987 and beyond.
Man i played this for hours and never realised you could just run past them and not bother to fight.. I hardly got anywhere, so used to just load the game up and listen to the music!
Happy days though :)
+G Allan haha same.. i never completed this game.. never got past the jumping parts lol
And several ones would... commit seppuku/harakiri if you just got past them?
I agree, the best C64 Music, i have ever heard. I miss last ninja and the commodore64 - Childhood Memories..
I used to love this especially the music.C64 music was the greatest. 20 years on and I still have my c64 which still works. Its been in the attic for about 17 years but I took it down the other day with about 200 games I had and it works a treat. My favourite machine. I will never get rid of it. A classic
the music brings a tear to my eye, my childhood commodore c64 my first computer, last ninja the most awesome game for its time..
I loved this game, and the music on the first level is something else, even today!!
This and Last Ninja 2...the top of the line of all times. The dearest games from the past, the most lasting effect, the most enduring memories, the game and the time will never be forgotten...my God this music is brilliant, they have never outshined this and they never will.
Had to view this made me feel like I was 12 again I found this game so difficult lol. My sister and I played it on my c64.
Thanks for the nostalgia.
Nothing on this earth can beat old school game music. It's just so brilliant, it brings back so many nice memories from a time that I will never forget...
no new games can macth the greatness of the music in these old games there so much effort put in to them
This was my favourite C64 game. I bought my C64 to play this game after playing it round my mate's house. And the music on level 1 was my favourite computer game music of all time. In fact music for the whole game was great. Work of genius. Ben Dalglish, I salute you.
the loving memories, just to think how many countless hours i spent playing this game and the music in the game just gives me the chills, i love this game
I was blown away by this game when it came out but it was too hard for me to play so I watched my older brothers and I had just as fun watching it.
ahhhhhh! goosebumps!!!! played this back in late 80's! for me, it was a darn hard game!
One of the first complete games in my mind when it was released back in 1987. Not only was the gameplay awesome, the problem solving puzzles, great humour, cameos and superb music made this game one to remember forever.
In a time when most games had 1 or 2 melodies at best (usually short and repetitive), The Last Ninja had really great music for each level, and also for the casette loading too. Who doesn't remember the creepy melody from the Dungeon?
Man this was "The" most anticipated game back in the day on the C64 - I remember they did a give away on a magazine called Zzap64 which had a tape (showing age) with a demo of one level of the game on it way way before it came out. When it finally did, I ran to the shop to get a copy clutching my £10 birthday money. Every level of this game was a jaw droppping experience as a kid - truly a great game and a fantastic post. Congrats.
xussia I agree and remember it myself. I also had only seen screenshots from magazines but that alone seemed impressive enough.When I played the game for real my jaw dropped,it was better than I had ever hoped for.The design of the levels,the puzzles and nice detail.Lovely fountains and waterfalls.The music was in a class of its own back in 1987.This game made my summer of 1987 one of the best ever.
This Sound is genius OMG!
Oh man, the memories... I loved this game... the music and the landscapes are amazing!
Definitely one of my favorite games of all time.I even remember some of the frustrating moments (like swamp jumps) with a sort of nostalgia. And above all, the music that seemed to stretch C64's capabilities to 110%.
These longplays make it seem easy... Of course, it seems much easier now that I'm older (was 12-13 when I first played it) but it certainly needed a good deal of effort and thought.
Wow. Some serious ninja skills on show here. Having played the game in the late 80s I know how hard the swamp and stepping stones are on a kempston joystick. The music is timeless,pure brilliance. Great upload sir!
Wow, after watching This I'm gonna take out my Old Commodore 128 and Start Playing it Again, brings me Back to my Childhood, such a Masterpiece of Video Games
Jesus, making so various soundtrack like this on C64, was achievement all by itself. This was one of my favorite games on C64, even If I didn't know how to complete it. Bruce Lee was great too.
This game was THE block buster in 1987/88. I just hope that younger generations watch this, study it and learn the history of computer gaming.
Don't know if it's nostalgia that gets to me but I find this software has got more soul than with any today's releases like "Halo" and such..
3d games...naaah, who needs it when you've got 45 degrees ninja style?!!! :-D
Ah the memories.......... What a cracking game. Reminds me of when I was 8 year old. I can remember that neither me or my mates could get past the dragon on the 1st level. We were stuck for months. I'll never forget the moment I tried out the smoke bomb and killed it. I couldn't sleep that night waiting to tell everyone the next day.
How good is the music too!!!!
looking back at this game remindes me of why i started to play videogames, this game was fantastic when it was new, and il bet some agree whit me that it still is.
Agreed barwis1911, I'm 26 and I grew up with the C64. Man these were some of the good 'ol days.
Awesome Game!!! brings back so many memories. Game are just not the same today. Thanks for putting this up and letting me relive my childhood
I bought a C64 to play this game, after playing it round a friend's house back in I think 1987!
I completed the game and my friend didn't believe me as he couldn't get past jumping the water!
Absolutely love the soundtrack. Games back then had a certain class that you don't get nowadays - especially this one. Fantastic game with fantastic music. I remember wondering what to do once I'd completed it! Then Last Ninja 2 came out...
Just purchased the C64 mini and this classic is the first game I'm gonna load up, ahhh the memories.
Oh my.... Last Ninja 1 and 2 were my most top famous game. Got them when I bought my first Commodore and instantly when the parts came to the market.
The coolest games of all times.
For the music... Last Ninja 1 first level...... best gametrack ever!
Remember this as quite the iconic game when I was younger..
This takes me back.
Goddamn I used to spend hours playing this when I should have been doing homework.
I love this game.
In the year 1987 this game was an sensation. And now 23 years later this game is still as good and if not better nowadays.
This brings back fond memories. The soundtrack is so awesome!
Last Ninja, pearl of computer games and one of the best series ever!! Loved all the parts. I and II were outstanding (esp. Part II)!
The music is just magic! Blows my mind even today!
@corgan59 I agree. The graphics in the old games fired up the imagination like a book or listening to the radio, and each person created the best images for themselves. When I played this game, it was magical. I can't say I feel this way anymore, but then again, I was ,,5, 6 or 7 years old when I played c64, and a lot felt magical.
WTF...that's crazy that the length of the song for the 2nd level is exactly as long as it took you to run through it.
That song is so nuts, btw. My favorite SID tune. Straight up psychedelic, could never get away with it today.
Without a doubt, THE best gameing experience of my life!! The music of ALL the lvls is just epic! I
Today I have plugged the good old C64 in my TV - the equipment slept in the basement for 25 years,
entered the well known command > Load "THE LAST NINJA",8,1 < and to my surprise this game still works :-)
this game brings back memories. game play and music was awesome too
I was playing this with the Commodore Datasette 1530, and the loading times were half the experience... You had to take a 20 min break between levels, eat some homemade cookies grandma made and pray to the electro God nothing went wrong. Gaming was magic back in the days...
Now that is a tune. I used to time doing certain things to add drama to my game play. For example... picking up the sword just as the music starts to rev up (1.07 on this video). Wow. I was awesome.
It really is amazing how they could squeeze so much animation, background graphics, (awesome) music and programming into 64k!
One of my all time favourite games, and the music takes a big part of the credit for that. They don't make soundtracks like these anymore.
The best music ever in a computer game, I have tears in my eyes.
Good to see another ninja lover. I still play this game from time to time, but you must be the best one I`ve ever seen.
heck with you i think actually given the sfx possibillities they really worked a really eufioric cathy music that gets you in the mood ;) (asap posted as one of my favorites ;)
NINJA MAGIC!!! I love this game. 64k memory. Programmers made great games with limited resources in the 80's.
Yes. It was often like that with old games.
But it's one of the coolest soundtracks I know of, though.
Great post, great walkthrough, hands down... Brings back so many memories, you just made my day :D
What a classic, I remember the Last Ninja games well. It's funny how difficult I find them when playing on emulators etc - I must have been damn determined to complete them.
brings up soooooooo much memories when i was a little kid! thanks!
man... he jumped the swap and the stones on the first try. remember the first tries to do that (impossible!!!!) i remember the music. dropped dead when i heard the soundtrack in the first stage. still is THE best game music. and when listening to the "the garden" music, it just grows on you! in my opinion it's in the top 3 of all games ever. Hej då!
Oh the memories this was hitec graphics back in the days !!! Lol C64 & The Amiga good times Head over Heels, IK+, Yie Ar Kung-fu, Speedball, Bubble Bobble, Barbarian 1&2,Wizball,RoboCop, gods, ohh GOODTIMES!!!
I remember back in 1987 when this game was new... i was amazed how good the graphics were. I couldn't imagine better graphics!! Haha! It's funny to think about today.
The music is just classic!! I've heard techno remixes of this song in this decade. It still lives.
I've also heard that they've been trying to make The Last Ninja 4 since 2003 or 2004 now but they can't get it good enough.
Last Ninja: one of the main reasons for C64 existence and success.
1987 What a ground breaking year in the gaming history it was.
My favorite is the wilderness, just imagine that with a bass guitar.
I LOOOVED that song on the first area as a kid man its awesome
Good times.... good times.... single tear of nostalgy.
the soundtrack to this game bent my head for many years.
I played this game when I was like 6 or 7 and I remember that the dungeaon level scared the crap out of me. The combination of the music, the skeletons and the dread of the big spider.
Great times. Was a bit of a masochist sine I kept playing this game :)
The SID chip...genius :)
This was my brothers favorite game for years. The river part was always a pain. Hah.... I used to play it alot as well when it first came out. Best sid music ever.
@laffer35 I know what you mean, I'm addicted to c64 games soundtracks.
The fact that you can program a computer to surpass human beings and make it play what you want is pretty amazing.
Classic,but getting over those stones didn't half piss me off!!..But that music..genius.
this was one of my top 5 favorite games, but had the best music of them all
bring back memories....i have forgotten this game...
Was one of my faves growing up. I even have tons of fan created music :-)
Definately! I keep havin a fantasy about a last ninja movie, with modern music versions of this soundtrack. GOD that would be awesome
This must be the best computer game of the 1980's and beyond. And the magical music is even better than??
The days where programmers would make some amazing with a fraction of storage space.
Today a new game comes out and immediately has a 10GB patch the next day......................... Props to the SID chip.
I agree, these games have some of the best soundtracks ever.
And the jumping becomes easy once you've done it a few times, just have to memorize the pattern :)
wow the music is awesome
This was when I was in 6th grade... I was kinda terrible at this game but I loved the eerie ambient music. A couple years later I found out about Aphex Twin...
Just makes me moist, those were the days.... x
The game has got really good music and much better fantasy than today games! today the programmers mostly fill their energy to make good graphics! The last ninja is the best c64 game with wonderful music!!! I really love it and play with it for more than 19 years
This game had more story, spirit and inspriation than any modern 3D blockbuster.
This was the c64:
Games so hard, that tears came (you could play for hours, just to bei forced to start the game again), but we always went that way.
Thanks so much for sharing this with us all, love the music, my favourite if the 3 games was the 2nd game.
this game and Internatonal Karate have the best music in history of games. Just a couple of synths and that's it but it has lot of emotion, represent perfectly the mood of the game.
Do I use the sharp bladed sword....?
Nooooooooo.
Prefer to whack baddies over the head with a bit of bamboo?
Yeeeeeeeees.
Oh, and a shuriken
Big thanks for posting this!! i played this as a child and the rivers made me cracy:))
first time i played this game i was blown away at its detail and graphics.LOL.
This is the GAME!! Fantastic music, gameplay and graphich.
C64 forever!
Man, I used to love this game!!! They were making a Last Ninja game a few years back but it got canceled for some reason.
what a score. the sound the music is soooo 80s. The SID CHip!!!
this game is just awesome, the music is on of the best
Brilliant! Seriously! I just lost 20 years... It would make a brilliant dance song. x
The best soundtrack ever in a game.
I used to love this game! How glad was I when I found all three Last Ninja games are available to download on the Wii. Who cares about my Xbox!!
One of the best series of classic games ever.
The classic part of the music from 2.02-2.40-
Has anybody ever heard the Dragonforce song, "Revelations"?
Theres a part in its guitar solo,round the 4 minute mark,thats a complete steal of that Last Ninja Music!
a hint. there are tons of Remxies of last ninja on the Internet guys.... many of them are awesome :)
At that time I didn't know what to do with that dragon !!!!!! LOL :) Thank you, You brought back old memories....
This piece of wonder is the Commodore 64's best selling game in it's history with over 2 million copies sold to date.
Nice speed run.
The stupid swamp in Level 2 cost me more lives than any other part. But good times. Still love the creepy theme of the Dungeons. I haven't found that many games featuring music by Ben Daglish (Vikings,e.g.)
We should all get together have a beer and cry about good old times and how fast the time passes.
Holy hell the music in this game is beyond epic.
The best game I had on C64. I actually got this game maybe a year before I got my Amiga 500. I'm hoping maybe they can bring this awesome game as a PSP mini or something! The ultimate ninja game would perhaps have this kind of music with Ninja Gaiden Sigma/Tenchu Shadow Assassins mixed elements of gameplay...