You are so right. I bought Ninja Kid based on name alone, going on absolutely nothing else but the name. Because if it had NINJA in the name, I knew it had to be fun!
One of the most fascinating things is that there is an entire game mode in Samurai Warriors 3 when it was exclusive to the Wii that is based off of it and Takamaru is actually playable in that game. Something I wouldn't mind in future Samurai Warriors games or at least a Koei Tecmo developed spin-off.
Reminder to everyone: This was rereleased on Game Boy Advance in Japan as part of their Classic NES Series (or whatever the Japanese naming equivalent was).
Famicom Mini series, got a complete copy this year for cheap by sheer luck and it plays pretty well on GBA’s small screen, not to mention how charming the small japanese boxes are, as the cart itself (colored in yellow as the FDS mascot) is contained in a smaller box resembling the FDS original box. I’d recommend this version to anyone looking for roguelike 8-bit games on the go
I have this on my 3DS and it is a classic on par with it's other three FDS siblings(Zelda I, Metroid, Kid Icarus) This is such a fun and well made game. It's a shame that we never got it on the NES back in the day. But maybe Nintendo could revive the series like they did with Kid Icarus.
I remember the music appeared in Super Smash Bros Brawl, and listening to it a lot in the My Music menu. That was the best place to hear it, because the stage it played in was the Mario Bros. stage. And nobody’s going to pick the Mario Bros. stage.
Maybe so but by the time SMB3 was released in the US Nintendo was very well entrenched in the US. I'm in the first year or two (late 85-87) of the NES being available Nintendo wanted to do as little as they could to "rock the boat" with parents groups and the like. Especially with any imagery that could be seen as being satanic or overtly evil looking on their 1st party releases. Just look at other early NES games that things like crosses changed for localization to the US. Also, I'm sure this game was never localized by Nintendo because early on in the life of the NES Nintendo wanted games that had a western feel to them and didn't scream Japan like this game does. 3rd parties could release games with very far eastern themes but not Nintendo as they most likely wanted to try and play down their Japanese roots a little. Sad to say but racism against Japan was still common in many parts of the US during the NES era.
Yeah people always talk about how difficult the Japanese super Mario bros 2 game is, but the last world or two of Super Mario bros 3 is much harder. It's still easy overall cos the early worlds of SMB 3 are easier than SMB 2/lost levels, and in general it's still a lot easier than most nes games. But it can be very frustrating if you haven't learnt the layouts yet and so don't know you can't stand somewhere cos a cannonball will hit you from off screen or whatever
Agree. Also, among potential barriers for importing this title to the US, fixing "Hell" would have been one of the easiest (change the skull sprite to a spike or something).
I know this game because this game was on Samurai Warriors 3 with Takamaru as unlockable playable character, in fact that is the reason why SW3 Xtreme Legends and SW3Z wasn't localized, since Nintendo published that game in the west rather than Koei.
mind you, its not BECAUSE of that, nintendo only distributed it, previous samurai warriors games were fully published by koei as well, the reason why the other versions (the XL expansion on wii, the PSP and PS3 port and empires) didnt get brought over is simply cause SW3 was a massive flop and even in japan it sold worse than the second one, the playstation ports were to recoup costs cause most of the musou fans were on that platform, hence why SW4 just went back to being PS exclusive
You're welcome. I felt like it would help further put the great 1987 Nintendo games on NES into context since it was released two months after Zelda and before Metroid and Kid Icarus. (I think some people will be happy with my next request too)
I definitely like the recent trend of Nintendo making some of it's Famicom-only stuff more accessible (I don't like that Fire Emblem's localization was time limited, but that definitely is a 1990 game and future Fire Emblem games and its remakes would do that game better). Maybe now that Advance Wars is not dead, maybe Nintendo will finally localize Famicom Wars. I also love seeing those Famicom Detective Club games being on Switch.
i'm hoping if reboot does well enough, they might give us a nice lil collection of all the NES/SNES/GB ones...and remakes of the DS ones...then a new AW!
Nintendo definitely has a lot of old stuff they could bring more awareness to whether it be remakes or standard rereleases. The whold Famicom Detective Club release was one of the coolest things to come out from them within the last few years.
@@thecunninlynguist I definitely have confidence in Wayforward in making the remake of Advance Wars 1 & 2 good. 2021 is shaping up to be a good year for SRPGs too (Super Robot Wars 30 getting a Western release on Steam is big).
Might have been too violent since you're clearly using a deadly weapon against humans. It looks like nothing much today but back then that was still a big deal. Especially in Europe where the game would have to be censored but NoA may have worried about its image too.
That doesn't make sense, the aformentioned Commando, Ikari Warriors and later Contra, Heavy Barrel etc. feature extensive human on human carnage with deadly weapons (firearms). Nintendo didn't have any problem with these, as long as there was no graphic, explicit violence involved (and yet Bionic Commando's infamous exploding Hitler head still remained in the game!).
Aaaand sold. It's a fun game with VERY tight controls! And hard. It does like this would've done well in the west (cult classic at least). Definitely a good game to check out!
Thanks for putting this game on my radar! I had heard of it when it popped up in other Nintendo stuff, but I was under the false impression that it was one of Nintendo's FDS point-and-click adventure games.
I was just searching the other day to see if you had done a Murasame Castle video, this is awesome! Man, really wish Nintendo did something more with this game.
It's worth noting it also came out on the GBA under the Famicom Mini label (which we got 30%~ of as the NES Classics) The game emulates the FC/FDS setup without the disk load times, no real compromises other than the slightly squished vertical resolution. The game came in a box within a box having the FDS fold manual and the rest nicely reproduced too. I own this one, Kid Icarus (Hikari no Palutena) and Metroid from the FDS side, and a few FC minis too as it's worth it and a low price barrier to entry.
Could just be me, but the red ninja enemies remind me a bit of Ninja-Kun/Ninja Jajamaru-Kun. More specifically with their red garb and their big eyes taking up their faces and sizable pupils unlike the other ninja enemies in the game with more normal faces.
In fact, the game is actually accurate to real life samurai in how they used weapons. Samurai in real life rarely used their katanas, their main weapon was the bow and arrow (and then later on they used guns, they were basically the first adopter of guns in the whole world as a standard weapon they all carried, because they were simply a more powerful version of the bow and arrow). Japanese swords were god awful quality. That's why they were only plan B weapons, if they enemy has managed to get close to you, you'd use the sword in a last desperate attempt to kill them. But yeah, Japanese ore was terrible, nowhere near as good as European ore. And Japanese forges were literally centuries behind European ones technologically, they couldn't get anywhere near hot enough to melt out impurities in the steel. This is why they had to invent the folding steel technique, which made sword making way more intensive and time consuming than it needed to be, but it was the only way to get a half decent sword out of the terrible ore and forges that Japan were stuck with If they hadn't been so xenophobic, and actually instead traded with other countries near them, they'd have found out how to make a modern forge that got hot enough, and also they'd have been able to trade for the high quality Indian ore that was used for Damascus steel, or something like that But because they refused to do all that, it meant that incredibly expensive katanas that only Lords (samurai) could afford, were only as good as the cheapest of cheap European swords that Europeans peasants owned. A good European sword could literally shatter a katana if they clashed. Katanas were that bad These days you can find Katanas made with good ore instead of Japanese ore. But not back then. That's why samurai never used their Katanas if they could help it. They were very much a last gasp attempt to kill the enemy, if they'd somehow managed to get close to you despite the barrage of the main weapon of the samurai, bow and arrow (or guns) So this game is accurate to real life, in that sense. Though maybe less so with other parts, like I'm pretty sure samurai couldn't shoot fireballs. Also the whole ninja thing isn't particularly accurate, not that it matters. But ninjas are pretty much a 20th century post-war Japan invention. Invented for movies, that's all. They did exist, but they didn't look like they do in popular media, they dressed to fit in and not be noticed, meaning they dressed like average people, not in all black which would have made them stand out. Also ninjas were usually peasant farmers, and they were for reconnaissance missions, not assassinations. As peasants, they weren't very good at killing lords who'd had warrior training their whole lives. That's also why the common weapons we see ninjas use in movies or games like shurikens and kunai are literally just farming equipment. Look at a kunai, it's literally a shovel that's been sharpened, that's all it is. Also ninjas and samurai weren't sworn enemies. Samurai lords often would actually _become_ ninjas, for a mission, if needed. It was a job description, not a way of life. The whole "ninja code" thing (and also the "samurai code" thing too) that is depicted in films, is entirely a 20th century fabrication. Samurai in particular were the furthest thing from honorable, they were mostly tyrannical lords who went round raping women and children, and stealing whatever they wanted from the peasants they controlled, on top of collecting taxes from them to make themselves even richer. The idea that they had a sense of honor is something invented for movies. The real history of Japan is more fascinating than the myth to be honest
I mean this in jest, but maybe this didn't get localized so Nintendo could defend the Disk System's existence. Lots of the add-on's big games like Zelda, Metroid, Kid Icarus, Castlevania and Doki Doki Panic all got localized as cartridges here. So that raises the obvious question of why the FDS was needed if the games could have been done on a stock Famicom? Of course the average Japanese consumer at the time probably had no idea. These days this game gives import collectors of the FDS a good excuse to justify their collection. "Ah, but I need to own this finicky piece of hardware so I can play Nazo no Murasame-jou on original hardware!"
When the FDS came out in Japan, carts were far less capable than they were a couple years later as those games got ported to cart. Expansion chips and Battery backups were too expensive or simply hadn't been invented yet. Plus, many FDS games have additional audio capabilities and therefore different versions of songs. Compare zelda's title screen from the FDS version to the US version.
the point of the disk system is because diskettes are cheaper than cartridges, so I don't think that's the question here, because one media wouldn't nullify the other
@@Jinx_Skeel That was part of it certainly, but the rewritable nature of diskettes was the main point in making a whole new peripheral for the famicom. You could save game, but also Kiosks in 7-11's could erase your old game and write a new one. But by the time the FDS would have shipped in the states, the carts were cheaper to make and more capable, but also the infrastructure for rewritable kiosks really wasn't there in most of the US and elsewhere. The cheapness of disks is largely nullified if I have to buy a $100 peripheral to play them.
I first heard of this game via Smash Bros. Brawl (I'm pretty sure one of the retro stages plays the main theme every once in a while). I keep forgetting to try it out, so thanks for reminding me!
As someone whose spent the last 30 years being absolutely enthralled by gaming, and Nintendo specifically, it's strange how until this last year I wasn't really aware of this game. Which only invigorates me more and gives that great feeling of nostalgia for something you never experienced.
It’s surprising it didn’t end up on the Wii VC, it would’ve been right at home in one of the VC’s annual Hanabi Festival import game events. That was how us Europeans finally got to play Super Mario RPG.
@@thecunninlynguist Not on the SNES. A lot of SNES RPGs skipped the PAL regions, including Earthbound, Final Fantasies IV and VI, and Chrono Trigger. I’m not fully sure why. Probably they considered the genre too niche to warrant the cost of exporting them, what with the cost of adapting NTSC to PAL and providing French and German translations too. Course we’ve been able to play them since what with online distribution such as the Wii VC, as well as rereleases on the PS1, GBA, DS etc. And not to forget good ol’ emulation. I think, much like NA, Final Fantasy VII did a lot to make the genre more popular. But hey, we got Secret of Mana so it’s not all bad. They had to modify SMRPG for its Wii VC release because one of the characters uses the word “bugger” which is a very rude word in the UK, not the sort of language to be found in a kids game like Mario, so they changed it to “pest”. Curiously enough, the SNES Mini kept the “bugger”, but I guess the console had a PEGI 12 rating overall so it didn’t really matter.
@@BenCol insane! You guys missed out on some classics. Although growing up i did remember reading how the pal region didn't get the same releases or release dates as the US.
@@thecunninlynguist We got them eventually, so all’s well that ends well. Better late than never, as they say. I do remember when SMRPG got its VC release it was a big deal, like: “OMG, we finally get to play it!” Same with Earthbound in 2013 - we’d heard so much and so much of it good, it was a great moment when they finally arrived. I always noticed growing up that release dates always went in the same order: Japan, NA, Europe, Oz. Thankfully by the time I got into gaming in the ‘00s they had gotten better at getting the release dates close to one another so there wasn’t too much of a wait (often a week or two) but sometimes there was. I remember Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out in Japan and NA in Jan and March ‘08, but it didn’t come to the PAL regions until the last week of June - I was 11 and the wait was agonising! Knowing that people across the ocean were already playing it and I had to wait three months, reading online articles and watching gameplay footage on TH-cam, it felt so unfair! Nowadays they’ve gotten pretty good at simultaneous worldwide rollouts, which is good. I suppose it makes it easier to advertise on the internet when there’s just one date. Also they don’t have to worry as much about TV conversions cause I think modern PAL TVs are more similar to their NTSC equivalents then they were in the past.
Console gaming in the PAL era sucked so much, countless releases missing completely or coming many years late. And when you did get the games they usually had slower gameplay and wasted screen space.
Another "Probably in the comments somewhere, but I'll weigh in anyway:" I think NOA in 1987-1988 were also looking at the undertaking it would be to bring it to the US. Games that were 20 dollar disks in Japan needed to make sense as 40 dollar cartridges here, which was clearly demonstrated by SMB2J. It wasn't just a graphic tweak here or there to accommodate US audiences. It would be the removal of the save features and the remaking music and sound that used the FDS sound channels. In the end, the quick arcade action of Murasame probably didn't justify the labour in comparison to the other FDS classics of the "Class of '86".
There was an arcade in Alameda that proudly showed off its custom Zelda cabinet. I regret that it closed/moved before I had a chance to see how the hell it was supposed to work.
I'm still sad that Nintendo never released any Virtual Boy games on 3DS. It would have been the perfect excuse to preserve the few that were actually good, like Wario Land.
@@jasonblalock4429 ditto. You'd think when they actually have a viable 3d system they'd release some vb games...too bad vb wario is forever stuck there.
I always wanted to try this out, but the dexterity required kind of scares me. I've had a fun time with Zelda 1 with a walkthrough and it wasn't too demanding on my reflexes, but this feels like it would be punishing.
You never know until you try! Unless you have some kind of motor function disability, it's not like being "bad" at a game ever really hurt anyone. And the best way to get better at action games is to play more action games! I say go for it.
What a frustrating game… I love it. I know people throw this analogy around too much, but this is so the Dark Souls of the Famicom -seemingly impossible at first, but with enough luck and pattern recognition, you can find eventual success.
I am still looking to get the GBA Famicom mini version. Famicom Disk System with Save feature 3 slots. I may just get an EZ-FLASH Omega and try that way but I would rather have the Yellow cart and Maybe the Japanese version of Metroid too. I like to have original copies if I am going to use Everdrives.
I forget that Jeremy will do some games based on Patreon requests. I'll have to look into that to see him cover GetsuFūmaDen. Though I would hate to make him cover an extra game just because he has to and not because it is something he would like to cover.
I think it would be more like giving him permission to cover a Konami game for the Famicom as I think he'd enjoy just about anything Konami did during that era.
I do kinda want to make a... reboot? Of this game, consider how it's been referenced. In thinking about it, I'd say a modern take would be something like Platinum Games meets Zelda. 'Course, I've never really played Platinum (poor boy), I only know of reputation and stylish combos.
What I'd do is take some cues from the Rurouni Kenshin films in terms of combat. As an example, you could deflect the cannonballs, but you have to use movement compromising battojutsu (quick draw) techniques to do so.
This has uncanny similarities to Sega Mastersystem’s ‘The Ninja’: the music, the power ups, the enemies, the attacks… You think one ripped off the other?
What's the best way to play old Famicom cartridges with modern outputs? Old Famicom games are often cheap and fun but playing them on an OG Famicom is rough. Is it the analogue NT?
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
The trend of the video style makes me think that Jeremy will soon become the new Max Headroom.
This is how I KNOW Nintendo didn't perfectly know the US market
US kids love ninjas, maybe ALL kids love ninjas
Such a missed opportunity :(
You are so right. I bought Ninja Kid based on name alone, going on absolutely nothing else but the name. Because if it had NINJA in the name, I knew it had to be fun!
Sokouban returns to the Works series! Like seeing an old frienemy
WHY IS YOUR COMMENT 2 WEEKS OLD ON A VIDEO THAT’S FROM TODAY AHHHHHH!
@@gitgeronimo9375 You'll see this a lot on patreon-supported channels. The patrons get early access to the videos.
@@Megoodfilmguy not buying it. I think we’re dealing with something much more sinister here. Time travel and whatnot.
The music in this game slaps so hard
For me Sakura Samurai counts as a spiritual succesor to Murasame castle, maybe also Nintendoji for extension.
One of the most fascinating things is that there is an entire game mode in Samurai Warriors 3 when it was exclusive to the Wii that is based off of it and Takamaru is actually playable in that game. Something I wouldn't mind in future Samurai Warriors games or at least a Koei Tecmo developed spin-off.
the most ironic part of that is that the PS3 rerelease removed it... but that one was japanese exclusive lol
Reminder to everyone: This was rereleased on Game Boy Advance in Japan as part of their Classic NES Series (or whatever the Japanese naming equivalent was).
Famicom Mini series, got a complete copy this year for cheap by sheer luck and it plays pretty well on GBA’s small screen, not to mention how charming the small japanese boxes are, as the cart itself (colored in yellow as the FDS mascot) is contained in a smaller box resembling the FDS original box. I’d recommend this version to anyone looking for roguelike 8-bit games on the go
I have this on my 3DS and it is a classic on par with it's other three FDS siblings(Zelda I, Metroid, Kid Icarus)
This is such a fun and well made game.
It's a shame that we never got it on the NES back in the day.
But maybe Nintendo could revive the series like they did with Kid Icarus.
the game is trash
@@Anothy264no
I remember the music appeared in Super Smash Bros Brawl, and listening to it a lot in the My Music menu. That was the best place to hear it, because the stage it played in was the Mario Bros. stage. And nobody’s going to pick the Mario Bros. stage.
The Musasame Castle characters appeared in a triggered effect in Super Mario Maker 2.
I never knew where the hell that came from until this video.
That final level sure is hellish, but I would argue that it looks almost identical to the similarly hellish final world of super Mario 3...
Maybe so but by the time SMB3 was released in the US Nintendo was very well entrenched in the US. I'm in the first year or two (late 85-87) of the NES being available Nintendo wanted to do as little as they could to "rock the boat" with parents groups and the like. Especially with any imagery that could be seen as being satanic or overtly evil looking on their 1st party releases. Just look at other early NES games that things like crosses changed for localization to the US.
Also, I'm sure this game was never localized by Nintendo because early on in the life of the NES Nintendo wanted games that had a western feel to them and didn't scream Japan like this game does. 3rd parties could release games with very far eastern themes but not Nintendo as they most likely wanted to try and play down their Japanese roots a little. Sad to say but racism against Japan was still common in many parts of the US during the NES era.
Yeah people always talk about how difficult the Japanese super Mario bros 2 game is, but the last world or two of Super Mario bros 3 is much harder. It's still easy overall cos the early worlds of SMB 3 are easier than SMB 2/lost levels, and in general it's still a lot easier than most nes games. But it can be very frustrating if you haven't learnt the layouts yet and so don't know you can't stand somewhere cos a cannonball will hit you from off screen or whatever
Agree. Also, among potential barriers for importing this title to the US, fixing "Hell" would have been one of the easiest (change the skull sprite to a spike or something).
I know this game because this game was on Samurai Warriors 3 with Takamaru as unlockable playable character, in fact that is the reason why SW3 Xtreme Legends and SW3Z wasn't localized, since Nintendo published that game in the west rather than Koei.
mind you, its not BECAUSE of that, nintendo only distributed it, previous samurai warriors games were fully published by koei as well, the reason why the other versions (the XL expansion on wii, the PSP and PS3 port and empires) didnt get brought over is simply cause SW3 was a massive flop and even in japan it sold worse than the second one, the playstation ports were to recoup costs cause most of the musou fans were on that platform, hence why SW4 just went back to being PS exclusive
Yes! I've wanted an episode on this topic for so long. Thanks to the patron who suggested this!
You're welcome. I felt like it would help further put the great 1987 Nintendo games on NES into context since it was released two months after Zelda and before Metroid and Kid Icarus. (I think some people will be happy with my next request too)
I definitely like the recent trend of Nintendo making some of it's Famicom-only stuff more accessible (I don't like that Fire Emblem's localization was time limited, but that definitely is a 1990 game and future Fire Emblem games and its remakes would do that game better). Maybe now that Advance Wars is not dead, maybe Nintendo will finally localize Famicom Wars. I also love seeing those Famicom Detective Club games being on Switch.
i'm hoping if reboot does well enough, they might give us a nice lil collection of all the NES/SNES/GB ones...and remakes of the DS ones...then a new AW!
Nintendo definitely has a lot of old stuff they could bring more awareness to whether it be remakes or standard rereleases. The whold Famicom Detective Club release was one of the coolest things to come out from them within the last few years.
@@thecunninlynguist I definitely have confidence in Wayforward in making the remake of Advance Wars 1 & 2 good. 2021 is shaping up to be a good year for SRPGs too (Super Robot Wars 30 getting a Western release on Steam is big).
Man, just when you think you've seen it all, Jeremy shows you something that just floors you. Cheers and thank you for another fantastic episodes.
Might have been too violent since you're clearly using a deadly weapon against humans. It looks like nothing much today but back then that was still a big deal. Especially in Europe where the game would have to be censored but NoA may have worried about its image too.
That doesn't make sense, the aformentioned Commando, Ikari Warriors and later Contra, Heavy Barrel etc. feature extensive human on human carnage with deadly weapons (firearms). Nintendo didn't have any problem with these, as long as there was no graphic, explicit violence involved (and yet Bionic Commando's infamous exploding Hitler head still remained in the game!).
i'd love to see a new entry using a modified breath of the wild engine. keep that zelda connection, but make it its own thing like the original.
Thanks for the retrospective! I do have this game on my "Watch List" on the 3DS. A good selection of gems are found on that machine's Virtual Console.
Aaaand sold. It's a fun game with VERY tight controls! And hard. It does like this would've done well in the west (cult classic at least). Definitely a good game to check out!
Holy crap, I didn't realize the ninja game in Nintendo Land for Wii U was based on this. I thought the music sounded familiar!
Thanks for putting this game on my radar! I had heard of it when it popped up in other Nintendo stuff, but I was under the false impression that it was one of Nintendo's FDS point-and-click adventure games.
I was just searching the other day to see if you had done a Murasame Castle video, this is awesome! Man, really wish Nintendo did something more with this game.
I'm not one to back down from difficulty in games but every time I try to play this I'm just like... what the hell?
It's worth noting it also came out on the GBA under the Famicom Mini label (which we got 30%~ of as the NES Classics) The game emulates the FC/FDS setup without the disk load times, no real compromises other than the slightly squished vertical resolution. The game came in a box within a box having the FDS fold manual and the rest nicely reproduced too. I own this one, Kid Icarus (Hikari no Palutena) and Metroid from the FDS side, and a few FC minis too as it's worth it and a low price barrier to entry.
the art direction for Murasame castle is so nice
GetsuFumaDen by konami is also a great one.
Man, I always wondered what that weird animation was in SMM2!
I recognized the tiny Shogun clip insert. The perks of being old.
This game is so hardcore, I get the Zelda reference but its way more brutal. Still enjoy it though.
Could just be me, but the red ninja enemies remind me a bit of Ninja-Kun/Ninja Jajamaru-Kun. More specifically with their red garb and their big eyes taking up their faces and sizable pupils unlike the other ninja enemies in the game with more normal faces.
This game is tough.
Your videos just make me happy when show up in feed to watch
Waiting for the tower of druaga reference!!!! I know your game too well.
Keep up the great work, love your videos!!!
In fact, the game is actually accurate to real life samurai in how they used weapons. Samurai in real life rarely used their katanas, their main weapon was the bow and arrow (and then later on they used guns, they were basically the first adopter of guns in the whole world as a standard weapon they all carried, because they were simply a more powerful version of the bow and arrow).
Japanese swords were god awful quality. That's why they were only plan B weapons, if they enemy has managed to get close to you, you'd use the sword in a last desperate attempt to kill them. But yeah, Japanese ore was terrible, nowhere near as good as European ore. And Japanese forges were literally centuries behind European ones technologically, they couldn't get anywhere near hot enough to melt out impurities in the steel. This is why they had to invent the folding steel technique, which made sword making way more intensive and time consuming than it needed to be, but it was the only way to get a half decent sword out of the terrible ore and forges that Japan were stuck with
If they hadn't been so xenophobic, and actually instead traded with other countries near them, they'd have found out how to make a modern forge that got hot enough, and also they'd have been able to trade for the high quality Indian ore that was used for Damascus steel, or something like that
But because they refused to do all that, it meant that incredibly expensive katanas that only Lords (samurai) could afford, were only as good as the cheapest of cheap European swords that Europeans peasants owned. A good European sword could literally shatter a katana if they clashed. Katanas were that bad
These days you can find Katanas made with good ore instead of Japanese ore. But not back then.
That's why samurai never used their Katanas if they could help it. They were very much a last gasp attempt to kill the enemy, if they'd somehow managed to get close to you despite the barrage of the main weapon of the samurai, bow and arrow (or guns)
So this game is accurate to real life, in that sense. Though maybe less so with other parts, like I'm pretty sure samurai couldn't shoot fireballs.
Also the whole ninja thing isn't particularly accurate, not that it matters. But ninjas are pretty much a 20th century post-war Japan invention. Invented for movies, that's all. They did exist, but they didn't look like they do in popular media, they dressed to fit in and not be noticed, meaning they dressed like average people, not in all black which would have made them stand out. Also ninjas were usually peasant farmers, and they were for reconnaissance missions, not assassinations. As peasants, they weren't very good at killing lords who'd had warrior training their whole lives. That's also why the common weapons we see ninjas use in movies or games like shurikens and kunai are literally just farming equipment. Look at a kunai, it's literally a shovel that's been sharpened, that's all it is. Also ninjas and samurai weren't sworn enemies. Samurai lords often would actually _become_ ninjas, for a mission, if needed. It was a job description, not a way of life. The whole "ninja code" thing (and also the "samurai code" thing too) that is depicted in films, is entirely a 20th century fabrication. Samurai in particular were the furthest thing from honorable, they were mostly tyrannical lords who went round raping women and children, and stealing whatever they wanted from the peasants they controlled, on top of collecting taxes from them to make themselves even richer. The idea that they had a sense of honor is something invented for movies.
The real history of Japan is more fascinating than the myth to be honest
still have to go back and finish this, but really loved it when released on 3DS
I beat it like 1 month after they released it on the 3DS. Also beat RECCA summer carnival 92 legit (final boss is a C**T).
I mean this in jest, but maybe this didn't get localized so Nintendo could defend the Disk System's existence. Lots of the add-on's big games like Zelda, Metroid, Kid Icarus, Castlevania and Doki Doki Panic all got localized as cartridges here. So that raises the obvious question of why the FDS was needed if the games could have been done on a stock Famicom? Of course the average Japanese consumer at the time probably had no idea. These days this game gives import collectors of the FDS a good excuse to justify their collection. "Ah, but I need to own this finicky piece of hardware so I can play Nazo no Murasame-jou on original hardware!"
When the FDS came out in Japan, carts were far less capable than they were a couple years later as those games got ported to cart. Expansion chips and Battery backups were too expensive or simply hadn't been invented yet. Plus, many FDS games have additional audio capabilities and therefore different versions of songs. Compare zelda's title screen from the FDS version to the US version.
the point of the disk system is because diskettes are cheaper than cartridges, so I don't think that's the question here, because one media wouldn't nullify the other
@@Jinx_Skeel That was part of it certainly, but the rewritable nature of diskettes was the main point in making a whole new peripheral for the famicom. You could save game, but also Kiosks in 7-11's could erase your old game and write a new one.
But by the time the FDS would have shipped in the states, the carts were cheaper to make and more capable, but also the infrastructure for rewritable kiosks really wasn't there in most of the US and elsewhere. The cheapness of disks is largely nullified if I have to buy a $100 peripheral to play them.
This was released on GBA in Japan
Loved the Nintendo Land spin off. I had a blast with it.
Never heard of this one. Looks good. Thanks for the recommend.
Amazing game. And a proud 1CC!
Finally, the official word on the game
Was hoping you’d cover this game! Thanks
I first heard of this game via Smash Bros. Brawl (I'm pretty sure one of the retro stages plays the main theme every once in a while). I keep forgetting to try it out, so thanks for reminding me!
I've been waiting for this episode for so long, and now I can finally say that the wait was worth it!!
As someone whose spent the last 30 years being absolutely enthralled by gaming, and Nintendo specifically, it's strange how until this last year I wasn't really aware of this game. Which only invigorates me more and gives that great feeling of nostalgia for something you never experienced.
There were a lot of good video games that didn't get released in North America, especially for the Sega Master System, Sega Saturn, and TurboGrafx-16.
Great video! It's a real shame we didn't get this one in the States. I would've eaten this up as a kid.
Fantastic to see you cover this game. It's one I still am surprised by, because it's pretty darn good. I still hope someday Nintendo revive this IP.
It’s surprising it didn’t end up on the Wii VC, it would’ve been right at home in one of the VC’s annual Hanabi Festival import game events. That was how us Europeans finally got to play Super Mario RPG.
whoa...you guys never got Mario RPG?!
@@thecunninlynguist Not on the SNES. A lot of SNES RPGs skipped the PAL regions, including Earthbound, Final Fantasies IV and VI, and Chrono Trigger. I’m not fully sure why. Probably they considered the genre too niche to warrant the cost of exporting them, what with the cost of adapting NTSC to PAL and providing French and German translations too. Course we’ve been able to play them since what with online distribution such as the Wii VC, as well as rereleases on the PS1, GBA, DS etc. And not to forget good ol’ emulation. I think, much like NA, Final Fantasy VII did a lot to make the genre more popular. But hey, we got Secret of Mana so it’s not all bad.
They had to modify SMRPG for its Wii VC release because one of the characters uses the word “bugger” which is a very rude word in the UK, not the sort of language to be found in a kids game like Mario, so they changed it to “pest”. Curiously enough, the SNES Mini kept the “bugger”, but I guess the console had a PEGI 12 rating overall so it didn’t really matter.
@@BenCol insane! You guys missed out on some classics. Although growing up i did remember reading how the pal region didn't get the same releases or release dates as the US.
@@thecunninlynguist We got them eventually, so all’s well that ends well. Better late than never, as they say. I do remember when SMRPG got its VC release it was a big deal, like: “OMG, we finally get to play it!” Same with Earthbound in 2013 - we’d heard so much and so much of it good, it was a great moment when they finally arrived.
I always noticed growing up that release dates always went in the same order: Japan, NA, Europe, Oz. Thankfully by the time I got into gaming in the ‘00s they had gotten better at getting the release dates close to one another so there wasn’t too much of a wait (often a week or two) but sometimes there was. I remember Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out in Japan and NA in Jan and March ‘08, but it didn’t come to the PAL regions until the last week of June - I was 11 and the wait was agonising! Knowing that people across the ocean were already playing it and I had to wait three months, reading online articles and watching gameplay footage on TH-cam, it felt so unfair!
Nowadays they’ve gotten pretty good at simultaneous worldwide rollouts, which is good. I suppose it makes it easier to advertise on the internet when there’s just one date. Also they don’t have to worry as much about TV conversions cause I think modern PAL TVs are more similar to their NTSC equivalents then they were in the past.
Console gaming in the PAL era sucked so much, countless releases missing completely or coming many years late. And when you did get the games they usually had slower gameplay and wasted screen space.
Another "Probably in the comments somewhere, but I'll weigh in anyway:"
I think NOA in 1987-1988 were also looking at the undertaking it would be to bring it to the US.
Games that were 20 dollar disks in Japan needed to make sense as 40 dollar cartridges here, which was clearly demonstrated by SMB2J.
It wasn't just a graphic tweak here or there to accommodate US audiences. It would be the removal of the save features and the remaking music and sound that used the FDS sound channels.
In the end, the quick arcade action of Murasame probably didn't justify the labour in comparison to the other FDS classics of the "Class of '86".
Not to mention how popular ninja everything was in the US during the late '80s.
...and this is why Zelda is not an arcade game.
Well, that, and because the structure of Zelda doesn't lend itself well to the arcade.
There was an arcade in Alameda that proudly showed off its custom Zelda cabinet. I regret that it closed/moved before I had a chance to see how the hell it was supposed to work.
Was so surprised when this was released on the 3ds. Was hoping we would get more gems like this..
But alas...
I'm still sad that Nintendo never released any Virtual Boy games on 3DS. It would have been the perfect excuse to preserve the few that were actually good, like Wario Land.
@@jasonblalock4429 ditto. You'd think when they actually have a viable 3d system they'd release some vb games...too bad vb wario is forever stuck there.
Oh man am I bummed we didn't get this. I definitely would have bought it. It looks like Chinese Hero without the terrible hit detection.
This game should have been released in the USA in the first place for every one could play the game. 😀👍🎮
why the game is hard and not fun
I always wanted to try this out, but the dexterity required kind of scares me. I've had a fun time with Zelda 1 with a walkthrough and it wasn't too demanding on my reflexes, but this feels like it would be punishing.
You never know until you try! Unless you have some kind of motor function disability, it's not like being "bad" at a game ever really hurt anyone. And the best way to get better at action games is to play more action games! I say go for it.
How is your comment from "1 week ago" when the video was released today, 7/14/21?
@@WarlockX4 Subscribe to Jeremy's Patreon and find out
Also thanks for the lovely encouragement Tiara
@@WarlockX4 Time travel....just kidding. Patrons get videos early.
Funny that Devil World is name-checked in this video, now that it and this game are releasing for Switch Online the same day.
NES Works approved by Nintendo, you heard it here first.
Tears of Sokoban (a fitting name if there ever was one) ... LOL! ain't it the truth. this does look fun though I'll have to try it!
What a frustrating game… I love it. I know people throw this analogy around too much, but this is so the Dark Souls of the Famicom -seemingly impossible at first, but with enough luck and pattern recognition, you can find eventual success.
I am still looking to get the GBA Famicom mini version. Famicom Disk System with Save feature 3 slots. I may just get an EZ-FLASH Omega and try that way but I would rather have the Yellow cart and Maybe the Japanese version of Metroid too. I like to have original copies if I am going to use Everdrives.
I forget that Jeremy will do some games based on Patreon requests. I'll have to look into that to see him cover GetsuFūmaDen. Though I would hate to make him cover an extra game just because he has to and not because it is something he would like to cover.
I think it would be more like giving him permission to cover a Konami game for the Famicom as I think he'd enjoy just about anything Konami did during that era.
Looks like the Patreon tier at which you can request games is sold out anyway so you cannot suggest games anyway.
I do kinda want to make a... reboot? Of this game, consider how it's been referenced.
In thinking about it, I'd say a modern take would be something like Platinum Games meets Zelda.
'Course, I've never really played Platinum (poor boy), I only know of reputation and stylish combos.
What I'd do is take some cues from the Rurouni Kenshin films in terms of combat. As an example, you could deflect the cannonballs, but you have to use movement compromising battojutsu (quick draw) techniques to do so.
This has uncanny similarities to Sega Mastersystem’s ‘The Ninja’: the music, the power ups, the enemies, the attacks… You think one ripped off the other?
The Ninja came first, but I don’t think it was theft so much as lots of developers drinking from the same wellspring of inspiration.
oh its that one sound effect from SMM2
Fellow Prince fan I see you
For some reason Takemaru makes me think of Hyakkimaru from Dororo
The final boss takes the damage you dished out before you died and retains the damage to the next life. Or so it seemed that way.
I believe that's the case for all bosses.
@@JeremyParish Oh wow! Seems like a progressive feature for back in the day.
It’s, like, the one act of mercy in the entire game
The red ninja enemies kinda look like Jajamaru-kun
At some point in this video I started imagining your voice being George Takei and now I can't turn it off
What does the suffix "same" mean? I recognize "ao" and "aka" as "blue" and "red" respectively, but the other part eludes me.
I downloaded this on the 3DS eshop and man, you want to talk about hard?
Ah, it's the thing from SMM2
What's the best way to play old Famicom cartridges with modern outputs? Old Famicom games are often cheap and fun but playing them on an OG Famicom is rough.
Is it the analogue NT?
I’d go with the RetroUSB AVS. It’s less expensive, offers great fidelity, and is not permanently out of production.
I got this on the 3DS and Jesus Christ...
I remember the term "Nintendo hard" but man this game is out of control.
would you recommend it?
@@monkeyspice2010 if you're a fan of really hard games but are still fun? Yes, definitely.
I might have to pick this up on my 3DS. How does it hold up today?
It’s fun, but hard as heck
Does it play like a proto Pocky & Rocky?
Not really.
KiKi KaiKai, which is proto Pocky and Rocky, was an August 1987 release for the FDS. It has Sayo-chan (or Pocky) but no Rocky.
you can tell how much nintendo likes this game when they keep referencing it
Balls hard but amazing little game.
It needs a remake
why did the game have to release in the 3ds.it should've stayed in japan