The pseudo-sequel to Sunset Riders might be a big more pink and ninja-filled that you'd expect, but it's an absolutely fantastic shooter. I have to wonder just why Konami never saw fit to port it!
@NintendoComplete: This is just my opinion, but I think Mystic Warriors never saw a console port because it was probably not a gaming draw. Ironically, the game's Engrish introduction claimed it would be an overnight success.
@@masterlee1988: I for one think that Konami could have turned Mystic Warriors into a short-lived franchise akin to Rocket Knight Adventures or Lethal Enforcers if the game was profitable enough.
I was waiting for this. One of those games I never had the luck to see back when arcade machines were still a thing, and it's one of my absolute favorites among the ones I came to know thanks to emulation. Right from the intro music riffing on Terminator during the first seconds, it never lets you go with its over-the-top setpieces and some great attention to detail (look at the pieces of the second boss rocket falling down after it explodes, or the enemy eaten by a crocodile early in stage 5). The developers took all that was great about Sunset Riders and upped it a notch. The fact there's no salvation for the kidnapped character is a strangely dark element in an otherwise so colorful and ridiculous game. My favourite moment has to be the cutscene in front of Skull Castle, with perfectly synced sound creating the atmosphere for the upcoming boss fight. It's unfortunate that a few visual details aren't emulated correctly; on the other hand, only emulation can allow three or four players without slowdown (saw videos of 4-play from both original hardware and an emu with overclock activated). It deserves all the recognition it can get, since it's unjustly unknown by many. The "it's sure to be a mega-hit" in the intro sounds sadly ironic.
I can identify the Synth voices used in the soundtrack in the opening besides the Yamaha chip being used they use the Orchestra Hit sound from the Fairlight CMI and the Shakuhachi from the Emu Emulator 2 both used heavily in 1980s and early 90s music.
Mystic Warriors: Wrath of the Ninjas is one wacky action/shoot-'em-up game, and I loved every second of it. To me, I've always felt that Konami's apparent aim for this game was to show their Western audiences that they could make a great ninja-themed game without the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles license, which, if I'm not mistaken, was in its final year with them in 1993, and wouldn't be picked back up by Konami until 11 years later, following the 2003 cartoon series reboot. I've also felt that Konami made this game to try to cater to the demographic of North American children between the ages of 10 and 13 that watched action cartoons of the early '90s as well, because the whole video game has vibes of weekday-afternoon/Saturday-morning cartoons, violence and scantily-clad women withstanding. Maybe all of their hit, cartoon-licensed games at the time made them take a chance on this. I sure wish I could have played this in arcades, but I didn't know about MW until the mid-to-late 2000s, around the time I discovered MAME. I would have LOVED to have played a console port of this game circa 1994 or 1995. I think a Sega CD port would have been damn-near identical to the arcade original, while ports to the Super NES and Genesis/Mega Drive would have been pretty decent. Unfortunately, it never came to be, probably because MW wasn't the "mega-hit" that the attract mode's Engrish made it out to be. Maybe we'll get lucky and Konami could re-release this game on a compilation or a DLC game, if not make a reboot. One last thing: I absolutely LOVE the Stage 1, Stage 2-2, Stage 9, and ending BGM of this game. Great playthrough as always.
Wow, the OST slaps and the graphics are great, the characters are campy and charming. It's the epitome of american ninjas! How come I never knew about this?
There have been Terminator references in other Konami games of the past. One of the most obvious and well-known references is the cover art of the original Metal Gear, as Solid Snake is more less Michael Biehn's hero character, Kyle Reese, in a copyright infringement-circumventing redrawing from a still image from T1. Coincidentally, in the MSX version of MG1, one of the boss battles involves Snake fighting a duo of cyborgs, referred to in-game as bioroids, called the Arnolds, LOL. In MG Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, when Snake lands on the tanker he's sent to infiltrate, he materializes out from using his stealth camouflage akin to a Terminator time-traveling to its destination. In Lethal Enforcers, one of the animated vignettes for the intro of Stage 2 uses some actual footage from T2: Judgment Day of the scene of the T-800 destroying the LAPD cop cars. Also, Stage 4 of the game has a T-800 wannabe that appears in the warehouse section, emulating the T-800 from T1 when it assaults the police station looking for Sarah Connor. Unlike the T-800, this guy can actually be taken out with conventional firearms, but he needs to be shot several times, and you have to shoot him in a specific way to not take damage. You can see it for yourself here: th-cam.com/video/V8yKL6obA5U/w-d-xo.html (It's at 24:01-24:05) One more Konami game with blatant Terminator references is another beloved Hideo Kojima game called Snatcher. Snatcher was also heavily influenced by Blade Runner, but the titular enemies of the game are basically Endoskeletons that can fire laser blasts from their mouths.
I oughta try this one out myself... Man, Konami knew what they were doing in those times! Now if there could just be a management that won't follow in EA nor Capcom's (latest) example...
@Vgaoct91: In my humble opinion, the problem with the video game industry today is that it's suffering from a disastrous case of complacency. In the 1980s and 1990s, hell, even the 2000s to a certain degree, the industry had to work harder on the games they made to make up for the fact that the technology and almost instantaneous accessibility we now take for granted was not there. Also, there was a much better balance between what the developers wanted to create and the bottom line of executives and shareholders.
Ive seen this game once long ago in a 2 player arcade version but I heard the 4 player version had a major issue. The game moved slow when 4 players are presented. Odd that sunset riders didn't have that issue. But I hope someday this gets ported to the switch, ps4, ps5, Xbox one, and Xbox series X.
Thank you for this info. At 21:24 both MAME and Final Burn Alpha(main one) have issues rendering the graphics in that section as you can't even see yourself at all due to the foreground blocking your view and the enemies. But for this emulator it seems to have solved that issue 100% thankfully.
Yeah it would be nice if you would do that. Normally I whenever I see this game on emulators, I always see that section not viewable of your character and enemies due to how the graphics were displayed, and funny enough this is the 1st video of this game I seen on a emulator that actually doesn't have that issue due to what you played it on.
The pseudo-sequel to Sunset Riders might be a big more pink and ninja-filled that you'd expect, but it's an absolutely fantastic shooter. I have to wonder just why Konami never saw fit to port it!
And unless something changes with Konami's management, they never will port it.
Unfortunate; this gem ended up forgotten! Even moreso than Sunset Riders! :(
The Real Sean W. Stewart It makes me sad as it's a great game!
@NintendoComplete: This is just my opinion, but I think Mystic Warriors never saw a console port because it was probably not a gaming draw. Ironically, the game's Engrish introduction claimed it would be an overnight success.
@@masterlee1988: I for one think that Konami could have turned Mystic Warriors into a short-lived franchise akin to Rocket Knight Adventures or Lethal Enforcers if the game was profitable enough.
I was waiting for this. One of those games I never had the luck to see back when arcade machines were still a thing, and it's one of my absolute favorites among the ones I came to know thanks to emulation. Right from the intro music riffing on Terminator during the first seconds, it never lets you go with its over-the-top setpieces and some great attention to detail (look at the pieces of the second boss rocket falling down after it explodes, or the enemy eaten by a crocodile early in stage 5). The developers took all that was great about Sunset Riders and upped it a notch. The fact there's no salvation for the kidnapped character is a strangely dark element in an otherwise so colorful and ridiculous game. My favourite moment has to be the cutscene in front of Skull Castle, with perfectly synced sound creating the atmosphere for the upcoming boss fight.
It's unfortunate that a few visual details aren't emulated correctly; on the other hand, only emulation can allow three or four players without slowdown (saw videos of 4-play from both original hardware and an emu with overclock activated).
It deserves all the recognition it can get, since it's unjustly unknown by many. The "it's sure to be a mega-hit" in the intro sounds sadly ironic.
I can identify the Synth voices used in the soundtrack in the opening besides the Yamaha chip being used they use the Orchestra Hit sound from the Fairlight CMI and the Shakuhachi from the Emu Emulator 2 both used heavily in 1980s and early 90s music.
I appreciate the details in your description. Also I’m mad I didn’t get to enjoy this one as a kid. This looks fun.
It really is fun, funny enough I played it when I was a kid as well in the actual arcades.
Mystic Warriors: Wrath of the Ninjas is one wacky action/shoot-'em-up game, and I loved every second of it. To me, I've always felt that Konami's apparent aim for this game was to show their Western audiences that they could make a great ninja-themed game without the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles license, which, if I'm not mistaken, was in its final year with them in 1993, and wouldn't be picked back up by Konami until 11 years later, following the 2003 cartoon series reboot. I've also felt that Konami made this game to try to cater to the demographic of North American children between the ages of 10 and 13 that watched action cartoons of the early '90s as well, because the whole video game has vibes of weekday-afternoon/Saturday-morning cartoons, violence and scantily-clad women withstanding. Maybe all of their hit, cartoon-licensed games at the time made them take a chance on this.
I sure wish I could have played this in arcades, but I didn't know about MW until the mid-to-late 2000s, around the time I discovered MAME. I would have LOVED to have played a console port of this game circa 1994 or 1995. I think a Sega CD port would have been damn-near identical to the arcade original, while ports to the Super NES and Genesis/Mega Drive would have been pretty decent. Unfortunately, it never came to be, probably because MW wasn't the "mega-hit" that the attract mode's Engrish made it out to be. Maybe we'll get lucky and Konami could re-release this game on a compilation or a DLC game, if not make a reboot. One last thing: I absolutely LOVE the Stage 1, Stage 2-2, Stage 9, and ending BGM of this game.
Great playthrough as always.
@Loader2K1 The actual tone of Mystic Warriors is Darker & Edgeier.
What a great soundtarck for that time,just like PS1 style. Junya Nakano is a great composer.
Wow, the OST slaps and the graphics are great, the characters are campy and charming. It's the epitome of american ninjas! How come I never knew about this?
Damn never knew this existed. Konami was awesome in this era of arcades!
I downloaded this on my PS4 the other day and played it. This game is a rare gem from old-school Konami that is definitely worth playing.
So glad I found out about it
This game was awesome
this game , sunset riders , and cowboys of moo mesa, have the same game engine since they are from konami .
Yep, and are all really good games.
So, Contra with Ninjas? Interesting to see how it plays similary to Sunset Riders.
Yuri & Spyros are my 2 favorite characters in Mystic Warriors.
Look at the flick of the wrist! 😂
Konami used to be good but now a Mere Shadow of its Former Self
Good game arcad warrior
Thank you Nintendo
Oh, no! You destroyed the Petrol Mortor House! MY MORTORS!
23:07 plane going down + twin towers in the background 😳
*That Was Triggerin 😕*
what is the title song name ?
First 6 seconds, Terminator theme.
There have been Terminator references in other Konami games of the past. One of the most obvious and well-known references is the cover art of the original Metal Gear, as Solid Snake is more less Michael Biehn's hero character, Kyle Reese, in a copyright infringement-circumventing redrawing from a still image from T1. Coincidentally, in the MSX version of MG1, one of the boss battles involves Snake fighting a duo of cyborgs, referred to in-game as bioroids, called the Arnolds, LOL. In MG Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, when Snake lands on the tanker he's sent to infiltrate, he materializes out from using his stealth camouflage akin to a Terminator time-traveling to its destination.
In Lethal Enforcers, one of the animated vignettes for the intro of Stage 2 uses some actual footage from T2: Judgment Day of the scene of the T-800 destroying the LAPD cop cars. Also, Stage 4 of the game has a T-800 wannabe that appears in the warehouse section, emulating the T-800 from T1 when it assaults the police station looking for Sarah Connor. Unlike the T-800, this guy can actually be taken out with conventional firearms, but he needs to be shot several times, and you have to shoot him in a specific way to not take damage. You can see it for yourself here:
th-cam.com/video/V8yKL6obA5U/w-d-xo.html (It's at 24:01-24:05)
One more Konami game with blatant Terminator references is another beloved Hideo Kojima game called Snatcher. Snatcher was also heavily influenced by Blade Runner, but the titular enemies of the game are basically Endoskeletons that can fire laser blasts from their mouths.
They should put this on xbox one and ps4
Pcb is rare saw one selling for 2800$ dollars lol and i havent seen one come up lately
look at my man brad
Yep, another amazing arcade classic from *Konami!*
I love the advertisement for *Sunset Riders* too!
The game itself is a Sunset Riders based(the entire layout is based in Sunset Riders)
At the end did the character who was kidnapped die?
Yes... It is tragic.
I oughta try this one out myself... Man, Konami knew what they were doing in those times! Now if there could just be a management that won't follow in EA nor Capcom's (latest) example...
@Vgaoct91: In my humble opinion, the problem with the video game industry today is that it's suffering from a disastrous case of complacency. In the 1980s and 1990s, hell, even the 2000s to a certain degree, the industry had to work harder on the games they made to make up for the fact that the technology and almost instantaneous accessibility we now take for granted was not there. Also, there was a much better balance between what the developers wanted to create and the bottom line of executives and shareholders.
32:00 END
I wonder why Konami never bothered to translate the credits.
Ive seen this game once long ago in a 2 player arcade version but I heard the 4 player version had a major issue. The game moved slow when 4 players are presented. Odd that sunset riders didn't have that issue. But I hope someday this gets ported to the switch, ps4, ps5, Xbox one, and Xbox series X.
Sunset Riders the Ninja edition
For me is Sunset Riders 2.
Almost reminds me of shinobi.
Which emulator and version did you play this on? BTW this is one of my fave arcade games.
I used the Retroarch FBA core. It seems to run the game better than Mame does.
Thank you for this info. At 21:24 both MAME and Final Burn Alpha(main one) have issues rendering the graphics in that section as you can't even see yourself at all due to the foreground blocking your view and the enemies. But for this emulator it seems to have solved that issue 100% thankfully.
@@masterlee1988 Np! Glad to help:)
Yeah it would be nice if you would do that. Normally I whenever I see this game on emulators, I always see that section not viewable of your character and enemies due to how the graphics were displayed, and funny enough this is the 1st video of this game I seen on a emulator that actually doesn't have that issue due to what you played it on.
@@masterlee1988 Oh right, I forgot some have problems with that wall fade out. Yeah, when I'm on the computer next I'll look
Do you have any plans on showing Mystic Warriors for Nintendo Switch gameplay since it's available right now?
Is there anyway to play this on a console at home???
*That Flat Top* 😎
33:22 END