Ninja Jajamaru Kun



After Jaleco ported Ninjakun to the Famicom and MSX home computers for UPL, they went ahead and developed their own sequel to the game, apart from the official sequel that UPL developed, Ninja-Kid II. It was called Ninja Jajamaru Kun which roughly translates into "stubborn round little ninja". The sequel contains many of the elements found in the original game, except that it scrolls horizontally instead of vertically. Like the original game, after the first two rounds, each round contains seven normal enemies and one more difficult boss enemy. And like the original game, you must jump and fall to different levels, taking the enemies out with throwing stars.

This game was the start of the "Jajamaru" series for Jaleco. After it was released for the Famicom, it was converted for play in the arcade using Nintendo's Vs. arcade system, under the title Vs. Ninja Jajamaru Kun, which contains different character sprites for two of the enemies for reasons unknown. It was also developed for the MSX home computer. In 2004, it was released for the PC as part of an anniversary series of retro games. The PC release uses the two altered sprites found in the arcade version as opposed to the original sprites from the Famicom version.

Story
When Princess Sakura is kidnapped by the "Catfish Pirate", she requests the help of Ninjakun, who defeated the evil army at Demon Castle. However, that ninja is away for training, so the request falls to his younger brother. Ninja-Jajamaru-Kun accepts the challenge and heads out to each of the Catfish Pirate's many hideouts in an attempt to rescue the princess from his clutches. But the pirate has an army of demons ready to deal with him.

At a glance

 * Ninjakun starts out in the center of the lowest level of every stage. Eight enemies will be distributed throughout the stage, two to a floor initially.
 * Ninjakun must defeat all eight enemies with his throwing stars without being struck by any of the enemies' projectiles.
 * In stages 3 through 24, one enemy will be one degree of strength higher than the other seven.
 * Ninjakun may touch or bounce off of any enemy, but he will lose a life if he is struck by an enemy projectile.
 * If the player bounces on the enemy's head, the enemy will be stunned. The reverse is also true.
 * In order to rise from one level to another, bricks in the floor must be broken by hitting them with Ninjakun's head.
 * Some broken bricks will reveal power ups or bonuses for Ninjakun to collect. Occasionally however, they contain bombs that must be avoided.
 * If Ninjakun collects three different power ups, he will receive the ultimate power up, the giant frog summon ninja technique.
 * Princess Sakura will throw one Sakura petal down to the floor per stage. If Ninjakun collects three of them, he will be taken to a bonus stage where he can directly fight against the Catfish Pirate himself.

In depth

 * Controls & Characters
 * Strategies