''Ninja Taro'', released in Japan as , is an

action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

for the

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

by NMK. It was released in 1991 in both Japan by UPL and North America by American Sammy and is part of the ''Ninja Jajamaru-kun'' series.

Story

When rumors start to emerge that the feudal lord

Takeda Shingen , of Kai Province, was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' in feudal Japan. Known as the "Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyō with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period. Shingen was a warlord of great ...

was pronounced dead, the country's biggest enemy

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

became ambitious. He started talking about unifying all of Japan under his leadership.

Summary

Players need to explore the world map, do quests for the people who live in the towns, find

treasure chest Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions leg ...

s in order to become stronger instead of earning

experience point An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experi ...

s and hunt inside caves to destroy major enemies. There is no puzzle solving or currency used in the game, making it more straightforward than the games in ''

The Legend of Zelda ''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-rele ...

'' series. Most weapons are obtained by killing enemies. The

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

es in this game can be described as "visually grotesque". Takeda Shingen is the mastermind behind all the turmoil that takes place in this game. Players can use rice balls and

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

in order to replenish their strength levels. In the main menu, players have three stats: body (representing hit points), force (representing the weapon's attack power), and charm. The ending of the game shows the player relaxing with his girlfriend. One of the drawbacks in this video game is that the player has a rather slow walking speed. Players can either use

samurai sword A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

s or

shuriken A ''shuriken'' ( ja, 手裏剣; literally: "hidden hand blade") is a Japanese concealed weapon that was used as a hidden dagger or metsubushi to distract or misdirect. They are also known as throwing stars, or ninja stars, although they were ...

s for combat purposes; shurikens have a shorter range and are weaker than swords. However, both swords and shurikens can be powered up by the treasure chests located throughout the game.

References

1991 video games Action-adventure games Game Boy-only games Ninja Jajamaru NMK (company) games UPL Co., Ltd games Game Boy games Video games developed in Japan {{action-videogame-stub