The Legend of the Mystical Ninja (Konami- 1993) was one of the great sleeper hits of the Super Nintendo. Though the game was never enormously popular, it still seems like almost everyone has played it.

On a superficial level, Mystical Ninja is not a terribly impressive game. It's a traditional side-scrolling action platformer where one or two players can battle through several arcade-style levels. The biggest innovation, gameplay-wise was its combination of action with RPG elements; inbetween side-scrolling "action" sequences players can roam around villages, talk to people, visit shops, or play mini-games, all in a distinct, three-quarters perspective.

What makes Mystical Ninja such an interesting game worthy of deeper analysis is not the gameplay however. It's the theme of the game that makes it so unique. Mystical Ninja is set in some vaguely-defined period of ancient feudal Japan, and as a result almost all the characters, settings, items, and events make reference to Japanese culture, legends, heroes, and religion. The game is, in short, literally packed with clever in-jokes, but many are very difficult to understand unless you are Japanese. To western eyes, the game is just full of a lot of random nonsense.

Now I'm not Japanese, but ever since I bought a used copy of this game several years ago I've spent a lot of time trying to research the weirdness in Mystical Ninja to see if I could make any sense of it all. I've always thought the game was literally crying out for some westerner to systematically go through it and explain everything. So here's my attempt.

Note: There are a lot of sequels to Mystical Ninja, but they have largely been Japan-only releases. My interest in investigating this particular game has to do with the fact that it was the first game of the franchise. First games are often the purest. The producers have to use as many of their good ideas out as they can, as no one knows if the game is going to be popular enough to spawn any sequels.

This guide has two parts: Part One- General Stuff Part Two- The Levels

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