The Last Ninja
1987 · Action-Adventure · Commodore 64
Overview
The Last Ninja (1987) is System 3's isometric action-adventure, in which Armakuni crosses the island of Lin-Fen to recover the Koga Scrolls from the shogun Kunitoki.
Deep Dive
The shogun Kunitoki wants the secrets of the Koga Scrolls, and Armakuni, the last of the ninja, sets out across the island of Lin-Fen to his palace. The game is seen from an isometric viewpoint with eight-way movement and mixes exploration, item puzzles and combat. Fights involve aiming blows at an opponent's head, body or legs, using a ninjato, nunchaku, staff, shuriken and smoke bombs found along the way. The Commodore 64 music was composed by Ben Daglish and Anthony Lees.
Developer Story
Designed by Mark Cale and Tim Best, the game was first worked on for almost a year by a Hungarian team at Novotrade, which went uncredited after its funding was returned. John Twiddy rewrote the engine for the C64 version. Amiga and Atari ST versions followed in 1990 as Last Ninja Remix.
Did You Know?
- It was the best-selling Commodore 64 game of its time, with over 750,000 copies sold in Europe; designer Mark Cale has put total sales at about 4 million.
- It was runner-up for Game of the Year at the 1988 Golden Joystick Awards and was followed by Last Ninja 2 and Last Ninja 3.
Sources & further reading
- The Last Ninja — Wikipedia
