Itching for ninja action? Try The Legend of Kage

I grew up in an era when Sho Kusugi and Michael Dudikoff ruled movie theaters worldwide. So it\\\\\\\’s really no surprise when I tell friends about my childhood antics, of donning a black kimono and threatening the neighborhood dogs and cats with my wooden katana and shurikens made from metal bottle caps (I\\\\\\\’ll explain how it\\\\\\\’s done if you have the time to read or listen). Needless to say, I was enamored with the ninja and its seemingly mystic powers, even to the point of seeking out a person who practices ninjitsu and asking him to train me.\\\\r\\\\n\\\\r\\\\nUnfortunately, I never got to finish my training, as my mentor died a few years after our first meeting, not from any mortal blade but from a broken heart. My romance with everything ninja didn\\\\\\\’t stop with training in ninjitsu; it actually crossed the threshold from the real world into the virtual world.\\\\r\\\\n\\\\r\\\\nI\\\\\\\’m talking about video games, of course, particularly video games with ninja themes. One such video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System caught my fancy in 1986—The Legend of Kage.\\\\r\\\\n\\\\r\\\\n

\\\\r\\\\n\\\\r\\\\n\\\\r\\\\nThe Legend of Kage isn\\\\\\\’t a NES game, per se; it was actually released in the arcades in 1984 by Taito. The game was ported to several contemporary home computer systems, including the Nintendo Entertainment System and Nintendo Family Computer two years after the arcade version.\\\\r\\\\n\\\\r\\\\nHere\\\\\\\’s a short backgrounder on The Legend of Kage:\\\\r\\\\n\\\\r\\\\n

The object of the game is for a ninja named Kage to rescue Princess Kiri from mystical villains. Kage must fight his way through a forest and into a secret passageway that leads up a fortress wall and through the castle itself. Each time the pixelated princess is rescued, the seasons change, starting with summer, followed by autumn, and then winter.\\\\r\\\\n\\\\r\\\\nNo self-respecting rescuer is complete without an arsenal, of course. Kage is armed with swords and shurikens. Power-ups are also available in the form of crystal balls, which not only change Kage\\\\\\\’s clothes but also give him bigger shurikens and make him move faster; a scroll that strikes down all approaching enemies, and a pudgy butterfly that flits across the top portion of the screen during odd intervals.

\\\\r\\\\n\\\\r\\\\nGood news for those who wish to relive those ninja-tastic moments: first, The Legend of Kage\\\\\\\’s NES version has been re-released on the Nintendo Wii\\\\\\\’s Virtual Console in Japan; second, the arcade version has made a comeback via the Playstation 2 title Taito Legends 2; third and last, there\\\\\\\’s a 3D remake of The Legend of Kage in Taito Legends Power Up for the Playstation Portable.