Ninku (Playstation)

 Many, many years ago when I was a kid, I read a review of an import game, possibly in an issue of Manga Mania. The game was described as being "like a fighting game, but you pick your moves from a menu", and for some reason, that interested me. Unfortunately, by the time the age of emulation had its advent and opened up the entire libraries of every pre-2000 console, I'd forgotten all information on the game except that written above, and I'd somehow misplaced the magazine, too. It wasn't until earlier this year that I re-discovered the game, which is this one. (Obviously.)

 

And the description given above by me, and in print by some long-forgotten writer (though there's a good chance it mgiht have been Wil Overton?) is prety accurate, though a little incomplete. How the game works is that your character and your opponent face off against each other, in a manner that looks a lot like a fighting game of the time, albeit with a slightly more dynamic camera and a lot of sprite scaling and rotation. There's a cross onscreen representing the d-pad, and you hold a direction to change it into a slightly differrent cross, this time representing the Playstation controller's four face buttons. Of course, all these things are labelled (in Japanese), and do different things. But basically, to input a command, you hold a direction, then press a button. Then sometimes, press a button again.

 

So, holding up lets you select what I think is an evasive maneuver, then you press a button choose the direction in which you dodge. Down lets you choose what I'll refer to as a vocalisation: either a taunt or a martial arts yell. Finally, and most importantly: right lets you attack, with a choice of punches, kicks, or specials. And if you pick specials, there's a further choice of three regualr specials that are always available or one of two super-specials. I don't know what makes the super-specials available, there doesn't seem to be any consistent pattern for it.

 

The weird thing is that despite what you might have assumed so far, thte game isn't turn-based. Every command causes a series of animations to happen, as the two characters attack, block, and evade each other, but as long as the animations aren't happening, you can input commands. So you can attack several times in a row before your opponent can do anything, and if you're slow, the reverse can also happen. So it's kind of like Final Fantasy VII's Active Time Battle system, I guess, but everyone's speed stat is already at maximum? That's as close a comparision to anything else I can come up with, at least.

 

Well, there is another comparision I can make, though it's a much less well-known one. It also feels like the PCFX FMV-based fighting game Battle Heat, but a lot better. Like, the reason Battle Heat's never been featured on here is because it just seems like a completely unplayable mess to me. It's never clear what is happening or why, and you might win a fight eventually, but probably won't. Ninku, by contrast, is a lot more clear, even with a language barrier, and though there are some elements that seem a little randomised and frustrating (blocking and evading attacks, for example, just seems to happen sometimes for either side, no matter what anyone's doing), you can kind of work out a strategy to win each fight.

 

I played through the story mode of Ninku on easy and normal difficulty, and I expect I'll attempt to play through hard mode too, at some point. It's simple and repetitive, but it looks great, and I had a lot of fun playing it, too. Furthermore, unless you really want to know what's happening in the FMV cutscenes between each fight, there isn't really a language barrier, either. I definitely recommend giving it a try if you're at all interested. And a final bit of trivia: this game was released on the same day as the other Ninku tie-in I've reviewed, Ninku 2 on the Game Gear!