Nikujin ( < 1Mb)
Want to play a fairly tough, fast-paced 2D side-scrolling fighter platform action game? Nikujin (pronounced Nee Koo Jeen) will take you some time to learn, with all the different moves and tricks you can learn; then present you with some very hard-hitting battles! It’s by Ikiki - I hope to post a top-down espionage game ‘Hakaiman’ by the same author shortly.
The goal of this wonderful game is to progress through the increasingly difficult Ninja fortress using maximum cunning and skill! And where necessary, inflicting maximum damage on your adversaries!
The best part of this game is all the true Ninja moves you can learn. Things like running and zig-zagging up walls, running very fast, landing with your sword down on enemies’ heads, then bouncing off the ceiling, and such-like! You also have to use stealth, tact and strategy, as sometimes fighting head-on all the time will just get you killed. This does make for a complex and more difficult, but ultimately more fun game. So sometimes sneaking past enemies is more appropriate, but if they see you, you’ll have to fight! As a true Ninja you only have one weapon, a sword; otherwise, only moves, and your hands and feet!
The bare hands and bare feet is taken literally as this Ninja (and all the others!) doesn’t seem to be able to afford clothes, though all you see is a cartoony outline! Has someone Nee'K-ed all their pantz?!
There are also some very creative physics-type puzzles. So you have to observe and deduce, and watch enemy movements; then carry out moves very accurately, in exact places and at very exact times to get past some obstacles. Whether he’s a clumsy Ninja or very agile and adept is up to you!
It does get quite difficult at from just level 2 on (10 levels in total), so it’s great for experienced gamers but much more challenging for casual players. You have infinite lives, and restart the stage you are on if/when you are killed. Some enemies will dispatch a throwing star from a distance at you as soon as they see you (indicated by an '!' on-screen). There’s a more and more difficult boss to fight at the end of each level.
Hazards include bottomless pits, Ninja assassins, leg-breaking falls, bamboo spikes, suicidal powder-keg lugging kami-kazes and even a famed Musashi (very expert swordsman) wannabe soldier. Master all of these then get killed at the start of the next level as other enemies and hazards/obstacles present themselves! Platforming sometimes takes precedence over fighting!
Purist Ninjas might want to keep use of the sword to a minimum! Most of the rest of us will be all too ready to go out sword-fighting for maximum effect! In return you can take a maximum of 5 enemy hits before your character is killed. You can restore health points by attacking and defeating adversaries.
The in-game menu is navigated using the ‘Arrow’ keys and the ‘Shift’ key to select. For the game you use ‘Arrow’ keys to move, ‘Shift’ key to jump and the ‘Ctrl’ key to use your sword.
You’ll have to learn moves by experimenting, for instance pressing ‘Shift’ jump, together with the ‘Up’ and ’ L/R’ arrow keys will perform a special jump. ‘Arrow’ keys for normal movement.
The menu is in Japanese but is easy to navigate. First choice starts the game proper, second is continue, next available choice is a (difficult! - but useful for training!) time-trial mode, and the fourth choice is a survival constant attack mode. The last choice is a high score table. The ‘Esc’ key should take you back to the menu. You might need to use 'Alt + F4' or ‘Ctrl + Alt + Del’ to stop the game and restart it to make an alternative choice in the maximised window mode. There are various options including changing controls using the (Japanese!) drop down menus.
Menu Summary: -
New Game
Continue
Tutorial/ Time Trial
Survival - - - - (Protect your sleeping Sensei from endless waves of enemies)
High Scores
The game saves your progress for each completed level, allowing you to recommence later, at the stage where you have got to, provided you’ve finished at least one level!
It is (rumoured) possible that there are hidden bonus levels if you complete the main game proper in one continued play-through, but you might have fun trying to access these without wrecking your keyboard!
The game plays in XP and Win 7 and should hopefully play in Vista. The music is some very catchy midi tunes. Playing it in 640x480 compatibility mode and maximising the window will let you play it somewhat larger. If your firewall objects because of the Japanese based exe characters, either rename the file or add the game exe to the firewall’s trusted files.
It runs from the extracted folder and is called é+é¡éÂé±.exe. Rename this to eg ‘Nikujin.exe’ or 'game.exe' if you wish!
The game has a minimalist approach to graphics, with a simplistic animated style, and sparsely decorated levels. But it is far deeper a game than first impressions might give or persuade, and enemies come thick and fast all the very too soon! It also takes a very great deal of skill and practice to navigate some parts of the fortress.
It’s a fairly difficult but fun fighting game to master and progress through! Excellent!
