Is Justice Ninja Casey (Shounen Ninja Sasuke) Worth Playing Today? - SNESdrunk

Duration: 4:15 855 transcript words EN summary

Video summary

The Super Nintendo library contains many unique titles, but navigating it can often feel tedious due to the sheer number of generic games made solely to promote movies or TV shows. This context makes the recent repackaging and North American release of *Justice Ninja Casey*, originally known as *Shounen Ninja Sasuke* in Japan, particularly welcome. Developed by Sunsoft and first released in October 1994, the game was intended for the North American market but was ultimately canceled before its launch. The new version includes an English translation provided by Ratalaika Games and Sunsoft, bringing this forgotten title back to modern audiences with a fresh perspective on its legacy. The game offers two distinct modes that cater to different playstyles: a story mode featuring branching paths, shops, and humorous NPCs who can send players to jail, and a separate beat-'em-up mode that strips away the narrative elements for pure action. Both modes support cooperative two-player gameplay, adding significant fun to the experience. The controls are straightforward, utilizing the standard SNES layout where buttons like B, Y, A, and X handle jumping, attacking, kicking, and activating skills learned from scrolls. Players can switch between these skills using the R button and manage items like bombs and throwing stars with the L button, all while managing a generous pool of lives that allows for extensive exploration without frequent restarts. Despite its entertaining moments, such as memorable boss lines and surreal plot twists involving a princess growing an extra arm, the game does have some mechanical drawbacks. The hit detection can be inconsistent because enemy sprites are significantly smaller than those in contemporaries like *Final Fight*, making it harder to land attacks when surrounded by multiple foes. However, the game mitigates this frustration by allowing players to sprint past enemies rather than engaging every single one, though this strategy carries risks against specific bosses. Additionally, the gameplay can be hindered by annoying debuffs that transform characters into objects like toads or tree branches, yet these issues do not overshadow the overall enjoyment, especially when playing with a partner. Ultimately, *Justice Ninja Casey* is highly recommended for its personality, replayability, and improved presentation in this new release. While the core gameplay of a beat-'em-up can become repetitive over time, the inclusion of split paths, extra game modes, and a polished English translation elevates the experience significantly. Although players can still access the original Japanese version without an English patch, doing so would mean missing out on the enhanced accessibility and humor that the new localization provides. Available on platforms like Steam and the eShop, this title is well worth the time for fans of the genre looking for a nostalgic yet entertaining adventure.

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Sunsoft [music] >> The Super Nintendo library is one of a kind. You'd have a heck of a time trying to make a top 100 list of the best games or even the top 200. But, going through the SNES library can feel like a slog at times with a good amount of titles that are just flat-out generic and forgettable, made only as a means to an end to promote a movie or a TV show or a [music] product of some kind. That's why it really does my heart good to see games like Justice Ninja Casey, otherwise known as Shounen Ninja Sasuke, get a repackaging and proper North American release with an English translation courtesy of Ratalaika Games and Sunsoft themselves, who first developed this title for release back in October 1994. According to an issue of EGM from June 1994, North America was supposed to get this game, but it was canceled for whatever reason. But, the best way I can describe this one is if Sunsoft made Legend of the Mystical Ninja instead of Konami, only if you also switch the combat to something closer to Mighty Final Fight or River City Ransom. There's two game modes here. There's a story mode that offers some branching paths here and there along with shops to buy items and these guys here who make fun of your face and throw your ass in jail. And if you don't want to deal with any of that, there's a separate game mode that turns this game into a straight-ahead beat-'em-up complete [music] with a totally separate HUD and everything. What's really cool is that both these game modes support two-player co-op, so that's fun. The controls are easy to pick up. It's B to jump, Y for your main [music] attack, A to kick, and X to activate a skill that you'll learn by picking up scrolls along the way. You flip between the different skills you pick with the R button, while the L button scrolls through the items you pick up. And it's stuff like bombs and throwing stars, and you use the A button to use those while you have them. You get three lives and five continues, although you continue right where you die, so it's really just 15 lives [music] to get through the game, with the story mode taking a couple hours to complete and the regular beat-'em-up mode taking something like 45 minutes to finish. And you'll have fun in that time because this game has a lot of great moments, like this boss declaring himself more than just a mere pallet swap or this part where you think you save the princess only to see an extra arm grow out of the top of her head. This game was good on its own if you were to play it any way you can, but the translation puts it over the top making it a really entertaining play through. It helps that the move set is nice, too, especially being able to do a dash attack just pressing left or right on the D-pad twice with an attack button and it's really satisfying when you hit multiple enemies at once. I will say though the hit detection can be a bit of a problem. Usually with beat 'em ups like this you're used to seeing much larger sprites giving enemies and bosses much bigger targets. In this game most of the sprites are half the size you'd see in a game like Final Fight. So, it's a little more difficult to make consistent [music] contact and since the sprites are smaller that means the game can cram more enemies onto the screen. So, often times you're surrounded by five or six enemies at once. The thing is though this is a type of game where you don't have to fight anyone. You can just keep sprinting ahead if you want. Now, you'll get destroyed in the next boss battle because you're underleveled, but I'm just saying if the game ever feels like a slog just remember that you don't have to vanquish every single enemy. One of the most annoying things about this game though is how enemies can spam you with debuffs. So, you'll get turned into a toad or a freaking tree branch, really? But yeah, otherwise Justice Ninja Casey or Shien Ninja Sasuke is a lot of fun, especially with a second player. The gameplay does get repetitive, but hey, it's a beat 'em up. That kind of goes with the territory. But even considering that there's a lot of personality throughout the game and the split paths and extra game mode give this one some replay value. You can play through the original Super Famicom game without an English patch, but you'd be missing out. Justice Ninja Casey is on Steam and the eShop just to name a couple places and it is well worth your time. And that is all for now. I want to thank you for watching and I hope you have a great rest of your day. >> Mhm.