• Completed
& Reviewed by Neil Collins
Not a bad little game by Imagine when you get into it
and learn the enemy patterns. I remember getting to the
castle years ago, but never completed it. Now that I
have a trained version by Remember, I thought I would
give it another bash and see if I could eventually get
to the end...
Kage slays his final
victim...
The Princess is in
sight...
...and makes her way
down to her hero, Kage.
Finally together
again...
Kage slays his final
victim...
The End. Or is it the
beginning?!
HOW WAS IT COMPLETED?:
I used an infinite lives cheat. You basically have to
beat a certain amount of ninjas before the wizards
attack. Their ability depends on their colour – red
being the hardest & blue being the weakest. After
beating the required amount of enemies you must proceed
through the forest to the castle and find the captured
princess.
SO WHAT HAPPENS?:
After rescuing princess Kiri, our hero leads her up to
the castle roof where he beats a guard and escapes. You
then return to the forest to face one final enemy (who
looks similar to yourself), and after beating him you
get the final ending message that reads: "KAGE
SUCCESSFULLY SAVED PRINCESS KIRI FROM THE ENEMY. ALL THE
EVIL DISAPPEARED AND PEACE PREVAILED EVERYWHERE. THIS IS
THE STORY OF A YOUNG NINJA IN THE OLD DAYS OF JAPAN."
The Princess slowly makes her way back down to Kage and
then the game loops back to the start, but with a
different coloured background.
-
Neil:
Quite enjoyable if a little repetitive. Once you
master the enemy patterns, it gets quite easy. I
found standing in the corner and firing shuriken at
the enemies the best method of attack. 6/10.
-
Vinny:
Heh-heh... "not a bad little game" said Neil.
He's right - it's not a bad game; it's a totally
shite game! Originally, Neil kindly sent in the
ending, which didn't seem to work, and so I tried
completing it myself using an infinite lives/health
cheat. It frustrated me to the point that I nearly
lobbed my Competition Pro joystick through the
screen! The game is crippling to say the least!
Anyway - I eventually plucked up the courage to
email Neil and see if he had a version of the ending
that worked. Praise be to Neil - he bloody played
through it again!
Now - the ending... it's actually better than what I
expected. It's actually - to quote Neil - "not a
bad" ending. I know that if I had completed it back
in the day, I would have been pleased with this
ending. It's not perfect by any means, but it suits
the game. 5/10.
-
Frank Gasking:
Ah Legend of Kage!... terribly shite conversion, but
another title I look at through rose tinted specs. I
remember picking up a second hand compilation when I
was young which was the Taito Coin-Op collection,
which was amazing as it was the first time I got to
play Bubble Bobble and also Renegade. It was a great
little compilation which I wore out. I enjoyed
Legend of Kage at the time - mainly as I could jump
from tree to tree and found it quite fun. Looking
back now, it is very poor - and I'm not sure how I
managed to play it for too long without turning the
thing off.
The ending is a bit of a surprise, as I wouldn't
have thought they would have put much effort into
it. Although its simple, it's better than most
Ocean/Imagine endings. Just wish they put as much
effort into the game... 3/10.
-
Andrew Fisher:
Given its arcade origins, there's no surprise that
the game loops... however I was surprised by the
ending (in that it had one). Not a game I've ever
enjoyed playing, and certainly not for long enough
to reach the conclusion. 4/10.
-
Andy Vaisey:
Pixel-tastic sprites! Awful game with a an equally
awful ending.
Legend of Kage
