Last Ninja 3 (C64)

This part has really got some phenomenal music. I'd even say it's the best of any C64 game.

The amiga remake had better graphics but what I heard was a downgraded gameplay.

I really hope they make a new one.

That intro was amazing back in the day, youd load up the game just to watch it.

When this comes out i am gonna download this along with the other two that are currently up on the VC.

A fitting end to the Last Ninja saga. Although it was released on nearly every format under the sun, the three games released on the C64 were by far the best. Stunning presentation, better than many 16-bit games of the era, offer a mind blowing scene for this finale. In the true Last Ninja tradition, it's rock solid so you'll have your work cut out to complete it.

Wow, I don't even know how to describe what I just saw! That looked like the greatest thing ever! Now I'm jealous of you Europeans!

The gameworld was a bit weird in this one, kinda looped and strangely interconnected which I had a hard time with. The gfx and audio is top, and the enemy-ai that really aren't aware of their surroundings kinda make up for your lacking any real ninjaskills.

Seriously, Armakuni is one of the worst ninjas ever! All he can do is somersault and depending on who is holding the joystick hardly even that. Style over Substance has however never been an issue in commodore-related retrogaming .

@Mickey. It really doesn't look that great lol. Though it does loop kinda cool, especially the opening cutscene.

I can't wait for this to come out. I played I and II to death growing up and they easily rank amongst my favourite games, but I never got a chance to play III.

@Mr. Cheez

Yes, that was a blatant exaggeration, but still, it does look pretty awesome, and it has a ninja in it, which is instant-win in my book.

That brief loading as the game renders the background each time you enter a new screen seems annoying. Still looks pretty good for a C64 game, though.

I used to love the Last Ninja games on the C64. I put many an hour into these games back in the day. Now if only they'll bring the C64 games to the US.

@Vsync
Armakuni's ninja skills involve taking multiple hits from weapons before dying like a regular person

A bushido system in a ninja game? Did these people even know what a ninja was?

I actually dusted off the C64 and had a go on this a couple of weeks ago and it was even harder than I remember! Still, it's a great game.

As for System 3's notions of what a ninja is, yes they did take rather a large amount of artistic licence. I blame Godfrey Ho.

Although not the Samurai bushido, ninjas often did have their own code of honour. Reyn's music in this game is terrific, almost as good as Matt Grey's for LN2.

Well, video games and movies always strained the definition of "ninja" as far as possible.

another class game from the c-64,i hope (way of the exploding fist) and (target renegade) comes to the vc

Wow, that's some crappy AI! Actually made me laugh. Fights look kinda tedious as well. Anyway the presentation and overall atmosphere is impressive, haven't seen anything like it on C64.

According to the forums this game is faulty and locks up on the 2nd level, anyone else experienced that?

I have - I've emailed Commodore but didn't get a response yet.

They have now officaly acknowledged it. I'd get a cheeky complaint into Nintendo and they might reinburse the points. I'm almost tempted to get it and do the same to see if I get some free points

I had a think about why this might be happening and I'm reminded of the issues I had when I tried to convert my LN3 original disks for Retro Gamer back when they had the games on their cover mount CD (issue #18). There is some seriously nasty copy protection going on, and I wonder if the emulator they are using isn't equipped to deal with it. IIRC the images need a fair bit of patching as well to get them emulator working.

However you don't get to see things go tits up until you try changing disk sides... which happens at the end of level one! The similarity may be more than coincidence here. LN1 and LN2 I got working fine but LN3 I didn't have the time to get patched so RG used a cracked copy instead on the CD!

Still a bit naff when its a professional outfit putting the game out for a retail release. Poor show and kind of illustrates the slapdash nature of the VC as opposed to a superior service like Live Arcade.

Oh indeed, not condoning it, just trying to rationalise why it might have happened. As said, you don't see any issues until wanting to load level two...

This looks stunning.
When will they fix this, so I may download...?
Better question: when will this be released in NA? =[

Commodore Gaming isn't able for whatever reason to release C64 games on the VC outside of Europe.

Why is this still available for download? SHouldn't Nintendo have pulled it?
Anyone else think the problems with this may be affecting the release of C64 games for the future?

Has there been any word on whether or not this game has been patched yet? I for one would love to play the second level. Hopefully its easier than the first lol.

Nope, still no patch! Incredibly ridiculous/lazy.

Drake you guys should downgrade this games rating to a 1. I want my 5 quid back

I cant believe this game is still up when its just one level. Seriously, that is really bad if they have never fixed it!

Yup, this virtual console offering stands as a festering turd of a memento to a brilliant original.

A word of warning to all reading this, do not download this game unless you want to own the ONLY broken virtual console offering in existence.

I have contacted trading standards about this games continued availability. They confirm the following to anyone who bought it:

"You have a contract with them, under the Sales of Goods Act 1979. Under this act the goods should be of satisfactory quality, if they are not the trader should repair/replace the goods in a reasonable time, if this doesn’t resolve the issue then they should provide a refund".

They have also reported Nintendo to Trading Standards on my behalf for further investigation.

Email update from Nintendo today:

I apologise for emailing you directly, but we have today received confirmation that “Last Ninja 3” will be reoved from the European Virtual Console service. Any consumers that have purchased this title will have the Nintendo Points value refunded to their account. Once again, thank you for providing information regarding this title.

Kind regards,

Jackson Davies

Customer Service Team Leader

Your Nintendo Team

Whats hilarious is the guys who made this NEVER rereleased it with the bugfix, and hilarity is added again when the idiots said "Hey, lets put the exact same broken version on the Virtual Console! No one will notice!"

Two words:
EPIC.
FAIL.