The evil Shogun Kunitoki has long envied the powers of the Ninja brotherhood and would do anything to acquire their knowledge. To this end he has sworn an oath to their total destruction.

Once every decade all Ninja must travel to the Island of Lin Fen where they pay homage to the Shrine of the White Ninja and receive further teachings from the Koga Scrolls. Seizing the opportunity Kunitoki summoned forth all the spirits from the depths of the Nether World and flung their full force against the amassed Ninja. None escaped the wrath of Kunitoki. Read More »

Word soon reached Armakuni, the last Ninja, of the unnatural disaster that had slain his brothers and gathering all his courage he swore to wreak a terrible revenge on the Shogun and all his followers. What unforeseen hazards lay in wait for him?

Review

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 by Dion Guy

The evil Shogun Kunitoki has long envied the powers of the Ninja brotherhood and would do anything to acquire their knowledge.

Critically acclaimed at the time, and still praiseworthy today, The Last Ninja sees you exploring several superbly detailed environments on your quest to defeat the evil Kunitoki. Picking up weapons along the way, you encounter a variety of enemies to..

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User Comments

1. v404 25 Apr 2008, 01:42 BST

It's been ages since I last played this!! My cousin had it on his Apple IIGS. It was fun. And what a great soundtrack!!

NA needs C64 too!

2. werdy 25 Apr 2008, 08:48 BST

Second level's music (The Wilderness) one of the best C64 soundtrack. Very great but hard game.

3. D00M 25 Apr 2008, 09:10 BST

I'd like to know how this plays with the classic controller, and in terms of difficulty, how does this rate? what game can it compared to?
Also, more ninja games please :TG-16 Shinobi arcade and Revenge of Shinobi for Genesis/Megadrive

4. Kelvin 25 Apr 2008, 11:17 BST

The controls were never brilliant to start with, but they're a bit wobbly on the d-pad.

As for ninja games, I'd love to see Saboteur, but I'm not sure it's likely!

5. Mr 64 25 Apr 2008, 15:52 BST

Oh wow! The first non D64-TV game and it's one of the best games ever released on the C64. I can't wait to fire it up again after all these years. Yes, the controls take a bit of getting used to and it's quite difficult but I can't think of many more atmospheric arcade-adventure games out there than this. Beautiful graphics and a truly fantastic soundtrack show just what the C64 was capable of.

6. Ragnor 25 Apr 2008, 16:16 BST

Wow, that soundtrack is epic indeed.

It's rare hearing something like that on things like an old console

7. Stuffgamer1 25 Apr 2008, 16:18 BST

I really don't know about the game (kind of wary about isometric games, especially if they're that old), but the music really is awesome! I left the video running while I continued to look at other news articles in another tab just so I could listen to it! The game may or may not be worth a download, but seeing as it also may or may not ever get released in America, I don't really need to worry about it right now, do I?

8. sandos 25 Apr 2008, 19:56 BST

Controls works, I guess, with a gamecube controller. I find the analog stick easier for this and IK. d-pad+diagonals doesn't really cut it for me.

9. timp29 25 Apr 2008, 23:09 BST

awesome awesome awesome!!! The most epic game around before nintendo came on the scene. If sexual favours are required to get the c64 to australia, point me to the person with the influence to make it happen!

10. D00M 26 Apr 2008, 12:38 BST

I'll prolly give it a miss, which is a shame because the music on that video is awesome.
The C64 had such a great soundchip...

11. Fireballmario 27 Apr 2008, 01:22 BST

Wow this looks like about the best game on the Comodore 64 on virtual console so far.

12. Jesse_Blue 27 Apr 2008, 09:32 BST

I played 1 and 2 back then; just hope they're gonna release 3 on VC. The video shows a real pro there, I remember the jump parts to be really annoying and frustrating but the games were still a worthy experience showing off what the good old 64 could do.

13. Falk Sturmfels 27 Apr 2008, 11:59 BST

I downloaded it yesterday, played it a while with the remote. It´s not working well with the remote, so I tried my Cubecontroller. Don´t know why sometimes at the download page is written, that the games are not compatible with the cube controller. Last Ninja is great with the cubecontroller, because all commands are on the buttons, even weapon changing an activating, which is terrible with the remote. Wonderful. Moving with the stick is easier, so there is no way to argue anymore about hard handling Last Ninja.Only jumping is still pure terror, but after you found the best way its okay.
Time for me to take pen and paper and getting back to levelmaps!

14. expa0 27 Apr 2008, 17:17 BST

How can music be this awesome in... a Commodore game?
This game looks pretty good, gameplay looks good.
Wow this is gonna be the first Commodore 64 game I download.

15. Gylve 28 Apr 2008, 10:52 BST

Very nice!!! I really love this game. I am on level 4 right now :-)

16. Kelvin 28 Apr 2008, 18:13 BST

expa0, you'll find that C64 games pretty much always have great music. As DOOM mentions above, the machine had great sound hardware, and in many cases, the games are fondly remembered more for the music than the gameplay.

17. expa0 29 Apr 2008, 20:55 BST

Cool! so there are more games that have great music like this.
I am now really looking forward to next good commodore game and
of course this games sequel.

Also I feel kinda noobish now, I always thought, that C64 was more like Atari 2600 which had no music at all.

Dang. I wish my Wii would quickly come from the repairs so I could download this game.

18. Falk Sturmfels 30 Apr 2008, 11:53 BST

Reached Level 3 now. Still great. Animated Backgrounds all over the place. Get this!

19. Kelvin 01 May 2008, 20:46 BST

expa0, you may be familiar with the band Machinae Supremacy, who use a C64 sound chip in their music. The sound capabilities of the machine were well ahead of their time, and quite unique in comparison to other machines of the era. It's probably the only 8-bit machine where the soundtracks are still so fondly remembered (aside from classic theme tunes like Mario and Zelda, of course).

20. Jon 07 May 2008, 11:14 BST

A good game but the controls needs to get used to.

21. truercki 23 May 2008, 14:18 BST

If this comes out, then Last Ninja 2 and 3 must come as well. Hopefully soon ! I still think that The Last Ninja 2 is the best one of the sequel.

22. stephen c 12 Jul 2008, 01:39 BST

This is an all time commodore 64 classic. The music is great the control method is a bit tricky to start with, but once you get the hang of it you will soon be in C64 heaven. The sequels are good too, but ths is the true classic.

23. Outrunner 13 Jul 2008, 00:51 BST

Downloaded it yesterday. At first I wasn't fussed because of the controls but after spending some time and getting to grips with them, I have to say I'm impressed. One of the best games I've downloaded in a while.

24. Nightsky071 01 Sep 2008, 09:28 BST

AWWW WHAT THE HECK!!!

U.S.A Shop channel needs the Commadore 64. I'd like to play this, it looks fun.

25. Betagam7 02 Oct 2008, 01:12 BST

It is a great game but MY GOD is it frustrating, I'm sick already trying to jump back over the river in level 2. Note to developers: if you are going to have a fiddly jumpy bit that requires luck and good fortune (the collision detection is awful) then put it at the beginning of a level not the end!
(Goes off to spend 5 minutes playing level only to lose all 4 lives mistiming jumps!)

Timp 29: Sexual favours arnt required for you to play this game, just change your region setting

26. Betagam7 02 Oct 2008, 15:46 BST

Well I since beat that level and am now wandering round the dungeons of level 4. THis is such an addictive game even though rightfully you should just be throwing it off a wall in frustration