Kung-Fu Heroes, Little Ninja Brothers, and Super Chinese 3 (Ninja Boy Series on NES) - NESfriend

[@johirata5638]

super chinese 3 looks so beautiful!

[@hansgruber9457]

The mayor has taken all the food for himself?! What a glutton.

[@strain42]

When I was a kid, the SNES entry of this series was honestly one of my most played games, but I never got very far in it because I didn't understand it. I'd just invite a friend over and we'd run around and fight stuff. I remember we could always beat the "diaper men" and usually go our butts kicked by the angry tiger enemies. I wonder if I'd do any better at it if I tried to replay it now.

[@adamf324]

Thanks for the content! Great video!

[@maverick_loneshark]

Super Chinese Fighter (スーパーチャイニーズファイター) was also released for both the Super Famicom and Game Boy Color and seems to be a fighting game with story elements. The SNES game appears to be written entirely in hiragana & katakana (good news for the kanji illiterate), so it might make for a fun game to translate/play for beginnermediate Japanese language students. For those who do not know or study the Japanese language, there are fan translations/patched versions that exist out in the wild (*cough* cdromance & romhacking *cough*)

[@Jamie-nx2cg]

Some of the most fun games on the NES. You didnt mention this little tidbit. Here is a memory I have of this game... so there is a particularily tough mountain dungeon. My bro and I beat the boss by the skin of our teeth. The cut scene with the guru or whoever we were supposed to talk to is happening. Suddenly the screen glitches. My bro and I are like wtf.... then the guru comes back and says "just kidding". First time I was ever trolled and it was by an NES game. Haha

[@glengreer9614]

“Fighting with Invincible Balls! So that’s something…” LMAO. Great video as always, NES Friend!

[@GoodVibeCollecting]

Super Chinese laid the foundation but it's a little tough to go back to. Adding more RPG elements to the game with later titles greatly improved the gameplay. I have the most nostalgia for Super Ninja Boy.

[@fredskull1618]

Oh, so NO ONE noticed that Demon’s Castle had a shape that was a bit…suggestive?

[@chadwickjdillon]

Japanese tv adverts from the 80's and 90's are amazing. Nothing, about Super Chinese suggests to me the player should be surrounded by polygon technosauruses in a super 3d world runner environment. But hey, thats gaming. Great vid!

[@NESFriend]

I kinda wanna play the game they were advertising. It sure wasn't one of these !

[@ChuEmmMeeChuEmmMee-z1l]

​@@NESFriend Good afternoon 😴🌞! Happy Halloween 👻🎃 to you 😄🎉. Trick or treat!

[@ggbetz]

That might be the best commercial on this channel yet! Nothing to do with the game, but it sold me. I tried kung fu heroes recently, it was a bit goofy, but nice. However, these rpgs sound like wacky fun! I know what my next NES game to play is. I think I have a random super fami one, I'll need to check, I just love how cringe the title is...so cringe its SUPER CHINESE! Thanks for the fun video Trav. Maybe you'll make a video on the others?

[@AL_Talks]

The Last Castle joke (and the retread) made me laugh out loud. I love your japes

[@BB-te8tc]

Super Chinese is one of my favourite series. I've played and beaten them all, and they all have their fair share of jank (and sprite/gameplay recycing between games) but there's a weird awkward charm to them, like a poor man's Goemon. Kung Fu Heroes is actually an NES adaptation of an earlier arcade title named Chinese Hero which plays mostly the same. Also, a fun bit about Little Ninja Brothers is the way it lifts elements from Journey to the West and Chinese folklore and mythology (the world map is roughly shaped like China, the Twelve Celestial Beings are the Chinese Zodiac signs, etc). And if you like Super Chinese 3, Super Ninja Boy on the SNES is a must play. It has the battle system revisions but without the massive flicker and slowdown. I have a theory that "Culture Brain" was intended to be a partly "educational" game company, basing their titles after various different cultures (Super Chinese being China, Magic of Scheherazade being "Middle Eastern", etc)

[@NESFriend]

Hey BB, very interesting insights regarding the mythology and I like your theory on Culture Brain. Hopefully the video did the games justice for someone very familiar. I wasn't able to play through the two RPGs completely but I share your opinion on their jank and charm. The co-op piece is just icing on an already decent jank-cake!

[@BB-te8tc]

Actually, your video tipped me off that Super Chinese Land 3 has a translation patch now (I muddled my way through the Japanese one about a decade ago) so thanks for making my morning! Super Chinese 3 continues the mythology thing a bit but opts moreso for "American" settings. There's a cowboy town, a future town, and the celestial beings are instead inspired by the "North American" Zodiac (The samurai with the scorpion haircut, Dr. Justice resembling a ram, B.B Virgo representing Virgo, the character with a jug-shaped head being Aquarius, the scale-head character being Libra, etc). Of course, this is all just speculation and patterns I've observed. I used to write strategy guides for these games decades ago so I've been sort of passively trying to document or at least bring awareness of the series to the internet, but it looks like it's finally getting some love. Once you get to Super Chinese World they just start mixing and matching and the whole series goes into space. It's nonsensical but it's immensely charming.

[@NESFriend]

Nice! I'll check those out. I'd like to see the guides too.

[@chuemmmeechuemmmee3418]

​@@NESFriend Happy Thanksgiving 🦃🍽️!

[@HabanyGaming]

I still enjoy it every time you start with an old commercial for the game. Makes me smile.

[@az-cafe-moto]

May not be able to side step lighting, but i think you can round house kick it.

[@NESFriend]

I will try that!

[@sofubisamurai]

I’ve still never finished the first game. Played it a ton as a kid.

[@GOGOAKUMAN]

Yeah, I also had it in japones, could not finish it. But I love this game.

[@gjergjaurelius9798]

So flying dragon, kung fu heroes the obscure of the obscure. What’s next ninja Kun?

[@braydenb1581]

Ninja bros was the best 5 dollarsi spent at a pawn shop

[@TopSpot123]

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

[@agentchris1482]

You too!

[@HybridAngelZero]

I've kinda had my eye on these for a while, they look like fun! I might just go ahead and grab Little Ninja Brothers on the Wii U eShop before it's gone for good. Watching this, I kinda wish this series could have kept going beyond the SNES. I would have loved to see what a PSone or even PS2 follow-up could have been for this series

[@wg6184]

Great video! Take care Bill Chicago

[@NESFriend]

Thanks 👍

[@Filthnails]

Kung Fu Heroes was a decent two player game, but the hit detection was painfully janky. I really like Little Ninja Bros... how often did one get to play a two player rpg back then?! It has such a weird sense humor. I haven't played it in decades and I still remember the confusion effect in rpg boss battle mode would have your character randomly blurt out, 'Where are my knickers? Squid for everyone!'

[@GOGOAKUMAN]

On the SuperNes the games are called Super ninja boys 1,2 and 3. Plus their is the fighting game "Beat him up" style like Street Fighter. Also the Spin-off super Chinese fighter on Gameboy and Super Nes.

[@barry-allenthe-flash8396]

Ok... as a fan of old-school, early, '80s-vintage CGI, I know those shiny robot dinosaurs. There were some animated shorts like that (or this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/foC4ioaCiNl6l80 ). _What the heck were they doing advertising Super Chinese?_ I mean, yeah, it's an eye-catching commercial at the time, but.... they're chrome dinosaurs... and this is about little Chinese monk boys.... I just... I can't.... how do those go...... urrrrgggghhh. I think that commercial broke my brain, lol

[@NESFriend]

I'm so happy you have insights on that whacky ass commercial! It's bizarre

[@maverick_loneshark]

1:35 2001年の（大人？丈人？）クリエイターたちへ。 I roughly translate this as "To the (adult? [honorable] elder?) creators of 2001." The adult/elder part is omitted when it is read out loud.

[@jakeshyf7096]

They are doing Sommersaults, not Moonsaults :) It's an honest mistake, I get it.

[@NESFriend]

It's in the manual as moonsault so that's what I went with.

[@Michael-xn9mz]

Top gaming companies imp Namco Sun soft bcuz it ticks off avgn Capcom n midway sucks