Last Ninja 3 Longplay (C64) [50 FPS]

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Developed and published by System 3 in 1991
This is the final game in the Last Ninja trilogy released on the Commodore 64.
Once again, you control Armakuni as he prepares for a final showdown with the evil Shogun, Kunitoki. This time, you will fight your way through 5 different elemental chambers within an ancient Tibetan temple.
On each stage, the objective is to find the scroll, solve the puzzles and to defeat a guardian stationed at the exit to the level. If you've played either of the first 2 games then you'll know exactly what to expect.
A different team was at the helm developing this final installment. The graphics are certainly the most lavish, but the game suffers from noticeable slow-down on certain screens and the sprite collision with the scenery is very fiddly to say the least.
The game tried to encourage you to take part in combat using a new "Bushido" system. The dragon at the bottom of the screen fills up when you fight enemies using the same weapon as them, or double the amount for fighting unarmed. As your Bushido meter fills, combat becomes gradually easier, but you take such punishment during combat that it's safer to avoid it all together.
A single health potion can be found on each stage, but you have to be careful as to when is best to collect it as it heals you when you pick it up; it cannot be stored for later use.
Reyn Ouwehand wrote some really good music that helped distinguish it from the previous games.
Most notable was the lavish (for the time) opening introduction; few games ever had decent endings, let alone an introduction. It was these ambitious, high production values that really made System 3 stand out as a C64 developer.
In conclusion, it's a good game, although Last Ninja 2 still remains the pinnacle of the series.
Enjoy!
#retrogaming

[@korzeniek78]

Watching this intro back in 1991 while sitting in my room on a cold, snowy winter night. One of these legendary things that shaped young kid's imagination. Love it forever.

[@JTBacchanalist]

This music used to get me super hyped as a child I'd want to fight every enemy ninja style....never got past the first level lol

[@deathmetalgek666]

I finished all 3 games, it's a shame they never made part 4 :(((

[@MegaasAlexandros]

@@deathmetalgek666 impressive stuff, which was the best in your opinion ?

[@deathmetalgek666]

@@MegaasAlexandros Difficult to answer but i think all 3 are the best they made on the c64 imo.

[@MegaasAlexandros]

@@deathmetalgek666 my opinion is 2 but then again I didn't get into the others as much and part 2 was the only one I finished. Whilst in lockdown I am planning on finishing the others, after I do so I will be in a better position to judge, if my opinion changes I will post it here. Talking about part 2, going to go play that classic now !

[@deathmetalgek666]

@@MegaasAlexandros Have fun :)

[@jobcompanygroup9624]

Dear childhood, I miss you.

[@scottbreon9448]

Reyn Ouwehand was only 16 when he wrote the music for this game

[@REYNmusician]

\o/

[@geogan2]

Impossibubble!

[@pinkelephantz286]

The last ninja series is arguably the best ever commodore game series , thx for posting i never actually played this i think it must have coincided with the sega megadrive/genesis release!

[@thenorthernfilmguy6948]

Always loved the music in the last level, really made you feel like this was the very final battle.

[@AlbertBoris]

By far my favourite of the trilogy. Not only is the setting the absolute best, but the controls were refined to death! It's definitely the most playable of the bunch

[@1977Eelco]

Only played the first two games, but this looks and sounds great! They should remake this stuff :S

[@ninjamaster3453]

props to the makers for bringing the series to a closure on the c64. 91 was well over the he heyday for c64 and they pulled off all this with cinematic elements. very impressive.

[@AchtungBaby77]

@Ronaldo Agudelo That's not a bad thing. Trying to resurrect old franchises decades down the track can often tarnish the charm of the original.

[@BarrySlisk]

Holy shit this is great music. Never heard it before.

[@juri_xiii9977]

Part2 was the one for me, but it's the Music that I love the most from c64 times.. C64 game tunes, are like a time machine that take me back to my childhood.. Thanks.

[@LPetal86]

I'm impressed with the amount of effort that was put into this game, from the phenomenal soundtrack and sprite work, to the levels themselves. Every time the screen loads you can see a bunch of things that are hidden when it finishes rendering, like trees for example, that get covered over by a cliff. Did they have to draw the entire tree since a good part of it would be covered by the cliff? No, but they did it anyway. Great stuff all around!

[@kke]

The same tree is used in other places.

[@LPetal86]

@@kke Yes, and they decided to put multiple instances of it in multiple places, even when you look at the level being completely loaded. This means that they basically wanted a bunch of trees in there to look really nice, even when you're not necessarily going to see most of those trees. That was the point I was trying to make.

[@paulnick826]

Brings back memories of the early 90s. I played the Amiga version. The music is awesome.

[@Kali-Yuga-Peace-Corp]

Amiga looks better, but C64 sound better?

[@GregDaniel78]

I don't think a game has impressed me so much visually and sonically as this did then. I love the audio filter on the 'forge hammers' on the Fire level.

[@MrBruno2000]

Still to this day this is impressive! Fuck the Amiga version!

[@MegaasAlexandros]

I think this one is the most impressive of the lot in terms of graphics, intro - animated scenes and perhaps music. It really pushed the machine to its limits but it was not as playable in my opinion.

[@bbenjoe]

Did you guys know Last Ninja 4 was in the making? Understandably it was cancelled as the era of C64 had come to an end. Some concept arts and even a music track survives.

[@evenberg8499]

It is a work of art.

[@Michael-Eklund]

I remember buying this on cassette for my C64 (the old brown one) back in -91. I believe it came with a nice big poster too. The intro music is more epic in the C64 version than the Amiga version.

[@caphowdy666]

I had hundreds of games on the C64 back in the day (most by Mastertronic) but this was the only game I had that was on cartridge and it blew my mind no longer having to wait for the tape to load (or fail to load as was often the case).

[@Keglton]

1:33 The intro so godly!

[@peterkovacs7817]

One of my favourite Commodore 64 games. The musics still on my favourites list in 2023. ❤

[@serdarhizir8375]

awesome intro music compared to its era...

[@UltimoGames]

And I always thought MetalGearSolid was the first game to have a cinematic intro! very cool

[@pritype3966]

The intro music is fucking amazing 🖤

[@timothypierce5303]

As incompetent as these enemies are, I'd hate to see how bad the other ninjas were if this is the last one.

[@geogan2]

30th anniversary this year. Wow.

[@whatamalike]

To me, the last ninja series is the perfect example of a game that I love how it looks and sounds but cannot get on well with the gameplay at all. I mean I'm not a fan of isometric action/platformers in general, but at least with stuff like monster max, head over heels and knightlore I feel like I'm at least in decent control of my character. Here, the ninja just controls like you're constantly pushing him through a swamp! Is that just me? Surely not?

[@chilly6470]

I had a hard time with this as a 13 year old. I think I got better on the 2nd game though.

[@kommissar.murphy]

Those cosmic levels are so damn cool looking.

[@andreasrmoen]

I remember this game. Difficult, and impossible without a walkthrough.

[@KujaNiv100]

Seriously, the intro is modern-like and impressive; looks anachronistically compared to the hardware its runs on! And the musics are interesting, hard to believe the one of the third level (12:55) is from the 8 bits era; and are the drums in the 4th stage music reals? O o

[@GregDaniel78]

They were not made using the c64s "fourth" sample channel. I believe they are a normal square wave with a very heavy ring modulation filter applied.

[@anza1382]

24:20 is also amazing. The bass while probably unintentional gives an idea of a someone playing fretless bass. This is a good example of making the best out of what you have.

[@80-80.]

I only played the first two. Never knew there was third game. Keep in mind this is many years before the internet.

[@tomaszhoff8933]

Yes ! the time being grounded was a blessing....

[@AL82RetrogamingLongplays]

You really need to avoid combat else you'll eat through your available lives. Unlike LN1 and 2, your health doesn't replenish between levels; you have to locate the potion on each stage to do so. On the flip-side, you need to increase your bushido rating as it improves your combat effectiveness, so it's choosing your battles wisely. The AI is determined by player position; it behaves in exactly the same way, every single time - hence why input recorder can be used to play it back ;)

[@adroharv9213]

terrific soundtrack. Better I think than the first two by my own personal taste and just because it's a little easier on the ear

[@A38-021]

2 was better (It is a fact)

[@AchtungBaby77]

Definitely agree. The ninja in the New York setting was awesome ✌

[@MartelloClaudio]

I agree too. Last Ninja 3 was not a good game, in my opinion

[@sumrukumru4203]

This music is immortal

[@REYNmusician]

:D

[@teddym2808]

goes through entire game avoiding all combat.. gets 90% positive thumbs up. Ninja game. People are so weird.

[@ugh7610]

this music is awesome three channel miracle

[@Ghostx1977]

Is it just me or did anyone else think these games were super hard? Half the time I didn't have a scooby what I was meant to be doing?

[@johnlancaster563]

very good video; really enjoyed; i never figured out any of the special places or actions; so good to learn about them now; thank you

[@Rahijenysios]

Epic Sound

[@housti]

I was a big fan of Last Ninja 1-2, but never were interested in Last Ninja 3. Maybe one of these days I'll try it. :)

[@ehenyor]

thanks for walkthrough. it really helped me out. I love ln1 and ln2, and this final entry is just plain confusing: the maps don't make any sense, the controls aren't as fluid and the bushido is too hard to earn. anyhow, your walkthrough really helped me decipher this game.

[@AL82RetrogamingLongplays]

Glad it helped :) The puzzles in the LN games were always a bit obscure, but that was true of a lot of games for the time.

[@Jayce_Alexander]

Graphically impressive, and great music (as always), but not up to the series standard in terms of the puzzles, level design and gameplay. The controls are a fair bit more wonky than LN 1 & 2, the enemies behave weirdly and often get stuck in random places, and many of the puzzles are extremely cryptic and don't rely on the player's logical thinking at all. If this had been any other game, it would have been an amazing C64 title - but this game failed to live up to the Last Ninja pedigree. Still a fun playthrough, but I'd recommend using a walkthrough if it's your first time playing it.

[@MegaasAlexandros]

My feelings exactly, found this one impressive to look at, music was excellent but thought overall it wasn't as good as its predecessor.

[@AchtungBaby77]

Agree with everything you said - I'll also add that the level screens didn't "connect" logically, making them difficult to navigate. I also found the requirement to build Bushido for the final battle to be a gimmick at best, and the prayer wheel opening to indicate nearby items felt a little off too - it would've been simpler to just have items flash like the first two games.

[@supahdupahguy81]

Dat music...

[@shitboyshah8932]

Somehow missed the Magic of 1&2

[@ichbins8588]

I fully agree, compared to LN2 it looks...hm clumsy and the gameplay seems boring when I think about all the different kind of enemies in LN2. But the game's music is still awesome :)

[@MartelloClaudio]

Agree. Never liked LN3

[@user-lb3tg2qx8b]

This game was NOT easy, kids. The smoothness you see here is impressive.

[@matthias3175]

I love the last ninja series i play part one and two serveral times trough. But part 3 has such an beasty collision, in never went trought level 4.

[@AL82RetrogamingLongplays]

That guy got stuck on the scenery - to be fair, there were plenty of times where I was the guy spazzing out having got snagged on a pixel ;)

[@Last-Ninja-1]

Snagged on a pixel. That's funny. And strangely true.

[@NarkySawtooth.]

Wow, C64 can do some bangers on a traditional Chinese theme. Which is an odd choice of music style for a game that seems to be set in Japan.

[@magnussamuelsson2630]

Just now I realized that if that guard was turned the other way, which I would if I were him, the whole game would have been over pretty quick.

[@robertmesko6112]

my first game on C64+floppy disk :)

[@gareth19771]

Reyn Owehand is a genius

[@REYNmusician]

😀

[@gareth19771]

@REYNmusician absolutely true. Ninja 3 is a fav game and mostly because of the music. Totally epic

[@gareth19771]

Ninja 3 was more than a C64 game. it was an event. It was saying look how good the C64 can look and sound. geniuses like Reyn made that happen. thats a part of my childhood

[@giddue]

I remember how I loved this game and how I did wait for it to be released. The only thing I don't really like is the fact that the graphics are made using elements from an archive of what previously done for the past ninja episodes (the third level is basically the sewers level of ninja 2 colored in red, mixed with details from other levels): it has not anything new but the user interface graphics and the cinematic sequences (that are absolutely great). A game not as great as the chapter two of the ninja saga in my opinion, just because the episode two is set in a completely different environment (modern urban) compared to the first one (medieval wilderness) so System 3 was forced to re imagine all the game, yet leaving the concept unaltered... but this didn't happened for this episode, probably they wanted to focus on the cinematic sequences. I would have loved to see ninja in a sci fi environment instead, like Project Firestart!

[@therub2191]

Cool! I had this on cartridge

[@norman191000]

I wonder what original creators listed in intro do now for living...

[@martijn8530]

Why does part 2 look better then part 3?

[@AchtungBaby77]

I'd love to know what System 3 were smoking having ninjas in outer space on that final level 😅 Still a cool game, amazing music 🎶 For my money, Last Ninja 2 is still king 🤴 👍

[@patriziomironti4643]

E una bella grafica,musica del Commodore 64

[@magisterirae]

Nice videogame

[@Kali-Yuga-Peace-Corp]

Which system has the best music?

[@KibyNykraft]

from 8:36 is a little bit of the quality of the last ninja 1 and 2 music :)

[@blubmuz]

defeating the shogun is a joke. Is that really the best they could come up with for ending such a famous trilogy?

[@TestowyAP1]

Ln2 was the best. Ln3 was not playable. Drum reveal solution was a bad direction. Blinking of objects were better. Not saying that maps in ln3 were not logical, unlike in ln2, where you could build logical maps

[@MartelloClaudio]

Completely agree with you

[@andrzejdymek5563]

doskonala gra na c64.

[@razterizer]

Never played this one (only LN1), but man, the graphics and music is awesome. Tried to play on my maxi but couldn’t figure out how to pick the object once it is revealed by the ”cylinder thingy”. Someone who could help me with this?

[@kke]

I think fire+down. I remember it being annoying.

[@dagmardankert1512]

Opel open up a club, just playin this "score," 🌌

[@REYNmusician]

Wooooohoooo!!!

[@jammerc64]

Bugfixing, unfortunately, isn't on par with audiovisual bliss.

[@fabio80r1]

Where is the stick? In the first level?

[@TotalMK]

The Bo Staff is in level 3 (water) in the reids in one of the screens near the start of the game. @ 13:58

[@ACanOfBakedBeans]

TotalMK It's spelled REEDS. Reid is a SURNAME

[@Campcrystal1]

The last ninja 1 is the best

[@hipwave]

picking up the objects, specially some, is still fiendishly difficult. it is irritating as hell.

[@Chozenfew73]

the controlling of the ninja in this one was terrible compared to the lst series.

[@LaloCabre]

Es casi igual que el port para Amiga!

[@dilvo1000]

Top 😍

[@periplanwmenos12]

The final boss's helmet looks like the helmet of Shao Kahn.

[@ivanyiattila3547]

The 2. last ninja is more better I think.

[@jonasthesen]

Wasn't Reyn like 16 years old or something when he make this tune with some other guy ?

[@JoeBetro]

🎶 = 🤯

[@Perasis]

Graphics are worse than in first Last Ninja. You don't have a clue where to pick your items and there is no way to tell what the item in your inventory presents. Game is also lagging as hell and the music is like from some comedy sketch... A joke in Last Ninja series.

[@Frostie3672]

No where near as good as LN2 in terms of music, system 3 should have got matt gray to do the soundtrack to this as well.

[@grarghov1]

I might get stoned to death here by fans, but... In my opinion, C64's SID music chip was quite good 30 years earlier, BUT it was a rather simple synthesizer...Listening to a SID track once a year is delightful, but everyone can admit that listening to it for a prolonged time (e.g more than two hours at once) reveals that most SID music are using only a few effects/variations/even chord progressions and it can get utterly boring/repetitive in a relatively short time:)))

[@jammerc64]

Sure it's simple chip. But equally sure is you didn't have chance to listen to more SID tunes some of which really stand out soundwise. Take a look at music from demoscene magicians nowadays ;)

[@grarghov1]

Wow! Is demoscene still alive? I always thought that talented guys now do not wreck underground if they have a good idea, but launch a startup enterprise :)))

[@jammerc64]

grarghov1 sure it is! :-) still able to gather over 300 demosceners at X party in Holland. I'm demoscener as well and still haven't got bored :-D cheers!

[@jerzyzbiaowiezy6249]

Previous parts were better

[@daskraut]

i'm so glad i never played this uninspired and heavily flawed disappointment of a last-ninja-game. 1 and 2 were legendary, but this is an abomination.

[@carlopepi]

god this is so bad maps dont make sense and no way to know an item can be collected

[@geogan2]

"Press button on joystick and pull down" to do the "pick up" animation (how did I instantly remember this 30 years later??). Repeat everywhere on all screens. Impossible to see hidden things.

[@donbasuradenuevo]

Lamest last boss ever.

[@ronaldinho_le_gaucho]

Omg yeah last boss strat ahahah what a joke rofl

[@uplinkx1126]

The first game in the series was always my favorite.