Ninja Kid, known in Japan as GeGeGe no Kitaro - Yōkai Daimakyō, is an NES game developed by TOSE and published by Bandai. The Japanese version was based on the manga series GeGeGe no Kitaro, but the game was changed to the generic 'Ninja Kid' and all references to Kitaro were removed for the American version. This game was followed by a sequel titled Gegege no Kitarou 2: Youkai Gundan no Chousen, which was released the following year only in Japan also by Bandai; however, that title was a role-playing video game and its plot is unrelated to the original. It was the eighth best selling Famicom game of 1986, selling 1,250,000 copies.
Gameplay begins on an overhead map with several different arches. Each arch leads to a different side-scrolling mission, and the type of the mission could be determined by the shape of the arch. At the end of each mission, two doors will appear, one of which would return to the map, and the other of which will take players to a vertically scrolling tower with a mini-boss at the top (after defeating the mini-boss they are returned to the map). Also during each mission, items randomly appear on the screen. Some bonus items also give a temporary speed boost, or an owl that shows players which door leads back to the map (instead of the mini-boss tower). Once a scroll has been collected, it can be taken to the hut in the middle of the map to unlock the fortress and fight the map's boss. During the boss fight, if any whistles have been collected, the character can crouch in the far left corner of the screen to use a whistle to summon a familiar.
The original Japanese version is notably different from the American version. The main character is Kitarō, and his main weapon is his hair rather than darts. His sub-weapons are a flying finger instead of shuriken, his vest instead of the feather, and a geta instead of a boomerang. All of these weapons function the same as the ones of the protagonist of the American version, Kyo; they just use different sprites. The fireball sub-weapon remains the same. Certain levels are inhabited by 'western' film monsters like Frankenstein's Monster and Count Dracula; the boss of these levels is the character Back Beard, the leader of the 'western youkai'. The scroll which unlocks the fortress is a crystal ball in the original version. The familiars are also different, being characters from the manga: the Pegasus was originally Nurikabe, the Eagle was Konaki Jiji, and the Mirror was Sunakake Babaa. Finally, a few of the minor enemies are different; most notably the 'Pirate Ninja' found in some of the Guerilla Warfare levels was originally Nezumi Otoko, and Kitaro rides on Ittan Momen during the Dog Fight levels.
More details about this game can be found on
Wikipedia.org.
Find digital download of this game on
GOG
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Steam.
Videogame Console:
This version of Ninja Kid was designed for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), which was an eight-bit video game console manufactured
by Nintendo in the years 1983 - 2003. In that time, it was the best-selling video game console for which more than 700 licensed games and a number of non-licensed
games were created. Worldwide, approximately 62 million units of this console were sold at approximately price $ 100 per unit. More information about the
NES console can be found here.
Recommended Game Controllers:
You can control this game easily by using the keyboard of your PC (see the table next to the game). However, for maximum gaming enjoyment, we strongly recommend using a USB gamepad that you simply plug into the USB port of your computer. If you do not have a gamepad, buy a suitable USB controller on Amazon or AliExpress or in some of your favorite online stores.
Available online emulators:
6 different online emulators are available for Ninja Kid. These emulators differ not only in the technology they use to emulate old games, but also in support of various game controllers, multiplayer mode, mobile phone touchscreen, emulation speed, absence or presence of embedded ads and in many other parameters. For
maximum gaming enjoyment, it's important to choose the right emulator, because on each PC and in different Internet browsers, the individual emulators behave differently. The basic
features of each emulator available for this game Ninja Kid are summarized in the following table:
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This version of Ninja Kid was designed for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), which was an eight-bit video game console manufactured
by Nintendo in the years 1983 - 2003. In that time, it was the best-selling video game console for which more than 700 licensed games and a number of non-licensed
games were created. Worldwide, approximately 62 million units of this console were sold at approximately price $ 100 per unit. More information about the
NES console can be found 
