1987 · CRL Group · Fighting · Ninja

Ninja Hamster

After a long journey over the seas, Ninja Hamster has come home to find his village being terrorised by a gang lead by Sinister Rat and The Lizard of Death. In this beat-em-up you must fight six members of the gang as well as the two leaders, one by one to save your village. The game is viewed from the side with the whole level shown on the screen. With a joystick or keyboard you use the fire button and a direction of the joystick/keyboard to pull off various kicks to hurt your opponent.

Released: 1987
Platforms: Amstrad CPC Commodore 64 Commodore C64/128/MAX ZX Spectrum
Genres: Fighting Ninja
Developers: CRL Group
Publishers: —
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Action
Country: United Kingdom

About

Ninja Hamster is a 2D fighting video game published by CRL Group for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum.

Keywords

martial arts
ninja
hand-to-hand combat
single-screen level
melee
regenerating health

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Ninja Hamster plays like other fighting games. The player-controlled hamster is on one side and the animals are on the other. The animals are all minions of the Sinister Rat. Combatants use joystick and button press combos to inflict damage on the opponent.

Each combatant has an energy bar, which is somewhat drained upon each hit the character receives. Energy replenishes over time, necessitating a repeated assault to wear down an opponent. Once the energy bar is depleted, the character loses one bite out of its Green Apple and the energy bar is reset. When the Green Apple is entirely "eaten", the character dies.

Reception

64 thought very poorly of Ninja Hamster. While easy to play, they felt the game had little staying potential. Battling characters took, in their view, too long and was repetitive. They praised the sound as stereotypical but still lively.

One reviewer called the soundtrack a "surprisingly jolly" and "punchy little oriental number". They disparaged the graphics for their perceived low quality and monotony. They concluded that the title was "A poor beat'em up which falls far short of its potential".