Hello there and welcome back to Retro Freak Reviews. Hope you’re having a blast this Easter! To celebrate, we’re diving into a sequel of a game we’ve checked out before. It just so happens to fit perfectly with this time of the year. So, today we’re focusing on International Ninja Rabbits.
International Ninja Rabbits, also known as Ninja Rabbits II: The Buck Stops Here, is an action game developed by Flair Software and published by MicroValue. It first came out in 1991 for the Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, DOS, and the ZX Spectrum.
But before we dive into the game itself, let’s look at the covers:
This cover features our main character, Bugs (yes, that’s really his name!), duking it out with a thug against the backdrop of three iconic international landscapes: a skyscraper reminiscent of the Empire State Building in America, a Chinese Pagoda, and the Roman Colosseum in Italy. It’s a pretty standard cover, but it does a good job representing the game.
This is basically the same cover but with a yellow and gold border, making it look a bit better.
But now it’s time to boot up this hare:
The game starts with a digitised version of the cover and then after choosing the control method (keyboard or joystick) and the difficulty level between 3 (easy, normal and hard), you start in China. According to the manual, our protagonist, Bugs (how original!) after destroying the chemical plant in the previous game, now goes around the world destroying other chemical plants.
As you can see in the video above, International Ninja Rabbits is pretty much like its predecessor in terms of gameplay, but with an international presentation and some new stuff going on. The major addition is these winged boxes that drop down on every screen and smash when they hit the ground. If you manage to destroy the boxes before that happens, you might score extra lives, health, shields (which basically give you more health), or points. Just watch out, some of these boxes are rigged and could cost you some health.
Another new thing to look out for is the hazards at pretty much every level. So, in the 1st level, you’ve got these tiny dragons flying above. But watch out, sometimes they dive bomb you. Then in the 2nd level, you’ve got these little snowballs falling in from the side, kind of like the golf balls in the previous game. They’ll mess with your health a bit. The tricky part is, that you’re so busy dealing with the enemies and those falling boxes, it’s hard to dodge them.
Another change, and not for the best, is the redesigned underground sections. They’re bigger now, but too cluttered with stuff falling from above and a bunch of new things in the foreground blocking the view of Bugs and the enemies. My advice? Stick to above ground as much as possible.
And just like the last game, there are only 3 levels (China, New York and Italy), with the 2nd half of the last level taking place in the chemical plant (wasn’t Bugs supposed to shut more than one down?). Also, there are still no end-level bosses, and the game just ends with a text message. But I gotta say, some of the backgrounds on certain screens do look pretty nice.
Now let’s talk tech stuff. The new level design is looking good, especially the oriental theme on the first level. It’s got some extra animation on certain screens. The character sprites are slightly updated from the last game but the sound effects are still coming out of the old PC Speaker. The music, or lack thereof, is actually an improvement from the terrible title theme in the last game.
The game controls feel more responsive now, whether you’re using a gamepad or the keyboard. But the control scheme hasn’t changed, so the more powerful the attack, the slower the execution. Yeah, Bugs still has those slow attack animations, and it seems like the enemies’ hit detection is still the same, which can’t be said of the falling boxes, making you wonder if you hit them or not.
In conclusion, International Ninja Rabbits is a rehash of the previous game, with a lot of recycled assets, the same game length and a few improvements here and there that hardly make any difference. So, just like its predecessor, avoid it. But if you still want to experience it in your browser, click here.
Well, that’s it for this Easter. I hope you have a nice Easter and I promise to look for better games starring anthropomorphic animals next time. I’m planning a special article and a big review for next time. Until then, enjoy Easter and keep on playing!
