Wrath of the Black Manta

Wrath of the Black Manta

NES - USA - 1st edition.

Developer A.I Publisher Kyugo Trading, Taito Published 1989-11-17 Platforms NES Genres Beat 'em up, Platform shooter, Platformer Themes Action, Martial Arts, Ninjas Distribution Commercial

Wrath of the Black Manta is a mix between a platform shooter and beat em' up developed by A.I and published by Taito on the NES 1989-11-17. The game borrows heavily from Shinobi and Rolling Thunder, not just in game play, but even in its story line. You play a ninja called the "Black Manta" who is infiltrating a crime syndicate called "DRAT" which is kidnapping children for an unknown nefarious purpose. The original Japanese release, published by Kyugo Trading, was quite a bit different, but followed the same premise.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes.
Finished	2019-01-07.

I bought this game after seeing it described in Hot Tips for the Coolest Nintendo Games and thinking it looked pretty good. Fairly quickly after playing, I reached the end boss, but, after failing to figure out how to beat him, I gave up on the game. I must have sold it at some point, because I no longer have it. After being annoyed that it was a game I had come so close to beating, I went back and played it in an emulator and beat it. I used to own this game, but no longer do, but I still have the manual.

Review

4	5	5	5	4

Best Version: Famicom

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The various ninja arts are fun to experiment with and I like how they alter their strength based on your power meter.
• I like the idea of interrogating enemies.
• The over-the-shoulder perspective in the final stage's elevators is a nice change up.

Bad

• The game is highly derivative of Shinobi and Rolling Thunder.
• You gain 3 life points every time you defeat the enemies in a room, and you can re-enter them as many times as you like. This means, unless you take 3 damage every time you enter a room (unlikely even for poor players), every enemy room effectively becomes a healing station (after brief grinding). Once you understand this, the game becomes almost too easy.
• The ninja arts are poorly implemented. Several of the ninja arts are objectively more useful than others. For example, the art of the spider is only useful in a few specific areas in the game.
• The story and dialogue is utterly ridiculous. Brainwashing children to sell drugs for an organization called DRAT (Drug Runners and Terrorists)? Also, the ham-fisted anti-drug dialogue is lame.
• The portrait graphics of the villains and kids are horrible (some are even stolen from the book, How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way), and too much of their dialogue gets reused.
• Most of the rooms are identical.
• There isn't much variety among the enemies.

Ugly

• Although there isn't anything specific in the game that is ugly, there are so many minor problems that it's hard to appreciate the game.
• The third art to defeat the final boss makes so little sense, it prevented me from beating the game as a child. It wasn't until years later when I read a spoiler that I was able to finish the game.

Media

Box Art

• 

  The original Japanese box is pretty good. It is a montage of the ninja cop showing off his blade, evading an explosion, and a backdrop of the New York skyline. Nice lettering on the title too.

• 

  The North American box shows a generic looking ninja with an alternate shadow on a red backdrop. The art and lettering are adequate, but a bit dull.

• 

  The European release uses a Japanese style cartoon to display a stylized ninja flanked by an Eastern dragon. It uses the same lettering as the American release, only slightly more yellow. This is my favorite box.

Documentation

• 

  North American manual.

• 

  French manual.

• 

  Hot Tips for the Coolest Nintendo Games.

• 

  North American ad.

• 

  Contest.

Screenshots

• 

  The art of the shadow.

Videos

Longplay - Japan.

Longplay - USA.

Play Online

Famicom, NES (Europe), NES (USA)

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	The only women are damsels in distress.
Bechdel test?	Fail	Women never talk to each other.
Strong person of color character?	Pass	It is assumed that the Black Manta is Japanese.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Regional Differences

The cut-scenes in the Japanese version are longer and more detailed. The American version has completely different music. The jumping sprite of the ninja has movement lines in the Japanese version. The interrogation scenes have completely different graphics and don't change each level in the Japanese version. The boss of stage 1 uses different graphics and the American version removes his forward attack. Japanese version has an additional stage between the American stage 1 and 2. The ninja arts are learned in different orders. The stage 3 boss is totally different. In the American version, you only have to defeat one of the bosses in the final stage, but you have to defeat them all in the Japanese version. In the Japanese version, you don't need to use specific arts to defeat the end boss, he just turns into a space alien and you can defeat him any way you choose.

Credits

Only the Japanese release has credits. The sound is completely different in the American release, so Yoki Shinjyuku may not be the composer of the American version.

Role	Staff
Programmer	Taro Machida
Game Designer	Noripi Sagami
Character Designer	Danichi Oono
Sound & Music	Yoki Shinjyuku
Additional Staff	Tukamaete Kuma

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	Wrath of the Black Manta
Japanese	忍者COPサイゾウ	Ninja COP Saizou	Ninja COP Saizou

Links

         

• ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BF%8D%E8%80%85COP_%E3%82%B5%E3%82%A4%E3%82%BE%E3%82%A6 - Wikipedia (Japan).