Wrath of the Black Manta review - Nintendo Entertainment System

The Kids have been kidnapped! Unfortunately, it's not the crappy pop group, but actually some real children who have been nabbed by a mysterious bunch of smelly criminals. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to rescue the brats and gather info about the organisation behind this heinous crime.

Manta has an infinite supply of shuriken to help him on the journey, but kicking, jumping and somersaulting are also part of the repertoire. This helps, as the gang members carry guns - jumping bullets is a skill well worth learning. Information in the form of notes is scattered around the levels and points out secret rooms and bonuses.

End-of-level guardians present the toughest challenge in the hero's journey, and each has a certain weak point Manta must discover and exploit. So put on a silk balaclava and get going!

What the Mean Machines staff thought

Hee-ya! My secret life as a Ninja makes me eminently suitable to review this game. I'm a big fan of beat 'em ups, but this really had nothing to make it stand out from the crowd. There aren't any interesting moves you can perform - just throwing shuriken and jumping - and the backdrops are uniformly dull and drab. Still, there's nothing like kicking the crepe paper out of baddies, and this gives you the chance to let off steam. The hidden rooms are clever, but this game suffers in comparison with, say, Double Dragon II.

There are many things I like about this game, such as the fabulous between-level screens which tell a story, the fact that there are loads of secret rooms, and that the gameplay is fun with quite a bit of variety - especially the madcap flying ninja level where he looks like he's been strapped to flying bed. However, these decent features are let down by the naff in-game graphics (the sprites are awful and the animation is poor) and the rather average sound. Black Manta is a pretty good Shinobi type game, and should be enjoyed by ardent beat 'em up fans.