The Legend of Kage

About This Game

Gameplay

The player takes the role of a young Iga ninja named Kage ("Shadow"), on a mission to rescue Princess Kiri (hime) - the Shogun's daughter - from the villainous warlord Yoshi (ro Kuyigusa) and fellow evil samurai Yuki (nosuke Riko). The player is armed with a kodachi shortsword and an unlimited number of shuriken. Kage must fight his way through a forest, along a secret passageway, up a fortress wall, and through a castle, rescuing her twice (three times in the FC/NES version) in order to win the game. Each time the princess is rescued, the seasons change from summer to fall to winter and back to summer. In home versions, grabbing a crystal ball causes the player's clothes to change to the next level in color and thereby attain certain powers (bigger shuriken or faster speed). If Kage is hit in a home version while in green or orange clothes, he does not die but reverts to his normal red clothes. Cycles repeat after five levels are completed, and play continues until all lives are gone, which ends the game.

History

The Legend of Kage was released by Taito in Japan in 1985, with a European release later in the year, and an American release in January 1986. According to Hisayoshi Ogura, the game's composer, development came after a fast-paced period of game development within Taito, where it eased up around this game. Ogura specifically gave the game's music a distinct Japanese feeling in order for it to fit in better with the setting of the game, and he felt it was a worthy challenge for him to be able to adapt it to the sound hardware. Earlier versions of the game used a sound board based around the MSM5232, the same chip found on synths such as the Korg Poly-800, but an FM version of the soundtrack was also produced given Ogura's experimentation with FM sound at the time.