The Legend of the Mystical Ninja

This page details pre-release information and/or media for The Legend of the Mystical Ninja.

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this. Specifically: Get better screenshots, specifically of the first stage in front of that huge bell. Also do a comparison of the amusement park screenshot.

Konami 1991 Marketing Binder#

A marketing binder full of promotional materials for Konami titles releasing in 1991 reveals screenshots of an early build of the game that predates the earliest available prototype.

Sprites#

Earlier	Proto

Goemon underwent a facelift in the available prototype that better centered his mouth beneath his eyes instead of being so off to the side, in addition to making his face and body not as squished in general.

Earlier	Proto

Goemon's attack sprite had more of a side profile perspective originally, and he didn't open his mouth.

Levels#

Early	Final

• The object layout differs slightly, primarily the stone pillar on the lower left platform becoming an empty space in the final.
• The moon graphic is higher up in the sky.

Early	Final

• The lanterns were later redrawn, appearing more rounder in their earlier iteration. The way they're strung around also appears to have been changed, not going as diagonally as they do in the final.
• The entire structure in the center was redrawn, from the entire top area having a different wooden texture (and lacking the wooden paneling that juts out in the final) to the bottom having completely redrawn curtains. The swirly poles on the sides of the entrance were also thicker and went the opposite direction.
• The ground texture was also redone, with the shadows appearing a little more detailed than the simple blocks in the final.

Early	Final

• The platforms on the sides of the arena had more of a wooden texture to them. The blue pots also were possibly redrawn?
• The ground isn't just a flat plane like in the final, instead showing more dimension with both a top and a foreground with blue curtains.
• The lantern demon's cloth covering his front appears to have a different water wave pattern on the front, the lines within each wave appearing more round compared to the final.

Early	Final

• The clacker ball originally was a red color, but otherwise appears to be the same graphic. It also was originally positioned further off to the right.
• Some sort of wood paneling (possibly a glitch?) extends from the right side of the screen.

Marketing proto	Gigaleak proto	Final

• The ground was originally much more detailed with both background and foreground sections and a middle, giving the illusion of depth. This was simplified to just some grass in the background in the earliest available prototype, and it can be seen that they also experimented with removing the tree foliage altogether before later restoring it for the final. All of these modifications show that this boss arena likely ended up being a target to help cut down on graphics so that the game didn't go over its allotted budget for space.
• The trees in the background were also redrawn, both their trunks and their foliage. The thin trunks in the earlier build didn't have shadowing on their right sides, making the final ones appear a bit thinner although they are about the same size.
• The boss appears to have been completely redrawn, although it is the exact same idea in the end.