Wrath of the Black Manta

Wrath of the Black Manta puts you in the role of a ninja that fights a gang of vile drug-dealing kidnappers! Was this Taito's attempt at an 8-bit after school special?

Sub-Pages#

Prerelease Info

Regional Differences#

Title Screen#

Japan	US/Europe

Story#

Wrath of the Black Manta and Ninja Cop Saizou have similar yet different stories.

Wrath of the Black Manta has the enemies working for an organization known as DRAT (Drug Runners And Terrorists) that kidnaps kids to turn them into drug dealers. The last kid you have to rescue is Taro, a student at your master's dojo, who leaves notes for the Black Manta throughout the levels.

Ninja Cop Saizou has the enemies working for an organization with a very different objective. The organization kidnaps kids to turn them into "warriors" to fight in wars. It also tries to instigate wars around the world and sell weapons to the warring countries. The recurring men in red you capture and interrogate say that the objective is to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each nation. And speaking of said men in red, the frequently gets shot down before he has a chance to answer or finish responding to Saizou's interrogation. The cutscenes between the big boss villain and his main henchman also contain jokes, such as the bad guy saying that the bioweapon boss (exclusive to the Japanese version) made from Saizou's cells is stupid because it looks nothing like Saizou. Saizou's son, Sausuke, is the one leaving notes and is saved at the end.

Cutscenes#

The artwork in the intro, dialogue screens, level cutscenes, and ending are very different. Ninja Cop Saizou is anime-esque in style, while Wrath of the Black Manta goes for a more realistic, comic book style. Each red mobster and saved kid has a different appearance in each stage except the last 2 which share graphics. Level clear cutscenes are also handled differently between versions. In Black Manta, you see the results screen, then Manta's master teaching him the next Ninja Art(s), then the dialogue between El Toro and one of his henchmen. In Ninja Cop Saizou, after beating the level boss, you rescue a kid before going to the results screen where dialogue stating you learn new Ninja Art(s) is shown, then the villain's scene after that.

Boot Screen#

In the Japanese version, the hero drops in before the title screen appears. In the international versions, the title screen appears right away.

Introduction (abridged)#

In the Japanese version, the intro plays by waiting at the title screen. In the international versions, the intro only appears after starting the game (otherwise, you'll see the Level 2 demo).

Stage Intro#

In the Japanese version, the hero drops in, the word "Round" appears, then someone shoots an arrow with a note citing how many children can be found in the stage. The international versions just show the number and name of the stage.

Japan	US/Europe

Levels#

Ninja Cop Saizou has an additional stage that was omitted from Wrath of the Black Manta. It was put between Stage 1 and 2 of Wrath of the Black Manta.It's themed around rooftops and starts with you climbing up between 2 buildings while mobsters are firing at you from the windows.

There was a blue mobster in Stage 1 at around the halfway point that would drop down on top of some barrels as you are trying to pass over them. This may lead to a cheap scenario where they land right on top of the player and damage them out of nowhere. This one enemy was removed from the European version.

The final stage has been cut from 6 floors to 4 for the international releases. The last portion of the final stage is noticeably different between both versions as well. Black Manta has the player face against one of the four bosses from the previous stages. Ninja Cop Saizou forces the player to fight all five bosses before reaching the final boss, resulting in a more difficult conclusion to the game.

Bosses#

To do: Screenshots.

Some bosses have been redrawn and others were completely changed.

• The Level 1 Boss in Wrath of the Black Manta has a larger and more realistic sprite and has had his wave punch attack removed that he would've done every few stomps, but to make up for it, he can only be shot from high jumps.
• The Level 4 (3 in Black Manta) Boss is an Electric Ghost in Ninja Cop Saizou but in Black Manta he is a "Voodoo Warrior" who is depicted as a magic-show magician with a skull staff.

The Japanese version has an exclusive boss which appears in Round 3, which is a bioweapon consisting of a giant eyeball as the head of a floating snake-like creature.

Last Boss#

In the Ninja Cop Saizou, he has a spaceship which has mobsters and ninjas dropping out of it for the fight's 1st phase, and after that he transforms into his true identity, a green alien who floats around the screen shooting projectiles at you.

In Wrath of the Black Manta, the boss is interesting for different reasons. After shooting at a jukebox, El Toro appears. He holds Taro hostage and moves left and right shooting projectiles at you. He only has 4 health points, but must be defeated with four Ninja Arts in a certain order:

1. Fire Bomb
2. The Fire Ring
3. Spider (used to go behind El Toro, then you must hit him with a shuriken)
4. Missiles

He loses his hair after two hits. Hitting him with shurikens will deplete your health, or fully heal his if he has already taken damage. Strangely, you don't take damage if you shoot him in mid-air. Colliding with him also results in instant death. Notably, due to the way you have to defeat him, you can select your Ninja Arts during the fight, unlike the game's other bosses.

Japan	US/Europe

Continue Screen#

Japan	US/Europe

Wrath of the Black Manta has limited continues unlike Ninja Cop Saizou.

Music#

Wrath of the Black Manta and Ninja Cop Saizou have completely different soundtracks. Black Manta lacks a Game Over jingle, and the current theme continues to play instead.

Other Changes#

• Various Ninja Arts are assigned to different directions, for example, the Fire Ring is activated by standing still in Ninja Cop Saizou as opposed to moving left or right in Black Manta.
• Ninja Cop Saizou has the ninja zoom upwards when he jumps (this sprite is shared for when he dies in the kite sequences). This sprite isn't used here in Black Manta.

Cheats#

The Japanese version has three working cheats.

• Invincibility: Press B, B, Select, A, Up, Select, Right, Start before the title screen appears. If done correctly, the word MUTEKI will appear.
• Stage Select: Enter any of the below at the title screen.
  • Stage 2: A, B, A, A, A, Up, Down, B, Start.
  • Stage 3: Select, A, B, B, A, Select, Down, Up, Start.
  • Stage 4: Right, Right, Down, Down, Up, Up, B, Select, Select, Start.
  • Stage 5: Down, Right, Left, B, A, B, Select, Select, Start.
  • Stage 6: Up, Left, Left, Right, B, Select, A, Select, Start.
• Boss Rush: Press A, B, A, Select, Select, Select, Right, Up, Start at the title screen.

The US versions still have the stage/boss rush select cheats sitting in the ROMs, but disabled, so they can't be re-enabled easily. In the European version, the cheats were finally removed. The "MUTEKI" cheat was totally removed from all western versions due to lack of the intro at all.

But, using the Game Genie code ZGSNAUOE + OYSNPLUN (for the US Revision 1 revision) or EEENTXNL + ENENYZXN (for the US Revision 0 revision) or ONEUOXXU + AKEUEZKU (for the European version), you can re-enable the debug stage/boss select mode, written especially for the western versions. Just press Start at the title screen. Press A / B to select the level number. Numbers 1 to 6 represent the regular levels while numbers 81 to 86 represent the boss levels. Press Select to enable invincibility. Press Start to start from the selected level.

Copyright Screen#

The European version has a different copyright screen.

US	Europe

Revisional Differences#

To do: There's more.

The US got a v1.1 release which changed, among other things, a few spelling mistakes.

Whoa!  let go of me man!

Whoa! Let go of me man!

Are you alright? Yeah, I'm ok.

Are you all right? Yeah, I'm OK.

References#