Jaleco's classic Ninja JaJaMaru series makes its grand return in February, bursting onto the Switch with three different collections that will be available on 21st February!
Published by ININ Games, all three collections will be available on the Switch eShop, along with some physical releases. Many of the games on these collections have never been released outside of Japan, while others have seen limited English-language releases over the years.
We'll be going over each collection here, which has been developed and put together by City Connection, including what games are part of each bundle.
First up is Ninja JaJaMaru: The Great Yokai Battle + Hell. This contains all of the action platformers that were available across the NES, SNES, and Game Boy and contains some of the most well-known titles in the series. Three of these will be available for the first time in English, too! You can also pre-order a physical edition, called Ninja JaJaMaru: The Great Yokai Battle + Hell Deluxe Edition, from various retailers.
You'll get the following games in this set:
- Ninja JaJaMaru-kun (1985, Famicom/NES)
- JaJaMaru' no Daibouken (1986, Famicom/NES)
- Oira JaJaMaru! Sekai Daibouken (1990, Game Boy)
- Ninja JaJaMaru - Gingadaisakusen (1991, Famicom/NES)
- Super Ninja-kid (1994, Super Famicom/SNES)
- Ninja JaJaMaru: The Great Yokai Battle +Hell (2022)
The second collection is a bit smaller, but for collectors, both games included have never seen the light of day outside of Japan. Ninja JaJaMaru: The Lost RPGs contains two RPG adventure games which deviate from the mainline series. This bundle will only be available digitally.
The two Famicom games included are:
- Ninja JaJaMaru: Ninpouchou (1989, Famicom/NES)
- Ninja JaJaMaru: Gekimaden - Maboroshi no Kinmajou (1990, Famicom/NES)
ININ Games' final collection bundles all of these games together in one big digital package. Titled JaJaMaru: Legendary Ninja Collection, all eight games will be included. Plus, there's a limited physical edition from Strictly Limited games which you can pre-order now which comes with a ton of goodies, from posters, stickers, a fancy big box, and a Japanese wind chime!
Just in case you need a reminder, here are all eight games included in this package:
- Ninja JaJaMaru-kun (1985, Famicom/NES)
- JaJaMaru no Daibouken (1986, Famicom/NES)
- Ninja JaJaMaru: Ninpouchou (1989, Famicom/NES)
- Ninja JaJaMaru: Gekimaden - Maboroshi no Kinmajou (1990, Famicom/NES)
- Oira JaJaMaru! Sekai Daibouken (1990, Game Boy)
- Ninja JaJaMaru - Gingadaisakusen (1991, Famicom/NES)
- Super Ninja-kid (1994, Super Famicom/SNES)
- Ninja JaJaMaru: The Great Yokai Battle +Hell (2022)
All three collections are available on 21st February, so retro enthusiasts should pop that date in their diaries for some nostalgic goodness, plus a slice of gaming history!
Have you ever played any of the Ninja JaJaMaru games? Will you be picking any of these collections up? Let us know!
Comments 19
I didn't even know this was a series, I've just played a bit of the original game on Switch Online. It's cool that they're going all out with a physical release and even a collector's edition for such obscure retro games.
So, wouldn't it be better to release only the collection that has all the games?
Just release the collection that had everything.
@HammerGalladeBro I think it makes some sense. The two separate ones are a Zelda-like and an RPG, and some people might not enjoy them if they were looking for some platforming action. Or some people only like adventure games, and are only interested in the smaller collection.
Anyway, I've pre-ordered the full collection months ago. I somewhat rarely pre-order games, but just die for semi-obscure Japanese retro games. And I've played 3 of these already, and they were quite fun.
I like this series, but I lost all interest at ININ Games.
I've been burned by their sad and sorry business model of "missed out on the limited physical edition? well here's a digital version with only half the games for the same price!"
I like the collectors edition box set. is there that big of a demand for this series over seas? I had the original famicom games. but if the RPGS are translated it might be worth it. I'm glad they are translating all these older rpgs finally. off topic but I would like to see a shell story "collection" myself.
Well I certainly wasn't expecting to see this pop up! I actually really enjoyed Ninjajamaru-kun on NSO (so much so to the point where I made a Mario Maker tribute level!) so I'm actually fairly interested in this. Very curious to see if they evolved the gameplay in any meaningful way as well since, for as much as I surprisingly liked it, the NES original is extremely simple so hopefully that's the case!
The Game Boy game is in fact Maru's Mission, right? The only one of these games that was released in the U.S., and available on the 3DS eShop until March.
Never even heard of these games. Any good? I do love my retro collections
The music is reminding me of something but I’m not totally sure what. Maybe Ouendan? Could be something else though.
@KoiTenchi Yep, it immediately reminded me of Shōnen Heart by Home Made Kazoku from Ouendan 2 so I looked it up, but apparently this is a completely new song by a different artist called MCU made specifically for this collection (as you can tell also from JaJaMaru being mentioned in it) which is actually pretty cool in my opinion!
@Chrysologus yeah that is correct, it's maru's mission.
@JohnnyMind I think that’s it! Thank you, it was bugging me.
The GameCenter CX DS game really nailed the feel of these games with their clones.
I’m really tempted by that big collection, but I probably won’t get it and just wait for the digital version to be super cheap.
The asian version has full english support and has been available for years already
Finally broke down and ordered the big collection after getting the Wonderboy collection in the mail today. I have a soft spot for these newly translated classic releases.
@Fizza The NSO game is actually the odd one out since the rest of the Ninja Kun games are side scrolling platformers. It's pretty much the Mario Bros to Super Mario Bros. Interestingly one of the NES games is pretty much a SMB3 ripoff.
@Krisi The annoying thing is that it doesn't contain all the games, especially the ones by UPL instead of Jaleco. Ninja Kid and Ninja Kid 2 all had NES ports which aren't included, as well as Ninja Taro for GB, which apparent is a better Zelda clone than the NES one.
@PKDuckman Yeah, but the thing is that the Ninja-kun and Ninja Jajamaru-kun are different series by different companies. As I understand it, the original Ninja Jajamaru came about by Jaleco randomly deciding make an own game using the sprite from the Ninja-kun games they ported to the Famicom. But then again, Super Ninja-kun is on the collection, so... I don't know.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...