Kid Niki is a kid ninja, or so we are told. But he wears a bright yellow jumpsuit, so he must be an especially poor ninja at stealth. Fortunately, he is fantastic at spinning his sword and cutting bad guys down in one hit. And that is why a ninja boy in a bright yellow outfit is called by a kidnapped princess to save her from baddies. And smote you shall. This kid slices, and dices, he can almost julienne cut the enemies! ?He's also not a bad jumper, so what you have here is a platformer through 7 stages (8 really) and more into giving you lots of enemies of various types.

Graphics: 8
The bright outfits and backgrounds pop. While not highly detailed, at least nothing in the background can be confused for something else, and there are many different locations. Each stage has two parts; a forest, for instance, then the second part is by a river. It almost feels like the stages are doubled, as a cave switches and becomes a lake stage, a mountain pass becomes a perilous trek across clouds in the sky. ?Very neat. The characters are quite varied, and I was pleased each stage ends up throwing new things at you. Your sword will be put to the test against ninjas; spinning umbrella guys, acrobats, fire-breathing frogs, flying devils, dopey birds, even ninjas on kites! The bosses for the most part are big and impossible to miss, and none are cheap palette swaps of each other.?

Sound: 5
The sound is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, the same song repeats through the whole game. Only the bosses and the triumphant stage win or life loss break the tune. I found that disappointing, as there are so many different stages, the cave stage could have used some moody music, but its the same cheery tune as the forest. ?But yet on the other hand, there is actual spoken word from the bosses, and this is a great touch. The first boss, Death Breath, and about 3 others say things and in once case, the words become physical and actually hurt you! The sound effects are not too great, most enemies don't make any sound at all. You can lose your sword temporarily, and the metal ringing sound is odd when its deflected by say, a big guy's non-metal head. Overall, I give it an average score just for the catchy tune, great sword chopping sound and the bosses vocal shouts, but much more could have been done.

Addictiveness: 7
This is a fun game. While you can only take one hit, and there are a few parts where the enemies can get unfair, your ability to one-shot everything but a boss is refreshing and makes you feel you can just press on. Its fairly long for an arcade game. Even when you die, you can start back halfway into the stage or if you made it to the boss, right next to them, so its pretty forgiving to keep you playing.

Story: 5
Its typical. Damsel in distress, go save her. I do like you get a preview of what your next boss will be when you start the stage, and it gives some unity to the strange gang that stole the princess in the first place. There are no cut scenes, so this small bit dose of info is all you have to keep you going.?

Depth: 6
The game is an arcade version, so its designed to take quarters, so theres not a lot to do besides try to beat it. There is a special bell you can get that gives you protective armor, and finding those can be good. The stages are well mixed, with some combat heavy stages and some full of pits to jump over. The bosses add a much needed shot of strategy; as many have weak points to exploit , or sneaky patterns, especially the later ones.

Difficulty: 7
Being an arcade game where one hit kills you, it can be pretty tough, especially against kite ninjas or a certain area on stage 5 bamboo forest. Although Kid Niki doesn't quite beat you over the head with difficulty (i found the NES version even harder!), save state can make this trip much more friendly. The bosses all require multiple hits, and later ones have a bit of complexity to them. The enemies just never stop, so its in your benefit to try and move ahead as fast and as safely as possible.

Overall: 7
This was a fun game to revisit and play, capturing that crazy 80's period where ninjas were more about jumping into frays than avoiding them. While he doesn't personally say he's radical, I think the ninja turtles would agree, Kid Niki is actually a pretty decent fighter.