 Thanks to Mr. Maynard for the request, and this one's another port of a game that was originally made for a bunch of those old home computer systems like the MSX, PC9801, and the Sharp X68000. It's Inindo, Way of the Ninja, made by Koei. And if you're familiar with Koei's work from this time period, you'll know this game has some strategy elements and it takes place a long time ago in a place far far away, specifically feudal Japan. Even more specifically, it's the universe, so to speak, inhabited by the Nobunaga's ambition games, also made by Koei. Only this time you play as a ninja seeking revenge for Nobunaga destroying your village. And yeah, as you can see, this game isn't as dry and distant as other Koei strategy games. This one is closer to a typical turn-paced RPG, although it does have some significant differences I'll get to in a little bit. But for the most part, the format and structure is what you'd expect from an RPG, at least at the beginning, including your character starting out as a weakling. I mean, this is your attack? You just kinda, yeah, yeah, not exactly intimidating. Eventually you do learn some ninja attacks and magic and such, and once you get up to level 5 you can gain new party members ranging from 20 different classes. However, you can't just recruit these guys, you have to earn their trust, sometimes by simply talking and having tea and hanging out and, I don't know, throwing a nerf football around I guess? I don't know what ninjas do to win people over, other than, you know, fight them to the death. Yeah, you can fight people to win their respect, but that's risky because you can end up killing them or dying yourself. But yeah, that's the other wrinkle in this game. You talk to NPCs and try and sway them to your side and against Nobunaga, who's trying to take over the entire country, and therein lies the strategic element. The more people you're able to turn against Nobunaga, the weaker his forces become. You can join other clans and fight for territory, earning their trust, with the goal of the game being to collapse Nobunaga's empire. The thing is, you start to build a reputation for yourself, and some characters from rival clans say screw you and fight instead of talking, and that's kind of a nice touch. But yeah, once you reach a certain level, the scale of this game increases and you'll be operating from almost a general's point of view. It's kind of neat. Now, that all sounds pretty good on paper, but unfortunately, like a lot of SNES PC ports that arrived early on in the Super Nintendo lifespan, it's not implemented very well. This game is very, very slow-paced. You have to go through 10 training dungeons before the final part of the game starts, and in between those, you've got random battles that pop up on the world map, which is a huge bummer and slows the game down even further. I'm telling you, you really gotta be patient to get through this game. The battles themselves are also on the slow side. Combat system is typical turn-based stuff. Attack, defend, use magic or items and such, with an emphasis on positioning, where certain party members might be better at range attacks, some might be better at melee, that sort of stuff. While you're going in and out of random battles, there's also a day-night cycle here, and every three days that pass require you to rest. Geez, as if there's not enough tediousness here as it is. At least when you're in a dungeon, only one day passes between when you enter and when you leave. This is important because there is a time limit in this game. Okay, it's a time limit of 20 in-game years, but yeah, that's how much time the developers expected players to put into this game, just to give you a hint. An Indo-Wave of the Ninja does have that kind of open-world craziness to it, though, that some people like, kind of like 7th Saga. I like the idea of recruiting different party members, and I like the tension that goes along with how unpredictable the game can be. For example, if you're too far away from an inn and you risk taking a nap on the overworld, you risk waking up to an ambush, and just like that, you're dead. Or when you're overhearing a conversation at a tea house and you want to interject, you can end up in a fight. I kind of like how the game keeps you on your toes like that, so every decision you make really matters. But like I said, the big flaw is the slow pace of this game that makes it feel outdated. Speaking of outdated, one major downer of an Indo-Wave of the Ninja, as you can tell, is the visual design. This game looks, uh, limited to say the least, closer to an NES game than an SNES game. The overworld, the enemy design, the backgrounds, and the dungeons are all very basic. The music and sound design also aren't much worth talking about. The soundtrack is about what you'd expect, and it's good enough, I guess. So yeah, an Indo-Wave of the Ninja is a game of unique strengths and debilitating weaknesses. The open world unpredictability, recruiting party members, and the strategy elements here are all really cool ideas, and the game does a good job bringing you along, introducing all the cool features as they come. But it's so slowly paced that I'm not sure that many people would have the patience for it today. In addition to that, the graphics and sound here are really subpar, so you really have to dig RPGs or Koei games if you want to dive into this one. I'm not sure there's another game like an Indo-Wave of the Ninja on the SNES. The closest is probably 7th Saga, but while that game lacks the strategy elements that an Indo has, I think I'd still recommend 7th Saga over this game. If you do decide to check out an Indo, I hope you have a lot of free time in your hands because this game will use up all of it, for better or for worse.