NINJA STAR

THE LAST NINJA

DEVELOPER: SYSTEM 3

RELEASE: 1987

Armakuni’s first outing is still one of the Commodore 64’s most fondly remembered games, and rightly so. It featured satisfying combat and plenty of secrets, of course, but let’s not kid ourselves – the gorgeous presentation was a huge reason why we loved it. You could see the attention that had gone into the lavish details of every screen, your character moved smoothly and the isometric perspective gave that sense of depth that made things feel just a little more real. Plus, it wasn’t converted to Sir Clive’s baby, so it was great for making your Speccy-owning mates jealous.

The Last Ninja is a great illustration of one of the core features of the Commodore 64 market. As a popular game that always has demand, the tape version is a little pricier than some of the other games out there, but you can still get it for less than a tenth of the price of the disk version, which we’ve seen go for as much as £150. We’re not sure we’d pay that much just to cut down on the multiloads.

» [C64] Armakuni is supposed to be an ultra-tough combat machine, but we’re getting beaten up. Whoops!

» [C64] Do you have the skilled movements necessary to negotiate the stepping stones across the river?

COMPLETE THE TRILOGY

The continuing adventures of Armakuni

THE LAST NINJA 2

After defeating Kunitoki in the first game, Armakuni suddenly finds himself transported to New York City and must try to resolve this mysterious turn of events. The tape version will set you back a minimum of £15 for the Hit Squad release, but if you can find the big box version, complete with shuriken and mask, you’ll pay much more – and if you find the disk version, add even more. To save some money, look for the 100% Dynamite compilation.

THE LAST NINJA 3

The final entry in the series looks amazing, but fans of the first two games are often split on the fantasy setting and enemies, as well as the revamped combat and some of the stage design choices. This is the most expensive game in the series – a complete copy of the cassette version will set you back at least £30 and potentially as much as £60 depending on condition, while the disk version recently sold for £150.