Little Ninja Brothers

Little Ninja Brothers is an RPG by Culture Brain based on the Chinese folk tale, "Journey to the West". Much like Culture Brain's other RPGs, it is known for having both action-based battles and menu-driven battles.

Flying Creature


A little flying creature of some sort that's stored with the enemy graphics. It's not used in the game and this appears to be the only frame of it. Either filler, or an early creature that was scrapped.

Weird Face


This strange face appears in with the enemy graphics. It looks rather primitive in design compared to everything else, so it's probably just filler.

Happy Face


A happy face in with the background objects. Also probably filler.

Sound Test


Enter SOUND at the Password Entry screen to access a Sound Test Mode. This will allow you to listen to any of the game's 31 songs.

Ending Password


Enter ENDING at the Password Entry screen to view the game's ending sequence.

Full Password


Enter FULL at the Password Entry screen and begin the game. You'll start just outside the first town, but every single one of your stats will be maxed out. You'll be at the maximum possible experience level, and have the full amount of every obtainable item.



You'll also have the best equipment and all of the Prism Bells. Essentially, you are ready to go right to the final boss and beat the game. This password was probably used by developers to make it easy to travel around the world and test everything.

Unused Characters


There is a part during the game's ending sequence in which the faces of all the characters you've met from throughout the whole game are flashed briefly on the screen. Two of these characters do not appear anywhere in the American version of the game at all. They are a crying monkey and a monk with long ears. They are based on the characters Sun Wukong and Xuan Zang from "Journey to the West".



In the Japanese version of the game, these characters appeared in the town of Chatzy. Sun Wukong gives a hint about the location of the Dragstar item. Xuan Zang tells Jack and Ryu that he will leave the problems of the world in their hands because he's tired of walking. Since "Journey to the West" is not a very well-known story in America, it is likely these characters were removed because the reference would have been lost on American audiences. Another problem is that Xuan Zang was getting drunk, which would have been against Nintendo's "no alcohol" rule.

The reason they weren't removed from the ending sequence is probably because they're flashed by so quickly, it's not easy to notice them.

Title Screen
Aside from the obvious difference in the title itself, Jack and Ryu were completely redrawn for the American version's title screen.



Also, when the gong rings shortly after the title screen is displayed, Jack and Ryu's facial expressions change to that of surprise in the Japanese version. There is still a gong effect in the US release, but Jack and Ryu do not react to it.

Jack's Portait
Headbands were added to Jack and Ryu's portraits for the US release.

Jack's Sprites
Jack and Ryu's sprites were completely redrawn for the US release. Headbands, sleeves, a belt buckle, and visible V-neck were added to their costumes. Their eyes were changed and they now throw their arms up when they cheer.

Banko
For some mysterious reason, Banko was changed from a male character to a female character for the US release, and his/her portrait was completely redrawn. Maybe they didn't feel the game had enough strong female presences?

Prism Bells
The Prism Bells were changed for the US release to more resemble what Americans would typically think a bell should look like.

Tiger Tank
The Tiger Tank enemy was called Hittora in the Japanese version, and its portrait sported a Hitler mustache and a swastika on its hat. The tiger seen riding on the tank for the sprite itself was also modified a bit for the US release to look more threatening, and what appears to be headlights were added to the tank.



Strangely enough, the Hitler mustache was not removed from the Tiger Tank's "injured" portrait. Maybe they thought it would appear to be a bruise and wasn't necessary to censor.

More Enemy Changes
The Kappa enemy was redrawn for the US release. He looks a lot goofier and only his head is visible above water, whereas the Japanese version's front arms were visible, too.

The masked ninja bandit things with the unicorn horns were slightly touched up for the US release. Like Jack and Ryu, they were given full sleeves, a visible V-neck, and a belt buckle. Their faces were also slightly modified to be a little thinner.

Screen Transition


In the US version, when you are attacked on the overworld by a random enemy party, the screen flashes and then immediately transitions to the screen that asks if you want to fight or run. In the Japanese version, however, after the screen flashes, an "X" appears across it, and then expands out from the middle until the whole screen is black before it transitions. This was probably removed to cut down on wait time.

Other Random Changes
The random encounter rate is much higher in the US release than it is in the Japanese version. While Culture Brain greatly toned down the difficulty of their earlier NES RPG, The Magic of Scheherazade, for an American audience, it would seem Little Ninja Brothers was actually made harder.

Unused Text


These Japanese characters, す(su), コ (ko), ア (a), イ (i), and モ (mo), are repeated several times throughout the character portrait data in the ROM.