Thanks to Ratalaika Games for the review code
Title: Justice Ninja Casey
System: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Price: $5.99
Release Date: 02/28/2025
Story
In this wacky belt scrolling adventure, you take control of the ninja Casey, as he sets out on a quest throughout Japan to rescue a captive princess! A River City Ransom-like game with plenty of amusing dialogue to see, although you shouldn’t expect a high caliber story despite one of the modes having plenty of text in it.
Presentation
We have another Sunsoft reissue from Ratalaika, and as with their recent releases, it uses their newer, worse wrapper yet again. Same fast forward speed issues a previously, and basic filters/screen size options.
There’s a scanned manual, but yet again it remains untranslated with the scans looking awfully shaky, like they’re ripped from some random spot on the internet instead of being a direct asset like the key art. You also have the usual sprite showcase/music player option. Nothing new to note here.
The game itself at least looks pretty colorful. It does have immediately noticeable slowdown when multiple enemies show up, per SNES norms, and for some ungodly reason that makes me wonder if it has to do with the emulation/translation here, dash attacking a bit too frequently in a row can just cause the game’s background visuals to start collapsing. It looks incredibly off-putting and really makes me wonder how whether or not this wrapper is causing more trouble than its worth by this point. At the very least, it doesn’t prevent you from completing the game.
Gameplay
Justice Ninja Casey offers two different game modes, with the bigger one being the Quest mode, playing out like a River City Ransom style adventure. You go between towns, fight enemies on the routes, collect gold and buy upgrades/weapons/items, all while taking out bosses in order to gain access to the final castle where the princess is being held captive.
You have three different buttons to use for attacks/items, and upon gaining more over time, you can use weapons such as a sword or different techniques besides the usual punch and kick. I did end up playing it pretty safe once I saved up enough gold for a powerful sword though, and that dash attack really comes in handy for faster traversal and beating multiple enemies at once. Not to mention using a sword in combat will lead to the occasional clash of swords, where you have to button mash your way out and overpower the enemy, which adds a little bit of extra satisfaction over the usual beating up people and robbing them.
Every now and then you’ll stumble into a town, and this is where you can buy your various items or talk to the occasional NPC for clues or humorous dialogue. The in-game save feature is done by purchasing a Memo item from the stores, although with the handy quicksave and normal save state features of the Ratalaika wrapper, you probably won’t be needing it all that much.
Of course, if you end up not liking the grind of a typical belt scroller/action RPG hybrid, there is a more traditional stage by stage mode, where you just go between levels in a more traditional manner, and can even invite a friend along for the ride with local co-op!
I still prefer the Quest mode at the end of the day, even with the background-destroying jank Casey has along with the usual SNES slowdown here or there, since oddly enough the actual SFC Kunio games don’t do all that much to be like the original River City Ransom, yet here we have a Sunsoft belt scroller doing a better job at that than Technos was at the time. All in all, nothing particularly exciting, but still a decent romp of belt scrolling fun.
Conclusion
Justice Ninja Casey is another game from the Sunsoft bin of “Hyper expensive SFC game that’s just OK.” Offers a fun take on the river city formula with some zany humor to it, but besides some catchy music and a fun combat system, it really doesn’t do much to stick around in your mind compared to the many other brawlers available for the system.
The weird visual bugs are also quite perplexing, and I cannot tell if they were faults of the SFC version or this port in particular. Still, I was able to enjoy my time with Casey a lot more than Feudal Bros, and I’m just happy a hyper rare game like this was rescued from the clutches of ebay at all.
Still, Justice Ninja Casey is definitely worth a play if you have a buddy around for that arcade mode, or if you just want a quick funny brawler to play, just don’t expect much from the wrapper or overall experience. You’ll play this, have some fun, beat it, and then put it away and likely forget about it.
I give Justice Ninja Casey a 6 out of 10.