After Tetris, Super Mario Land was the number one GameBoy game back in the day. I loved it, you loved it and The Ambassadors of Funk (aka Simon Harris) loved it so much that they turned the game’s main theme into a Top 40 hit.
1-bit Ninja for iPhone brings all those memories back. This is a retro-tastic platformer with some seriously basic controls – forwards and jump. That’s it.
Tap the bottom-right corner of the screen to jump and hold down on the left hand side to move forwards. There’s no ‘back’ button – real ninjas don’t look back – so you’ll have to think on your feet.
This is unadulterated arcade platformy action. It’s a little tricky to get to grips with initially, but once you’ve got your head round the super-simple control mechanics, you’re hooked.
In traditional platformer fashion, you vanquish enemies by stomping on them and collecting one hundred shiny things nets you an extra life.
We love the cheesy chiptune soundtrack and we also love that levels have multiple sections, so if you fall down a pit but hold down on the left hand side of the screen, chances are you’ll stumble on to a secret pathway rather than plummet to your doom.
Another neat thing about 1-bit Ninja is that holding down on the top left and top right sides of the screen triggers a cool pseudo-3D mode that put us in mind of this awesome Mario FPS video from a while back.
There’s over 20 levels spread across four worlds to twiddle and jump your way through – we’ve only just got to the second world. If you’ve got £1.19 to spend and need a new iPhone game to while away the commute, this’ll sort you out.
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