Top 5 Video Games That Changed My Life #5 - Mystical Ninja 64

Описание: (Video 1 of 5) Books, films, music…everyone has art forms that they can cite as being influential in their personal development, career, & character. But video games are not really often factored into this conversation, but the fact of the matter is that to some people video games are an art form, and they can be hugely influential in the roads you take in life. I am one of those people.
Across 5 videos I am going to talk about my about my top 5 favourite games of all times across all platforms, and why they mean what they mean to me. For me to have come to a decision over these titles means that not only do I think that it is tremendous game, but it has also had a deep impact beyond being a fun time killer.




5. Mystical Ninja 64 – Nintendo 64
I absolutely adored the N64 as a kid, but my choice of games were always seemingly at odds with what most people have the fondest memories for. Mario 64, GoldenEye and Zelda Ocarina of Time are all fantastic games, but none of them would be in my top 5 N64 games. I would always crave and obsess over the lesser known or more off-shot titles. Mischief Makers, Paper Mario 64, and Jet Force Gemini’s. Heck, the first game I opted to buy was Yoshi’s Story. Unboxed for 35 pounds at Ex-Electrical Kingston. Probably costs just as much if not more to get that now 20 years on! But as I said, here we are talking about games that were more than than just being good games, but ones that influenced and somehow changed my life. As far as the N64 goes, possibly none did it more than this blue spikey haired fella.

Yep, Mystical Ninja 64: Starring Goemon. How I love this game. Now this would be the 3rd game I picked up for the console in the Summer of 1998. I remember getting it from a mail order telephone company called Excitement Direct, as this was pre-Internet being a big thing, and I was so insanely excited for it when I saw the pictures in the Nintendo Official Magazine. I was familiar with the character having had the Legend of the Mystical Ninja on the Super Nintendo. But this was 3d! And you could play a robot ninja too! I remember getting it and being absolutely obsessed with the J-pop opening theme song. I had never heard anything like it, and the whole presentation felt like I was part of a noble and epic quest. I would literally turn it on and reset the game 4 or 5 times in a row just to watch the intro. I would even do it before school, regardless of whether I had time to actually play any of the game.

And this is partly why this game was influential to me. You see.. Mystical Ninja 64 is SO unapologetically Japanese. It has done very little to Westernise itself beyond the translation of the text and take out some of the ruder parts. It is so immersed in traditional feudal Japan culture, and this was the first time I had been exposed to such a thing. From the architecture, the clothing, the music, the insanely off-beat humour and dialogue. Never before has a game made it SO worthwhile to talk to every NPC character in a town. Where else would you find someone that tells you to go pee on your neighbours furniture because they are out of town in business. What? Why? With the exception of its sequel, there is nothing like this on the N64. The story revolves around some theatrical bad dudes in a flying peach space ship that want to turn the whole Earth into their own stage for a performance. WHAT!


This game opened me up to an appreciation and interest in the Japanese culture that remains to this day. And before people say “it’s only a video game it can’t be that real”…I suggest watching Gajin Goomba’s video that indeed confirms near enough EVERYTHING in this franchise has its basis in Japanese history and folk tales. In addition, I feel that this game left a mark on me for the appreciation and my development as a comedy writer and actor, which of course makes up a huge part of who I am. Oh, yeah, and in terms of game mechanics? It’s an awesome adventure game with RPG elements. So, it is for these reasons Mystical Ninja 64 is Number 5 in my top 5 influential games of all the time.