Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja
Encyclopedia
Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja, known in Japan as and in Europe as Izuna: The Legend of the Ninja, is a Nintendo DS
roguelike
game by Success
and published by Atlus USA
in the United States
, and by 505 Games
in Europe
.
clan are looking for a place to settle down after their old master Mugen decided that ninjas were obsolete, and booted them from his castle. Upon arriving at a village that's suitably out of the way for their "Grandboss", Gen-An, they decide to stay at an inn when Grandboss wanders off.
While trying to find Grandboss, Izuna manages to offend the gods of the village, and everyone in the area starts behaving strangely. Now Izuna has to descend into the various shrines for the gods in order to set things right.
. She's stubborn, and often doesn't listen to others. Izuna travels with the remainder of her recently unemployed clan, Gen-An, Shino, and Mitsumoto (whom she calls her slave).
Shino: A girl whom Izuna looks up to like an older sister. More on the short tempered side than Izuna but is kind at heart, as read in the comic on the official site. Referred to by Izuna as Shino-Sis (or Shino-oneechan in Japan). Also has the dubious honor of being the DS's "first flat-chested character", according to the US official site.
Gen-An: Formerly the leader of their ninja village, but now just the leader of their group of unemployed ninjas. The others in the group just refer to him as "Grandboss".
Mitsumoto: The last member of the group, Izuna doesn't treat him with any respect, mostly because he doesn't stand up for himself and doesn't seem to have any real ninja abilities. His skirt-chasing tendencies probably do nothing to raise his esteem in Izuna's eyes.
average of 66/100. Some reviewers enjoyed the game's high difficulty and quirky storyline, while others panned the game for a perceived lack of depth, difficulty, and battling. Reviewers also noted that the game does not use any additional DS features, such as the microphone, touch-screen or Wi-Fi
.
However, the game did gain something of a cult following and was popular enough to spawn the sequel, Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns
.
Izuna and Shino appear in the Success and Atlus game Rondo of Swords
as unlockable characters. Izuna additionally appears in the Ninja Studio's fighting game
Windy X Windam.
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
roguelike
Roguelike
The roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by randomization for replayability, permanent death, and turn-based movement. Most roguelikes feature ASCII graphics, with newer ones increasingly offering tile-based graphics. Games are typically dungeon crawls, with many...
game by Success
Success (company)
Success Corporation is a Japanese game developer and publisher, based in Tokyo, and founded in: June 1976. They are best known for their Cotton series of shooter games , Zoo Keeper and others...
and published by Atlus USA
Atlus
is a Japanese computer and video game developer, publisher, and distributor based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for developing the console role-playing game franchise Megami Tensei. The first Megami Tensei was a Nintendo Entertainment System video game published by Namco based on a trilogy of...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and by 505 Games
505 Games
505 Games, formerly known as 505 Game Street, is an Italian video game publishing division of Italian company Digital Bros. group founded in 2006...
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Story
Izuna and her ninjaNinja
A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...
clan are looking for a place to settle down after their old master Mugen decided that ninjas were obsolete, and booted them from his castle. Upon arriving at a village that's suitably out of the way for their "Grandboss", Gen-An, they decide to stay at an inn when Grandboss wanders off.
While trying to find Grandboss, Izuna manages to offend the gods of the village, and everyone in the area starts behaving strangely. Now Izuna has to descend into the various shrines for the gods in order to set things right.
Izuna's group
Izuna: A 16-year-old girl who was born and raised as a kunoichiKunoichi
is the term for a female ninja or practitioner of ninjutsu .-Etymology:The term is thought to derive from the names of characters that resemble the three strokes in the kanji character for ; said in the order they are written: ku - no - ichi...
. She's stubborn, and often doesn't listen to others. Izuna travels with the remainder of her recently unemployed clan, Gen-An, Shino, and Mitsumoto (whom she calls her slave).
Shino: A girl whom Izuna looks up to like an older sister. More on the short tempered side than Izuna but is kind at heart, as read in the comic on the official site. Referred to by Izuna as Shino-Sis (or Shino-oneechan in Japan). Also has the dubious honor of being the DS's "first flat-chested character", according to the US official site.
Gen-An: Formerly the leader of their ninja village, but now just the leader of their group of unemployed ninjas. The others in the group just refer to him as "Grandboss".
Mitsumoto: The last member of the group, Izuna doesn't treat him with any respect, mostly because he doesn't stand up for himself and doesn't seem to have any real ninja abilities. His skirt-chasing tendencies probably do nothing to raise his esteem in Izuna's eyes.
Gods
- Shuuchi: The god of Earth, he follows a warrior's code and uses a sword as his weapon.
- Fuuka: The goddess of Wind, normally a calm and kind being though has quite a temper that she uses to keep people in line.
- Kagen: The hot-blooded god of Fire, he is an act first sort who can turn his forearms into claws.
- Suiren: The goddess of Water who is very much like Izuna in personality.
- Utsuho: The god of air, very kind and cool in personality.
- Takushiki: The god of Consciousness. He hates dishonesty in all its forms yet keeps his own secrets from others. He also is the leader of the other five gods.
Gameplay
Izuna is a dungeon crawler game with randomly generated dungeons, much like the Mystery Dungeon series. Inside the dungeons, gameplay is effectively turn-based, with monsters in the dungeon getting to move or attack every time Izuna moves a tile or takes an action. If Izuna should get KO'ed inside the dungeon, a passerby will bring her back to the village, but she will lose all the items and money she was holding, except for equipment with the Kikan talisman attached to it. However, after completing the first dungeon, the player is able to store items and money in a warehouse, allowing the storage of reserve weapons and items in case Izuna is KO'ed. These features combine to give the game a roguelike feel, albeit with modern graphics.Reception and legacy
The game received average ratings, with a MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
average of 66/100. Some reviewers enjoyed the game's high difficulty and quirky storyline, while others panned the game for a perceived lack of depth, difficulty, and battling. Reviewers also noted that the game does not use any additional DS features, such as the microphone, touch-screen or Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
.
However, the game did gain something of a cult following and was popular enough to spawn the sequel, Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns
Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns
Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns, released in Japan as , is a roguelike dungeon crawler video game developed by Ninja Studio and published in Japan by Success and in North America by Atlus for the Nintendo DS handheld game console...
.
Izuna and Shino appear in the Success and Atlus game Rondo of Swords
Rondo of Swords
Rondo of Swords, known in Japan as , is a strategy role-playing video game developed by Success and published by Atlus for the Nintendo DS video game console...
as unlockable characters. Izuna additionally appears in the Ninja Studio's fighting game
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
Windy X Windam.