"Zen - Intergalactic Ninja" is an action platformer for the NES, published by Konami in 1993, based on a somewhat obscure comic book series first released in 1987.
You might feel that the story is rather camp, but complaining that the story of a NES game is too camp is rather like complaining that sugar is too sweet.
Instead of typing out the story I leave the intro to the game here:
You get to choose one of four stages that you can play in any order, this makes it feel a little bit like a Mega Man game, although the theme of ninja and mutants (well aliens actually) makes me think about TMNT and Shadow Warrior (Ninja Gaiden outside of Europe).
Between the stages you get to play bonus stages featuring the "Recycled Heroes"; the side-kicks of the protagonist.
Essentially you knock garbage of five kinds into a furnace, each kind is represented by one of the five heroes:
Plants - represented by Lawn Ranger. Gives a bonus of 10000 points.
Using the Ultra Intensive Meditation restores your health.
The Shield makes it able to be hit by enemies without being harmed, but of course depletes the Shield.
Cans - represented by Can-It. Gives a bonus of 1up.
Electrical equipment - represented by Lights Out. Gives a bonus of Life Max Up.
At the beginning of each stage Zen gets his instructions from an alien race known as the Gordons.
Each stage has different objectives and played in slightly different ways.
Acid Rain Forest stage is a side-view stage that is probably the smallest in the game. The boss, Sulfura, is available almost immediately, but you have to keep going back to hit the withering flowers with your stick to keep them from dying or you loose the game.
Slixxon Oil Rig is a side-view stage where you have to rescue oil rig workers from fires by using fire extinguishers, then climb to the top of the oil rig to defeat the boss: Oil Slick.
Biggs Toxic Factory stage is played in an diagonal view in a pseudo 3d style. This stage has a time-limit, as Zen has planted bombs to blow the plant up. The boss of this stage is Smogger.
Runaway Railway Car stage is also in a diagonal view, but you will be riding a railway car that moves forward automatically in a maze that you have to navigate to find the boss: Garbageman.
After you have completed two stages, instead of a bonus stage you will have to rescue Jeremy from Lord Contaminous by jumping from wall to wall (like in Sahdow Warrior).
Once all four stages are beaten you get to play four more stages in a set order: The Cavern of Crud, The Cesspool, Scrap Heap's Haven, and The Impostors Hideout, before facing off in the final battle against Lord Contaminous.
Of course in classical Japanese final boss manner, you have to beat the final boss twice.
While playing the game at Normal difficulty, I found it a bit easier than TMNT (1989), or Shadow Warrior (1991), the later of which I never managed to beat despite probably a thousand tries.
Luckily if you can choose Easy or Hard mode. Personally I found Normal mode to be an adequate challenge; not insanely hard, but not so easy I could just breeze through. But if you are a real monster of a gamer that actually find Shadow Warrior (Ninja Gaiden) to be to less of a challenge I doubt you would get a lot of enjoyment out of this game even on Hard mode (but then, you probably think all games are too easy).
Personally I found the game very enjoyable given the variety of game-play and the well balanced difficulty.
Although the game was released in Europe I never actually saw it for sale in Sweden (where I live), I actually got it at a vacation to Germany, which makes me think this is a somewhat rare game, despite being released in Japan, U.S. and Europe alike. It wouldn't be too strange considering the obscurity of the Comic book and toy-lines it is based off of.
The pricing also suggests it is a somewhat rare game:
Loose cartridge ~€58
Complete ~€66
New copy ~€431
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