
                   LAST NINJA III - SYSTEM 3 - CD32 - DOCS
 
                           WRITTEN BY:  GENERATION

 THE STORY:

 THE NINJITSU, HAD BECOME THE MOST FEARED WARRIORS OF THEIR DAY AND WERE

 FEARED BY EVEN THE MOST POWERFUL SAMURAI. KNOWN AS THE MYSTIC SHADOW

 WARRIORS, THEY WERE THE ELITE FIGHTING FORCE OF THE NINTH CENTURY FEUDAL
 
 JAPAN. DEDICATED TO FINE TUNING THEIR BODIES INTO KILLING MACHINES, THEIR

 MASTERY OF WEAPON CRAFT, ASSASSINATION, STEALTH AND INVISIBILITY LED MANY

 TO BELIEVE THEM TO BE INVINCIBLE IF NOT IMMORTAL.

 CENTURIES LATER AND ONLY ARMAKUNI, THE LAST NINJA, REMAINS. STILL AS PROUD

 AS EVER, STILL AS VALIANT IN BATTLE, HE STRIVES TO FURTHER UPHOLD THE MORAL

 STRENGTHS OF GOD, AGAINST THE PERSISTENT SCOURGE OF HIS ARCH ENEMY KUNITOKI

 RELENTLESS SPREAD OF EVIL.

 KUNITOKI IS THE EVIL SHOGUN OF THE ASHIKAGA CLAN WHO HAS LONG ENVIED THE

 POWERS OF THE NINJA AND WOULD DO ANYTHING TO ACQUIRE THE NINJITSU KNOWLEDGE.

 TO THIS END HE HAS SWORN TO AN OATH TO THEIR TOTAL DESTRUCTION. THIS OATH HAS

 LED THE EVIL SHOGUN INTO MANY BATTLES WITH THE LAST NINJA, WHO HIMSELF HAS

 DEDICATED HIS VERY EXISTENCE TO AVENGING THE MASS SLAUGHTER OF THE NINJA

 BROTHERHOOD, CENTURIES AGO, BY THE TWISTED SHOGUN. THEIR CLASHES AGAINST THE

 VORTEX OF TIME AND SPACE WERE NOTHING SHORT OF EPIC, THEIR HATRED FOR ONE

 ANOTHER TIMELESS.

 THE STRUGGLE OF GOOD VERSUS EVIL HAS TAKEN ARMAKUNI TO THE ISLAND OF LIN FEN,

 THE SHRINE OF THE WHITE NINJA, TO HALT THE WRATH OF KUNITOKI AND TO PROTECT

 THE FURTHER TEACHINGS OF THE VITAL KOGA SCROLLS. ARMAKUNI HAD BEEN VICTORIOUS

 BUT NOT 100% DECISIVE AS KUNITOKI SLIPPED HIS GRASP.

 YEARS LATER, ARMAKUNI HAD BEEN DRAGGED ACROSS TIME TO MODERN DAY NEW YORK, AS

 AGAIN KUNITOKI'S IDEAS OF CORRUPTION LOOKED SET TO THREATEN MODERN DAY

 IDEALS. THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THEIR LAST BATTLE, ARMAKUNI'S HUMILIATED,

 SUPPOSEDLY DEFEATED IN SPIRIT AND HOPEFULLY HUMBLED TO THE FACT THAT GOOD

 WILL ALWAYS PURVEY OVER EVIL.

 THE STRUGGLE IN NEW YORK HAD LEFT THE LAST NINJA BATTLE-WEARY FROM COUNTLESS

 CONFRONTATIONS WITH KUNITOKI'S HENCHMEN, DISTRAUGHT THAT THIS AGE OLD

 ADVERSARY HAD AGAIN ELUDED HIM, BUT RESOLUTE THAT ONE DAY HIS TIMELESS

 MISSION WOULD BEAR THE FRUITS OF HIS PERSISTENCE.

 AS TIME DRIFTED BY, THE NINJA'S ROLE WITHIN HIS OWN SOCIETY WAS OF A RATHER

 MORE TRANQUIL EXISTENCE IN COMPARISON TO HIS EARLIER EXPLOITS, BUT HE KNEW

 THE NECESSITY OF HIS WORK, THE IMPORTANCE OF AGAIN BUILDING A NEW NINJA

 BROTHERHOOD FROM HIS PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE AND THE MYSTICAL TEACHINGS OF THE

 CLOSELY GUARDED KOGA SCROLLS. AMAKUNI FELT COMFORTABLE ONCE MORE AS THE

 TEACHER AND ACCEPT HIS DUTIES WITH GREAT PASSION AND COMMITMENT, AS HE HAD

 PRIOR TO HIS HISTORIC BATTLE IN MODERN DAY NEW YORK.

 A STRONGER ORDER OF NINJA SLOWLY BEGAN TO TAKE SHAPE AS MASTER FROM THE

 PRE-NEW YORK ERA MINGLED WITH THE YOUNG CLASS OF'91. DURING A STRENUOUS

 TRAINING SESSION, A STRANGE FEELING CAME OVER THE CLASS. IT WAS AS IF TIME

 HAD ABRUPTLY STOOD STILL. AS ARMAKUNI ROSE FROM HIS MEDITATING POSITION A

 STRANGE PULSATING LIGHT ENSHROUDED HIM. THE OLDER MEMBERS OF THE CLASS KNEW

 WHAT WAS HAPPENING, THEY HAD SEEN IT ALL BEFORE AND FERVENTLY TRIED TO CALM

 THE YOUNGER SPIRITUAL NINJITSU MASTERS WHO WERE AGAIN CALLING ON ARMAKUNI,

 THE LAST NINJA, FOR ANOTHER DANGEROUS MISSION.

 THE INTENSITY OF THE LIGHT GREW AOUND ARMAKUNI UNTIL ALL WHO WERE WITNESSING

 THE SCENE WERE FORCED TO COVER THEIR EYES. HE KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENING, HE

 KNEW THERE WAS UNFINISHED BUSINESS DATING BACK MANY CENTURIES. TO HIM IT FELT

 AS THOUGH HIS GUT WAS TURNING INSIDE OUT, AS A DEEP DETERMINATION COUPLED

 WITH HIS INNER MYSTICAL ENERGIES BEGAN TO TAKE OVER AND PREPARE HIM FOR THE

 INEVITABLE BATTLES THAT MUST LIE AHEAD. HE KNOWS WHO THE ANCIENT MASTERS WANT

 HIM TO DEFEAT, AFTER ALL HE HAS LIVED FOR THIS DAY EVER SINCE HIS PRIDE WAS

 DENTED BY HIS ARCH ENEMY AGAIN ESCAPING HIS GRASP IN NEW YORK. RELIEVED HIS

 MASTERS HAT AT LAST FOUND KUNITOKI AGAIN, HIS ONLY APPREHENSION WAS THE

 LOCATION. WHERE WOULD HE HAVE TO PLY HIS TRADE ? WHAT NEW TIME SCALE WOULD HE

 HAVE TO BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO ? HOW MUCH MORE ADVANCED WOULD THE NEW REALM OF

 KUNITOKI'S HENCHMEN BE IN BATTLE ? AND ULTIMATELY HOW STRONG HAD HIS DEADLY

 RIVAL BEEN ALLOWED TO GROW IN THE TIME LAPSED SINCE THEIR LAST MEETING ? NO

 DOUBT ALL THESE QUESTIONS WOULD BE ANSWERED IN TIME AS SLOWLY ARMAKUNI WOKE

 GROM THE DARKNESS OF DEEP SLEEP.

 HE RECOGNISED THE LOCATION FROM THEIR EARLIER STUDIES AND HEAVED A GREAT SIGH

 OF EXPECTATION AS HE UNDERSTOOD IMMEDIATELY WHERE HE HAD BEEN SENT AND INDEED

 WHY.

 ARMAKUNI WAS BACK IN THE VERY HEART OF NINJITSU SPIRITUALISM. HE HAD BEEN

 BROUGHT TO TIBET, THE TIBETAN MOUNTAINS TO BE PRECISE AND THE LOCATION OF HIS

 LATEST EXPLOITS WERE TO BE THE TIBETAN TEMPLES. THESE MYSTCAL BUDDHIST 

 TEMPLES HOUSE THE SOURCE OF INNER-POWER TO THE NINJA. A TEMPLE IS DIVIDED 

 INTO SIX CHAMBERS, EACH DEPICTING ONE OF THE ELEMENTS ARE EARTH, WIND, WATER,

 FIRE, LIMBO AND VOID.

 NO ONE HAD ENTERED THE INNER CHAMBERS OF THE TEMPLES BEFORE AND SO THERE WAS

 NO KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT GREET ANY WOULD-BE EXPLORER. VOID WOULD BE AN UNKNOWN

 ENTITY TO A NINJA FAMILIAR ONLY WITH THE WAYS OF OLD AND WHOSE WEAPONRY WOULD

 SEEM SOMEWHAT PRIMITIVE TO ANY SPACE-AGE ASSASSIN WHO LURKED WITHIN THIS

 FUTURISTIC CHAMBER AND WHOSTROVE TO CARRY OUT THE OUTLANDISH ORDERS OF THEIR

 NEW DICTATOR. WEAPONRY IS, HOWEVER, JUST A TOOL FOR THE NINJITSU STRENGTH.

 MASTER OF A MOVE THE LAST NINJA KNOWS HE IS UP TO THE TASK BUT KNOWS NOT HOW

 LONG HIS TASK WILL TAKE.

 ARMAKUNI TAKES A MOMENT TO MEDITATE BUT SUDDENLY EXPERIENCES A STRANGE AND

 CHILLING SENSATION. HE ALREADY KNOWS HE WOULD HAVE TO CONFRONT KUNITOKI ONCE

 AGAIN,BUT HIS FORCE SEMMED SO POWERFUL THIS TIME, MORE SO THAN EVER BEFORE.

 HE HAD BEEN ALLOWED TO GROW IN STRENGTH FOR FAR TOO LONG, SURELY THE ELDERS

 SHOULD HAVE FOUND HIM EARLIER. ARMAKUNI DID NOT NEED TELLING, THE SINISTER

 TRUTH OF WHY KUNITOKI WAS HERE WAS ALL TOO APPARENT. HE WAS HERE TO CORRUPT

 THE MYSTICAL BUDDHIST TEMPLES, TO CRUSH THEIR INNER POWER SO SYMBOLIC TO THE

 STRENGTH TO THE LAST NINJA.

 NOT ABLE TO DEFEAT ARMAKUNI IN THE PAST WITH MORTAL COMBAT, THE EVIL SHOGUN

 HAS TURNED TO THE SPIRITUAL ASPECT OF THE NINJITSU TO ACT OUT HIS PARTICULAR

 FORM OF CORRUPTION. ALL THE LEARNING NINJA BROTHERHOOD RELY ON THE TIBETAN

 TEMPLES FOR SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE AND STRENGTH, WITHOUT THIS THEY WOULD BE NO

 MORE. KUNITOKI HAS SEIZED UPON THIS OPPORTUNITY TO DESTROY THE KNOWLEDGE HE

 COULD NEVER HAVE AND THE ENEMY, HE COULD NEVER DEFEAT.

 NEVER WAS ARMAKUNI'S TASK MORE IMPORTANT.....

 NEVER WOULD THE UNACCEPTABLE RESULT OF FAILURE BE MORE DAMAGING....

 IT WOULD SEEM NEW YORK WAS JUST THE BEGINNING.

 THEIR DISTANCE FOR EACH OTHER HAS GROWN FOR CENTURIES, BUT THEN....

 REAL HATRED IS TIMELESS.


 JOYPAD CONTROLS:

 BASIC MOVEMENTS:

 TO CHANCE THE DIRECTION THE NINJA IS FACING, ROLL THE DIRECTION PAD THROUGH

 ALL THE POSITIONS UNTIL YOU ARE FACING THE DIRECTION YOU WANT.


 TO WALK FOREWARDS:   PRESS THE DIRECTION PAD IN THE DIRECTION THE NINJA IS

                      FACING.

 TO WALK BACKWARDS:   PRESS THE JOYPAD IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION TO THE ONE 

                      NINJA IS FACING.


 SPECIAL MOVEMENTS:

 TURNING THE NINJA:   ROLL THE DIRECTION PAD THROUGH ALL THE POSITIONS UNTIL

                      YOU ARE FACING THE DIRECTION YOU WANT.

 SOMERSAULT:          IF THE FIRE BUTTON IS PRESSED WHILE THE NINJA IS MOVING,

                      THEN HE WILL SOMERSAULT IN THAT DIRECTION.

 PICK UP:             TO PICK UP OBJECTS/WEAPONS THE BUTTON MUST BE PRESSED

                      AND THE DIRECTION PAD PRESSED DOWN-LEFT OR DOWN-RIGHT

                      (DIAGONAL).

 NOTE: THIS MOVE IS ALSO USED AT CERTAIN POINTS OF THE GAME FOR PLACING 

       OBJECTS IN A DESIRED ORDER OR POSITION.


 
 JOYPAD CONTROLLED FIGHTING MOVEMENTS:

 TO ACTIVATE FIGHTING MOVES, THE NINJA SHOULD BE STATIONARY AND THE RED

 BUTTON PRESSED.


 UNARMED MOVES:

 KICK - DOWN

 PUNCH - UP


 ARMED MOVES (SWORD,NUNCHAKAS AND STAFF):

 STAB - UP

 CROSS SLASH - RIGHT

 OVERHEAD SLASH - LEFT

 KICK - DOWN

 BLOCK MOVE - WALK BACK AND FIRE


 THROWING MOVES:

 THROW - RIGHT OR LEFT


 BUTTONS:

 RED - ACTION BUTTON

 YELLOW - PICK UP

 BLUE - CHANGE ITEM IN HAND

 GREEN - MUSIC AND SFX ON/OFF


 GENERAL TIPS:

 THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GAME YOU SHOULD MASTER ARE THE JOYPAD CONTROLS. THE

 HIGHLY INTERACTIVE NATURE OF THE GAME IS REQUIRED BECAUSE OF SOME OF THE

 COMPLEX MOVES THE NINJA CHARACTER HAS TO PERFORM. A HIGH LEVEL OF COMPETENCE

 AT THE CONTROLS WILL ENHANCE YOUR GAME PLAY CONSIDERABLY.

 BECAUSE OF THE ADVENTURE ELEMENTS OUR SECOND SUGGESTION IS THAT YOU SHOULD

 GET INTO THE HABIT OF RECORDING WHAT HAPPENS ON EACH SCREEN. THIS WILL ENABLE

 YOU TO OBTAIN HIGHER SCORES WITH REPEATED PLAY.

 THE LAST POINT IS, NEVER TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED - SOME THINGS ARE NOT AS

 THEY APPEAR. BE CURIOUS, NOSY, ETC. AND EXAMINE EVERYTHING.

 1. NINJA ENERGY LEVEL -

    LESSONS EACH TIME NINJA TAKES A HIT, ETC.- DOES NOT REPLENISH

 2. ENEMY ENERGY LEVEL -

    WORKS THE SAME AS ABOVE BUT DOES NOT REPLENISH ONCE AN ENERGY IS 

    DEFEATED, ENABLING THE ENERGY TO GET UP AND FIGHT AGAIN.

 3. BUSHIDO INDICATOR -

    IN THE FORM OF A DRAGON AND AT START OF GAME APPEARS ORANGE BUT GRADUALLY

    TURNS GREEN AS BUSHIDO POWER IS OBTAINED. TO LEAVE A SCREEN WITHOUT

    DEFEATING AN OPPONENT IS TO LOSE HONOUR AND YOU WILL BE DEDUCTED BUSHIDO.

 4. WEAPON/OBJECT WINDOW -

    WEAPONS AND OBJECTS FOUND APPEAR IN THIS WINDOW AS DO THE OBJECTS THAT

    HAVE BEEN SPECIFICALLY SLECTED.

 5. PRAYER WHEEL -

    OPENS TO REVEAL OBJECT/WEAPON TO BE PICKED UP ON A CERTAIN SCREEN. WHEN

    AN OBJECT APPEARS, IT MEANS THE OBJECT IS NEARBY. YOU HAVE TO TRY PICKING

    UP WITHIN THAT AREA ONCE YOU FIND THE SPOT THE OBJECT WILL THEN BE ADDED

    TO YOUR INVENTORY.

 NOTE:

 BUSHIDO IS RELEVANT TO THE COMPLETION OF THE GAME AND YOUR OVERALL STRENGTH,

 FOR EXAMPLE, BY TAKING ON AND DEFEATING ENEMIES WITH THE CORRECT WEAPON,

 YOUR BUSHIDO POWER INCREASES. THE SAME APPLIES WHEN YOU TAKE ON AN ARMED 

 ENEMY USING ONLY HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT. THIS IS MORE DIFFICULT BUT REWARDED

 WITH SUBSTANTIAL BUSHIDO POWER. TO LEAVE A SCREEN WITHOUT DEFEATING AN

 OPPONENT IS TO LOSE HONOUR AND YOU WILL BE DEDUCTED BUSHIDO.

