The Famicom/NES version was re-released on the Wii Virtual Console in Japan on December 19, 2006, and in the United States on February 19, 2007. The NES/Famicom port of the game received negative feedback. The magazine also said Legend of Kage was heavily influenced by Konami's beat 'em up game Shao-lin's Road, released earlier the same year. The Commodore 64 port received a mixed review from Commodore User magazine, criticizing the graphics, sound, controls and price, scoring it 5 out of 10. Game Machine of Japan listed The Legend of Kage on their Novemissue as being the most-successful table arcade unit of the month. If Kage is hit in a home version while in green or orange clothes, he does not die but reverts to his normal red clothes.Ĭycles repeat after five levels are completed, and play continues until all lives are gone, which ends the game. In home versions, grabbing a crystal ball causes the player's clothes to change to the next level in color and thereby attain certain powers (bigger shuriken or faster speed). It starts at the top of the temple, and then Kage and Kiri jump off the temple back to the forest, where Kiri is re-kidnapped by the boss. The player goes up the four sets of stairs, avoiding or killing enemy ninja and monks, to rescue Princess Kiri. The player must jump continuously to reach the temple at the top.
The third stage is another bi-scrolling stage.The player can jump into the water section, but mobility is severely hampered. The player must kill ten ninja to advance. The lower half of the screen is underwater, where ninja (blue and red) appear with breathing tubes. The second stage is horizontally scrolling at the water's edge.Grabbing a book causes Kage to stand still and meditate for several seconds while approaching enemies drop to the ground dead during a lightning storm. The first stage is a horizontal and vertically scrolling forest, with the player able to jump quite high (more than a screen height), and able to grab/scale trees that are several screen heights.Main gameplay revolves around killing enemy ninja (blue and red) and enemy fire-breathing monks over five stages:
The player is armed with a kodachi shortsword and an unlimited number of shuriken.