System 3 Begins Game Preservation Drive With Additional Content Including Cancelled Prototypes for International Karate and Last Ninja 4
The Last Ninja Collection launched today on Kickstarter on 10th September, reaching its funding target inside 40 minutes and marking the return of a beloved franchise to PC and Nintendo Switch in 2025. In reaching its funding target, System 3’s drive for game preservation beings in earnest with the first physical release of Last Ninja titles in Decades.
Become a Kickstarer backer now: The Last Ninja Collection Kickstarter
Bringing together every Last Ninja title from the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Commodore Amiga for the first time, including The Last Ninja, Last Ninja 2, Last Ninja 3 and Ninja Remix, The Last Ninja Collection is joined by incredible games such as Bangkok Knights, International karate and International karate +.
Kickstarter backers at Diamond Ultimate level will also receive access to the code for Last Ninja 4 work-in-progress 2002 and 2018, as well as a cancelled remaster of international Karate, IK++ – each of these exclusive additions are never-before-seen developments not available to the public.
Check out the video of the Last Ninja Collection:
The Kickstarter for The Last Ninja Collection is live now, and is already fully funded, with The Last Ninja Collection available on PC and Nintendo Switch in early 2025.
To follow System 3 and its decades of bringing joy to consumers through multiple, internationally renowned brands, please visit the System 3 website.
Editor’s Thoughts
When this was first announced I was excited to see what System 3 had planned for their classic martial arts adventure series and the interest and success of the Kickstarter campaign has proven that it is going to be a hit with gamers. But as someone who remembers the original when it was first released (as well as all of the other games included in the bundle) I do have a few reservations.
First, this isn’t the first time that these have been released together as a collection. About 20 years ago, all of the Last Ninja games were bundled on a CD-ROM attached on the cover of Retro Gamer magazine. This was an official release produced by System 3 themselves and if I remember correctly this too contained most versions of all of the games.
Secondly, there are a large number of formats missing for all of the games included – Gameboy Color and CD32 versions of International Karate 2000 and IK+ respectively and so on. I had the same frustration with Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story and feel that this is a wasted opportunity and doesn’t present a complete picture of the history of these classics.
Finally, apart from Achievements for the Steam version, the Kickstarter campaign makes no mention of any enhancements to the games such as save state support, CRT filters or the ability to rewind gameplay. This is usually the norm for retro game compilations and I hope that this is just an omission from the campaign text and they are all included.
Leave a Reply