Line #60 VideoGame/TheLegendOfKage


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1542371175188.jpg]]
2
3	''The Legend of Kage'' is an action game developed for arcades by Creator/{{Taito}} in 1985 and ported to various 8-bit systems and computers, including the Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem.
4
5	The player controls an Iga ninja named Kage, and he has to rescue a princess named Kiri from an evil shinobi clan. Kage is armed with a kodachi shortsword and an unlimited supply of shurikens, and can also jump ridiculously high. Kage must fight his way through a forest, a waterfront, and a temple to defeat the villains and rescue Kiri, and then do it all over again with faster enemies and a new color palette to reflect the changing of the seasons.
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7	More than two decades later, in 2008, Taito and Lancarse released ''The Legend of Kage 2'' for the Platform/NintendoDS, published by Taito's new parent company, Creator/SquareEnix, outside of Japan. The basic plot of ''Kage 2'' is mostly the same as in the first game - Kage is still fighting to rescue Kiri (now called "Kirihime") from the villains Yoshi ("Yoshiro") and Yuki ("Yukinosuke") - but now Kage has a new ally in the kusarigama-wielding Chihiro.
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9	''The Legend of Kage'' is considered a SpiritualSuccessor of ''VideoGame/NinjaHayate''. The two games are alike in setting and design, to the point the two main characters could be mistaken for one another.
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11	Compare and contrast ''VideoGame/MiraiNinja'', yet another ninja-themed arcade game with similar gameplay.
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13	----
14	!!Tropes applicable to both games:
15	* InASingleBound: You're a ninja, of course you can leap 50 feet in the air.
16	%%* TheLegendOfX
17	%%* {{Ninja}}
18
19	!!The first game provides examples of:
20	* DamselInDistress: Princess Kiri, who gets captured a total of four times.
21	* DualWielding: Kage wields a pair of short blades, only one of which he ever attacks with.
22	%%* HighlyVisibleNinja: All of them.
23	* KungFuProofMook: Red ninjas are immune to swords, and fire wizards are immune to stars.
24	* OneHitPointWonder: Get hit once by a stray shuriken, sword or fireball, and you die.
25	* ParryingBullets: Your sword has a pitifully short range, so it's much more useful for blocking enemy shurikens than trying to fight them up close.
26	* PlayingWithFire: Fire wizards throw fireballs.
27	%%* SmartBomb: The scrolls
28	%%* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Demon Sword'' for the NES.
29	%%* {{Wuxia}}
30
31	!!The second game provides examples of:
32	%%* ActionGirl: Chihiro.
33	* TheBattleDidntCount: You can take no damage and wreck him in under a minute, but you will still be shown as being exhausted and Yukinosuke smugly fine after your first battle with him.
34	* BerserkButton: Ayame does not like to be interrupted.
35	%%* BigBad: Yoshiro.
36	%%* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Hanzo.
37	%%* DamselInDistress: Princess Kiri, again.
38	* DarkActionGirl: Kaede is a straight-up version, while her sisters provide with variations such as the bomb-throwing Koume and the magic orb using Ayame.
39	* DoppelgangerAttack: You are capable of doing this, as is Yoshiro.
40	* TheDragon: Yukinosuke, who is also... TheRival for both Chihiro and Kage.
41	%%* DualWielding: Except this time, it's Yukinosuke that's doing it, not Kage.
42	%%* EvilCounterpart: Not so much for Chihiro, Yukinosuke is this for Kage.
43	%%* EvilOldFolks: Yojubo.
44	* FlamingSword: Kage - Yukinosuke gets the version with a FauxFlame.
45	* HappilyAdopted: [[spoiler:None of them are related by blood, but that does not matter one bit to them.]]
46	* TheHeartless: [[spoiler:Yoshiro's demonic powers were born from the restless and resentful spirits of the innocent people that were killed during the chaos of the Sengoku Period.]]
47	%%* HighlyVisibleNinja: All of them, just like in the first game.
48	* ImpossiblyLowNeckline: Justified - you can actually see straps that tie Ayame's kimono's neckline to a choker on her neck to keep it from falling all the way.
49	* LargeHam: [[spoiler: Hanzo at the end, which is especially hilarious in Chihiro's route, since he's ''clearly'' just hamming it up jost for the sake of being hammy.]]
50	* LetsGetDangerous: [[spoiler:Realizing their master Yoshiro is depending on them to hold the player off as much as possible, the Three Sisters become a lot more serious in their triple team battle.]]
51	* LighterAndSofter: Chihiro's story is noticeably more light-hearted than Kage's. For example: [[spoiler: the Three Sisters survive; Princess Kiri is able to bluff Hanzo into not killing her, in contrast to Kage being forced to strike him down in his story and go on the run with her; and there are just generally more comedic moments between Chihiro and the Three Sisters.]]
52	* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Chihiro is actually Princess Kiri's younger sister, who was left with the Iga Ninjas to raise, but only the latter remembers this at first.]]
53	%%* {{Mentor\|s}}: Hanzo.
54	* {{Miko}}: Kaede dresses in a hakama similar to that of a miko, barring the short shorts.
55	* MindOverMatter: Yoshiro fights with bronze swords launched using telekinesis.
56	%%* OmnicidalManiac: [[spoiler: Yoshiro.]]
57	* PaperMaster: Kaede uses traditional Japanese paper talisman/familiars called ''shikigami'' in battle.
58	* PluckyGirl: Chihiro never gives up in her quest to rescue Princess Kiri, even when way over her head against an army of demonic goons on what is her first real mission as a kunoichi.
59	%%* PlayingWithFire: Yojubo.
60	* PhysicalGod: Princess Kiri, although she doesn't seem to be very good at defending herself from kidnappers.
61	%%* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Three Sisters - Ayame, Kaede, and Koume.
62	* RedOniBlueOni: Not in terms of personality, really, but Yukinosuke and Kage provide the visual equivalent with ice powers and blue color theme for the former, fire powers and red color theme for the latter, and otherwise identical designs.
63	%%* ScarfOfAsskicking: Kage and Yukinosuke.
64	%%* TokenMiniMoe: Koume.
65	* TheUnfought: [[spoiler:Despite his cool design and antagonistic nature revealed later on, you never fight Hanzo.]]
66	%%* WalkingShirtlessScene: Both Kage and Yukinosuke.
67	* WalkingTheEarth: [[spoiler:After finding out that the Tokugawa Shogunate intends on having Princess Kiri killed, Kage renounces his loyalty to them and goes on the run with the princess.]]
68	* WorthyOpponent: What Yukinosuke and the player character deem each other to be after their first fight.
69	%%* {{Wutai}}
70	%%* {{Wuxia}}
71	%%* ZigzagPaperTassel: Kaede uses this to command her ''shikigami.''

Context VideoGame / TheLegendOfKage