''Ninja Hamster'' is a 2D fighting video game published by

CRL CRL may refer to: Organisations Science and technology research * Chalk River Laboratories, a Canadian nuclear research center * Charles River Laboratories, an American biomedical company * Computational Research Laboratories, an Indian computer c ...

for the

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the S ...

, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum.

Gameplay

''Ninja Hamster'' plays like other

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking, grappling, counter-attacking, and chaining atta ...

s. The player-controlled

hamster Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera.Fox, Sue. 2006. ''Hamsters''. T.F.H. Publications Inc. They have become established as popular small pets. The ...

is on one side and the animals are on the other. The animals are all minions of the Sinister Rat. Combatants use joystick and button press combos to inflict damage on the opponent. Each combatant has an energy bar, which is somewhat drained upon each hit the character receives. Energy replenishes over time, necessitating a repeated assault to wear down an opponent. Once the energy bar is depleted, the character loses one bite out of its Green Apple and the energy bar is reset. When the Green Apple is entirely "eaten", the character dies. When the hamster defeats one animal, it moves on to face another. Eight opponents must be defeated. Eventually the hamster battles with the mastermind, Sinister Rat. An optional second player can control the animals. The player's score is displayed in the lower left corner of the screen. The all-time high score for the game is displayed in the lower right.

Reception

Zzap!64 ''Zzap!64'' was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact. The magazi ...

'' thought very poorly of ''Ninja Hamster''. While easy to play, they felt the game had little staying potential. Battling characters took, in their view, too long and was repetitive. They praised the sound as stereotypical but still lively. One reviewer called the soundtrack a "surprisingly jolly" and "punchy little oriental number". They disparaged the graphics for their perceived low quality and monotony. They concluded that the title was "A poor beat'em up which falls far short of its potential". Commodore User were similarly unimpressed, criticising the "Spectrumesque" graphics and "dead boring" gameplay which made it "not worth buying." It was rated 4/10 overall.

References

External links

''Ninja Hamster''
at

GameFAQs GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. The site has a databas ...

* {{CRL Group 1987 video games Amstrad CPC games Commodore 64 games CRL Group games Europe-exclusive video games Fictional hamsters Fighting games Japan in non-Japanese culture Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games about ninja Video games developed in the United Kingdom ZX Spectrum games