I forgot how awesome this game was when I recently played the NES cart for the first time in a while 2 days ago. I remember I first heard about this game when OgreHombre (whereever he may be) featured it on his NES site, which is no longer running, during his "Game Of The Month" section. I remember during his little review of it that people were giving him crap for featuring it as "Game of the Month", and how he didn't get it, because he thought the game was awesome. I decided to download it, but I didn't play it 'til the next day, and I eventually bought the real cartridge. The game was as good as he said it was! This game is just so awesome, it's one of Taito's best NES games! It seems they were trying to compete with Shinobi, but I'm NOT going to turn this into a comparison thread. Man, I wish OgreHombre would come back into the limelight. He was so awesome. Anyway, back to the game:It's similar to Shinobi like I said, but there are different "Ninja Arts" you can acquire, and there are rooms (as well as hidden rooms) to explore. In these rooms you rescue kidnapped kids and collect power ups, and the bosses will put up a good challenge. I remember not even being able to get past the first boss the first few times I played! The last boss especially can be frustrating if you don't know what to do! And there's a certain way you need to attack him (the final boss). Man, this game was so awesome! I feel compelled to play it again today!

This game may partially be an answer to Shinobi, but it also may be shared information.  Sega and various programming firms used to swap information back in the day after the Wonder Boy debacle when Hudson stole the idea.  A good example of this is the Kid Kool/Psycho Fox comparison.  Regardless, I always like the odd design and ingenuity behind Blank Manta, I thought the ninja arts were very well applied and awesome.  Got to love the final boss fight too.

It was a great game for it's time back then. There are quite few secrets also in this game.

I also liked the Black Manta's personality. You know, it wasn't the kind you'd normally find in a ninja.

Anyone remember the contest?  You'd call in and hear the Blank Manta talking and could win a toy shopping spree.

wrote on 10. Aug 2007 at 20:43:

Anyone remember the contest?  You'd call in and hear the Blank Manta talking and could win a toy shopping spree.

Yeah, they have that add on www.vgmuseum.com Too bad I didn't even know about that game 'til 1998. Would've liked to call and hear what The Black Manta sounds like.

He sounds like an American guy talking with an exaggerated, condesending voice.