What is the name of a NES platformer where you attack with a metallic bird?

Question

This should be an easy one if anyone actually played this, since I remember plenty of details but simply cannot find the game itself.

This game was a platformer for the NES, and I believe I played it around the early 90s (though it doesn't necessarily mean the game itself isn't older).

The character you controlled was dressed in red with a red mask covering his eyes, and you had some sort of metallic bird with you (I don't think it was always visible). You would throw the bird to attack enemies, and it would then return to you. Proportion-wise, I think the character was pretty similar to Mega-Man.

The game contained various levels, some with some interesting mechanics. I recall a lava/volcano stage, a pirate/ghost ship stage and another stage where you were traveling on some sort of skateboard for a portion of the level. There were also some hidden whack-a-mole bonus stages that you could trigger by throwing your bird at specific spots in some of the levels.

I also recall there were powerups to pick up. One would turn your bird red, increasing its range, speed and damage.

One of the things I found most unique and compelling about the game was its boss fights. At the end of certain levels (maybe all of the levels?) you would have to defeat a boss, but when this happened the game stopped being a platformer and transformed into some sort of card game. Both you and the boss would have a set of cards you had to pick in order, with numbers on the card signifying the strength of your attack. The one picking the stronger attack would damage his opponent by the difference (so if I picked a card that says 5 and the boss a card that says 3, I would deal 2 points of damage). I recall that one of the bosses, the one in the lava level if I remember correctly, looked suspiciously similar to Freddy Krueger.

And that's everything I remember.

Answer

I believe the game you are looking for is Kamen no Ninja: Hamaru.

It was rebranded in North America into the game Yo! Noid.

Check more discussion of this question.

loading..