The Legend of Kage (1985)

The Legend of Kage is a 1985 arcade game by Taito and was released for several contemporary video game home systems in 1986. The player is armed with a kodachi shortsword and an unlimited amount of shuriken. Grabbing a crystal ball causes the player character's Kage's clothes to change to the next level in colour and thereby attain certain powers (bigger shuriken and/or faster speed); if Kage is hit while in green or orange clothes, he does not die but revert to his normal red clothes. Grabbing a scroll causes Kage to stand still and meditate for several seconds while approaching enemies drop to the ground dead (although the scrolls appear in the arcade version, the crystal balls do not). This MSX version was brought without a license to the SG-1000 in Taiwan.