Yo-Yo Ninja Boy was an online animated cartoon about a young boy training to become a yo-yo master. He trained at his grandfathers dojo, his grandfather was a yo-yo master. There were 6 (?) episodes of yo-yo ninja boy where he eventually wins the world yo-yo contest.
The cartoon was conceived by Mark Heaps a young designer, production artist, and Flash animator at Spotbox (previously FM Media). Starting as a side project by Mark Heaps and supported by Wernher Goff while most of the shop worked on a different show during the main hours. The show was taken as the primary animation project and produced by Richard L Fenton and Alex Ross by of Spot Box, Inc., a small start-up company in Santa Clara, California, that specialized in web technologies for on-line entertainment. The company left the yo-yoing community, but, it didn't take us long to find them, and for them to find us. Soon they were putting profiles of professional yo-yoers, like Steve Brown and Doctor Popular, on their website. Duncan released a limited edition "Yo-Yo Ninja Boy Freehand" at nationals, which is considered by many to be the rarest Freehand 1 special edition. Although a following for Yo-Yo Ninja Boy was starting to build, Spot Box, Inc., was unable to obtain funding for future episodes of "Yo-Yo Ninja Boy," and the cartoon was cancelled after a few episodes. An animated 3d version was also in consideration.
Artists: Lead Animator - Scott Lewis, Animator and Flash conversion and clean-up - Nutzy Lewis, Animator - Michelle Tapia
Sound Editing: Fred Torres, Richard Fenton, Wernher Goff
Flash programming, and keyframing: Dave Mickelson, Fred Torres, Richard Fenton
Voice-Over Talent: Yo-Yo Ninja Boy - Wernher Goff, Grandfather - Scott Lewis, and Fred Torres, Evil Guy - Fred Torres, Wendy - Jasmine Torres, Genius Kid: Scott Lewis
In 1999, Spot Box, Inc., was also responsible for the demo reel for Duncan Toys.
Less Than Jake[]
Through their friendship with Steve Brown, Less Than Jake recorded a song called "Yo-Yo Ninja Boy", the lyrics can be found here.
Archive[]
- A Yo-Yo Ninja Boy game where you have to help Grandpa put the plates away.
- A Yo-Yo Ninja Boy game where you have to fight the evil Yomegega
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oF8zcS0hfo - Duncan Toys Trailer Featuring YoYoNinjaboy