The video game market is saturated with battle royales. Ever since Fortnite hit the scene, with its daily and seasonal challenges, fast, tween-friendly gameplay, and highly addictive customization options, every studio has searched for their answer to the game's success. Many have adopted the model of free-to-play action with hilarious and unique skins and emotes taunted behind a transparent paywall. But many of the more serious titles don't have the elasticity of narrative and characters that comes with the vague and cartoonish backstory of Fortnite. It's PG styling has little competition in the free-to-play space... until perhaps now. Ninjala feels like a DreamWorks show waiting to happen, a strange and delightful combination of fighting game and classic death match packed into something younger Fortnite fans will love.
A Nintendo Switch exclusive, GungHo's Ninjala may skew younger than Fortnite's core base, if only by a few years. Its world is filled with tweens, ninjas-in-training that fight for no apparent reason, other than to hone their skills. The game's quick tutorial and initial character customization provides little context, but a brief perusal on the game's website highlights the history of their world.
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It's unsurprisingly simple: the descendants of ancient ninja clans seek to preserve their heritage by searching for the next generation of mighty warriors. They've formed the World Ninja Association (WNA) and are holding competitions where you (the player) will fight to show your skill. To add a little 'pop' to the story, there's also the invention of ninja-gum, an art that summons forth the "strength of the Shinobi."
This gum may sound odd - and it certainly is - but its a core tenet of the gameplay and is also the most obvious explanation as to why these ninjas aren't fighting with swords or stars. Instead, their gum takes a different form, depending on the player's loadout. There's a gum weapon shaped like a large corn-on-the-cob, and a yo-yo type weapon made to look like a sprinkled donut, among others. Loadouts also come with different abilities, all crucial to coming out on top in a battle royale.
Right off the bat (or perhaps off the "cob"), though Ninjala refers to it as a "Battle Royale," the game's primary mode is more like a typical deathmatch. 8 players face off in a medium-sized arena, vying for the most points at the end. When health is depleted, they simply respawn a few seconds later. The alternate mode "Team Battle" is nearly identical, save for the 4v4 team make-up. It's still fun - and the only way to play with friends instead of against them, but it lacks the manic energy of a free-for-all battle.
Like a fighting game in a 3D-ability-shooter wrapping, Ninjala has a surprising amount of nuance. Spamming one move won't get a player to 1st place; it's more about building up abilities and attacking when the time is right. Players have basic attacks, wide attacks, and front and back attacks; each can be combined for different combos. If two players attack with the same variant, they'll clash, and will have to win a sort of "rock-paper-scissors" parry in order to continue their combo. Players can also guard break or stop a flurry of attacks using their S-meter. The fluidity of the movement around the maps (climbing walls is especially gratifying) with the Tekken-inspired combat make for these bite-sized matches or unadulterated fun.
The game's have a very short round time, but it actually benefits the quick and effortless pacing. Players will find themselves constantly routing around the stage, searching for fights, taking on duels, and launches gum at unsuspecting enemies. There's never a dull moment, and there's little time to reflect on a lost battle. In many ways, Ninjala's rounds are like another Nintendo title, Splatoon (and its sequel). For those that prefer to fight less, there is a secondary object (destroying drones) and ways to attack from a distance. The variance in specials and weapons - and the bright neon colors and customizations - also seem to take a page from the squid-shooter's book.
Yet unlike Splatoon 2's 60$ price-tag, Ninjala is free (and does not require a Nintendo Online subscription). Its season-pass of purely cosmetic items comes with a small buy-in, as do specific costumes that require no leveling-up to obtain. Just like in the early days of Fortnite, it seemed very easy to avoid paying for a hat or emote, until one that really spoke to me caught my eye. The cartoon-style is adorable without pandering, and the expensive items feel exclusive without their attainability becoming frustrating.
With our ever-pressing need to address the violence in video games, sometimes it can be nice to play a game that as eschews blood for bursts of bubble gum. Sure, Ninjala has "finishers" but they involve using S-meter to transform into a bubble-gum tornado, or shoot a dragon that is reminiscent of Hanzo from Overwatch. Movement options across the map include tunneling below ground with a gum-drill or teleporting to a thrown yo-yo's location yards away. There's enough variety to loadouts to fit any kind of ninja's playstyle and each one is a candy-colored kid-friendly blast.
But all the fun of a match would matter very little if no one was playing. With a single-player mode locked behind a paywall (looking at you again Fortnite) and no other offline options, Ninjala relies on Nintendo's historically terrible internet to succeed. Luckily, its servers are - at least initially - looking strong. It doesn't take long to find a match and unlike Splatoon, it's actually possible to queue with friends... you just have to reach Level 5.
While Ninjala is far from a "Fortnite-killer," it may have carved out an area for itself in busy online marketplace. As Nintendo's primary audience falls of 2017's Splatoon 2, they'll search for something that captures the fast-paced multiplayer mayhem. Something free that any Switch owner with internet and a proclivity towards the not-too-heavy style of light-violence Nintendo is known for. The content may be limited for now (with only two modes and two stages), but there are more to come. With all this potential, it's sort of sour that Ninjala isn't an official Nintendo property. If the game had more money behind it, the player base would rise, and as a side note, this reviewer wouldn't be opposed to adding a corn-wielding ninja to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Ninjala is available today and is free-to-play on the Nintendo Switch.