Ninja Battle Heroes Review - Deathly Cute

If I had to describe this game in so few terms, I'd simply compare it to an oversimplified version of Strider played by characters from Animal Crossing and Pokemon.But to say it isn't a very fun game would be a flat out lie. The adorable characters contrast yet fit with the overall narrative to the gameplay, which is just to run around, attacking random enemies, and stealing their souls to use for powerups later on. You can even use skills to attack enemies in the background. The ninja star and the sword are your ultimate weapons.

The gameplay is simple, you start off at the beginning of the level, and you must go survive through the short levels to make it to the end, where you will more likely than not save someone along the way and get a new powerup. You fight many bad guys along the way, some that fly, others that you attack on the ground, and even every so often, a boss battle. At the end of each level, you get bonus spirits, as well as enhancements that you can boost (like attack and defense) as well as skill slots. Spirits, which you can get from the bonuses, and by collecting them after you vanquished a foe, are used to make skills and enhancements stronger, so the bonuses are really something that one would like to get, as the typical enemy doesn't drop many spirits.

Spirits are also used to enact your skills, such as first aid, and other skills. By collecting spirits, you can use up to 3 skills in a row, but by defeating enemies and extracting more, you can use skills more often, up to 3 times in a row. By using it, you don't actually deplete the amount of spirits you collected, just the power bar that allows you to use skills.

The storyline is very simplistic, you are a hero ninja by the name of Saizo who is looking for someone by the name of Lord Yukimura. On the way, you find all of your teammates who were captured by an opposing ninja clan. You rescue them, they lend you their abilities, and you go off to investigate the disappearance of lord Yukimura and fight the obviously evil bad guy.

One thing I really enjoyed about the game was the very Japanese-esque music, which went along with the game very well. I was very impressed with it. And the graphics are pretty simplistic as that of a side scroller, but it goes well for a 2.5D game.

This game can be bought on the Nintendo Store for 2.99$. For such a low price it is definitely worth it.

This game was purchased by the reviewer and played on the 3DS