Ninja Warriors Once Again - PS4/Switch/Steam

[Klatrymadon]

Yeah, there's definitely cheating going on. The last time I looked the top time for a full Hard mode run was ~200 seconds!

Edit: Just got a Hard clear with Ninja on PS4. A little too slow at 2599 seconds, and I bungled the clip-saving double-tap at the end and started a new video, unfortunately, but I'll endeavour to upload a video of a better run soon. It's a shame, as it was a pretty exciting, hairy game - I was down to a sliver of health in the Phobos & Deimos fight, and again in the Zelos fight. I feel very confident with both of these sections, but that's what I love about this game, at least on Hard - one or two mistakes and you're going to be on the back foot for a good stretch.

[cfx]

Dumb question: I'd like to have this with the orignal name. If I buy the Japanese (digital PS4) version and play it on a US PS4 with the system language set to English, will I still have the Ninja Warriors name, or will it change to Ninja Saviors? I know various games do this based on console settings.

If it's going to change I'll just get one of the physical versions which I generally prefer, but I'm annoyed enough about the stupid name change here I'll get the Japanese digital while it is currently on sale if I can have the real name.

I read through the thread and got the impression the name will be the right one, but didn't get a clear definitive answer.

I have the Korean Wild Guns disc which plays in English but of course there isn't a name issue on that one.

[BIL]

I've had the PS4's JP digital version since release, and even with my system language set to English, it indeed displays its OG Ninja Warriors title at all times, right from the Home Menu icon. Despite this, all menus and other texts are in English, handily.

My PS4's an EU model, AFAIK; I don't know if the console's region makes any difference, but I figured it's worth mentioning, just in case it's one of those freak "PAL region got the better deal" situations, ala SNES Parodius Da back in the day.

[cfx]

Great, thanks.

Update: I just got it. In case anyone else cares about this, it functions the same way BIL described on a US console set to English system language; title is Ninja Warriors and game and all menus are in English. The attract mode is subtitled in Japanese in the black area at the bottom.

If you change the language to Japanese in the options screen, very little actually changes. The options screens change to Japanese and those messages like "do you want to return to the title screen" that show at the bottom do, but the game itself remains in English including how the attract mode works.

And I 100% suck at the game.

It usually takes me a while to come to grips when there's as many moves as this has.

I also keep trying to dash.

Totally trivial complaint: When setting the width to 100% so it isn't stretched, I wish you could change the pillarbox bars to black or solid gray instead of that gradient thing they are because I find it a bit distracting. I forget exactly how it looks on Wild Guns but I don't remember it standing out this much there.

[BIL]

Jebus, does TNWOA remain the consummate chronophage Went back to doublecheck I'd not somehow misremembered the title - was writing this while you posted, cfx - and could hardly pull myself away.

I really appreciate the complete removal of score counter from the original SNES release. It's a small detail and while I could easily imagine an in-depth combo scoring system worked around each characters' moveset, the sheer commitment to Mad Murder Machine speedkill experience has to be applauded.

I agree with Ebbo - eschewing combolord nonsense was the right choice here, as time-chasing encourages a more desperate 1000-decisions-per-second playstyle which I think is ultimately more rewarding than merely styling on dudes for an hour.

Thirded! Definitely an astute move on Natsume's part, seamlessly giving TNWA's trademark roiling chaos - how long can you stay standing?! - a canonical high-performance metric. The fiendishly treacherous enemies, and the sheer body-shifting tactility at your disposal, makes even straight KILL EM QUICK play wickedly intense. (and paradoxically sorta relaxing, in a TGM deadly block sorter way!)

FENG SHUI DAISAKUSEN (｀w´メ)

While the wider playfield affords more breathing room than the 4:3 pressure cooker, it's a moot point to aspiring Mad Murder Machines who'll be aggressively invading; particularly with the massively larger crowds being far trickier propositions to dismantle, an eight-headed monster with myriad options at its disposal, and enough mass to crush the indecisive or sloppy underfoot.

Fits the bleak 11th-hour Androids On a Mission aesthetic, too; less >ENEMY INCAPACITATED >EXECUTE SHAWEET_FLIP.BAT, more just plain execute - your job title is Mad Mechanistic Murder, after all.

I wanted to capture Kunoichi's profoundly inefficient-yet-undeniably satisfying rebound kick combo on Giganto; basically, get into crossup range, execute an OTG rebound, and repeat as you scale the titan like an annoying fly. 50/50 on whether he'll uppercut you after. But then this happened. Again, wildly inefficient - this is much quicker!


Forgot how much I like Kunoichi's quasi-doublejump options, both as attack vectors and for simple mobility; also "Oh hell naw" jump modifiers.

AW JEEZ SCOOB (◎w◎;)

I really didn't give this game anywhere near the time it warrants back at release, or in brief returns since, but that's pretty much due to Hamster and M2 unexpectedly going absolutely full-blast around the same time (if not for TNWOA, I'd have picked up a PS4 in 2019 for ACA Saigo no Nindou). Too many games is a nice problem to have. The character variety here is even stronger than SFC... that was two out of three, a couple legendary designs and an EZmode; this feels like a straight five out of five.

[KAI]

Beated this game with Kunoichi<3 last night, awesome game, my second beat'em up 1CC since Mad Stalker on PS1.
I still cant believe I managed to no damage the green boss and killing him in 3 combos, juggles on this game are too op and so fun to pull off.

Gonna try Ninja now, and maybe the hard more.

[BIL]

Congrats! Kunoichi's the trickier to use of the iconic red n' blue duo, imo. While a lot changed since the SFC game, Ninja's reach advantage persists; you can thrash crowds with his gorilla PPP, Giant Swing, and EX Nunchaku in a way her stubby reach and projectiles can't, and the juggle engine lets you pile on even more br00tal hitz (the Giant Swing gains the classic SFII CE eggbeater; launch it at overlap, or above waking enemies, for obscenely crunchy *bapbapbapbaps*)

Big tradeoff, just like on SFC, is Ninja's lack of a conventional jump; he's a hefty and decidedly un-stealthy boi! A true juggernaut who demands methodical door-kicking aggression. He can most definitely move though, actually having the highest top speed of the game (IIRC, only Yaksha's meter-burning claw dives come close). You just need to master the GODLIKE POWWA of his jet propulsion systems



The character divergence here is even stronger than it was on SFC, where you could spend untold hours on Kunoichi or Ninja and remain totally in the dark as to the other. I suspect Yaksha's my stealth favourite, but I've barely even tried Raiden, or Kamaitachi, beyond confirming he's no longer the SFC's EZmode weak link.

Bizarre-yet-integral quirks abound!

[Stevens]

I use Ninjas jump as a taunt.

[KAI]

(IIRC, only Yaksha's meter-burning claw dives come close)

Damn, she's the i-frames queen, using her looks like a lot of fun. Only tried her once and I thought her movement speed was crap, but those attacks are fire.

[Klatrymadon]

I know it's too late to confirm this for cfx, but yeah, I bought the Japanese version in a recent sale (marking the fourth time I've bought the game, oops), purely to see the original title screen, and I was inordinately thrilled to find it does retain its title on a Euro console, since a lot of ACA games just switch to whatever the local one would be. It's such a shame it had to be renamed, because it has the most perfect name for a remake I've seen. It's petty but I really dislike the title we ended up with, which is not just much clumsier and stupider, in its attempt to cram in the original words somewhere and the idea that it's a remake of something, but is also - with the woeful choice of 'Saviors' - at odds with the game's own understanding of its story.

[AGermanArtist]

You're not alone. I bought the Japanese versions on PS4 and Switch even though it was more expensive. Fuck Ninja Saviours. Can't have it.

[cfx]

I normally always buy physical when possible, but I bought this digitally just to get the right name. As it was on sale it was cheaper as well.

Ninja Saviors is just a stupid sounding name, and it's worse since the opening has it scroll by in that huge text.

Same thing with Lightening Force/Thunder Force IV, which has the same style of scrolling logo in the opening. I had to have the original of that too.

Anyway, the game is awesome though I currently suck at it.