One of the stars of last week's Nintendo Direct Mini, Ninjala has been on our radar for some time now. Nintendo fans have noticed the title's similarities to the Splatoon series and the developer's president, Kazuki Morishita, seems to think that it'll do pretty well for itself when it launches later this year. Sounds like it could well be one to keep an eye out for, then.
If you are interested in the new free-to-play online battler, you might want to check out the brand new animated film shared above. Called 'Ninjala Episode 0: Ninja-Gum is Born', the film offers a look at the game's quirky cast of characters and the lore behind their colourful world. Here's the episode synopsis:
Eagle City, Komerica -- WNA Research Laboratory Branch
WNA researchers Burton, Berecca, and Ron continue their tireless efforts to develop “Ninja-Gum”; a mysterious substance that activates latent Ninja DNA in people descended from those legendary mercenary warriors (alt: those legendary mercenaries from days gone by).Today, all their hard work finally pays off. It is here - on their 2,503rd attempt - that they finally succeed in producing Ninja-Gum! Burton and Berecca can barely contain their excitement, and waste no time in trying the gum for themselves! But then...
The game itself is set to launch worldwide this May and, just like Switch's other free-to-play titles, you won't need an online subscription to play.
Think you'll give the game a try this summer? Share your thoughts with us below.
Thanks to Greatsong for the tip!
Comments 35
I’ll wait for Splat 3
What is that thing they’re whacking each other with?
Why am I getting a Big Hero 6 vibe from this?!
Absolutely awesome episode 0 !! 😃😃😃
Too bad, the game itself will be Full Online, No physical release. 😕
Free to play also usually means each tiny detail (cosmetic) or better weapon will cost you usually a fortune to be able to win the game.
@barneygumble EA in a nutshell
Pretty neat, but it’s a shame we got this before a modern, official Nintendo animation. So many Nintendo IP would/could translate well into animated series.
This episode had the girl that is in the game's art cover but not the boy, does that mean we might get another episode soon(ish)?
@Chibi_Manny
And surprisingly, Burton (the nerdy dude) was the main character from Ninjala animation.
It means the boy with White Purple Spiky hair will be either Burton's partner or rival.
Looking amazing. Hopefully the inevitable microtransactions aren't that predatory, I've been interested in this game for a while.
Splatoon combined with Overwatch and de Blob.
@Anti-Matter It's an online only game, so it will have many updates and patches. Releasing a physical card would by quite pointless.
@sanderev
Take a look Tetris 99 as example.
From Online only now has a physical release.
I hope Gung Ho can consider the physical release in the future.
@Spoony_Tech True, the young, "hip" scientists were giving me that exact vibe too.
Quality animation for a rip-off game. Right.
Like a arms , kinda sorta?
It looks cute enough, and I did chuckle once or twice. Still not sold on the game... as ever, I'll wait for the reviews.
Also, Marza-made Sonic cartoon plz
I was already excited for this game, and this just made it better.
Am I the only one who wants a Ninjala animated series now?
Wait... you don't need an online subscription to play? I have no reason not to play this now.
Let's stop comparing this to Splatoon please, it looks and plays differently.
@Tourtus I don't really see the comparison either.
@Anti-Matter Tetris 99 didn't need a physical release.
@sanderev
But Tetris 99 has a physical release.
This is for peoples who want the physical items.
I know it has. I just said it didn't need one. Also that version has offline gameplay options.
@locky-mavo Would an animated series work out with ARMS?
I watched the gameplay and this looks really fun
@RadNitro89 Well, there was a comic written up for ARMS. It's been delayed indefinitely, but the writer (Ian Flynn, who works on the current Sonic comics) implied that there were a lot of details for the world of ARMS the devs had written up. There's also some lore in-game you can read up on in the art gallery. As for a full series, I think something centered around the Grand prix tournament, and spiraling out from that could work, but I can't say for sure since there's not too much known about the world.
@Tourtus I always saw it as a mix of Splatoon and ARMS inspired design (the UI is also similar to ARMS) but just in the art style. It's the closest comparison I can think of, everything else about the game is pretty unique.
@barneygumble Ideally, the game will allow people to grind for currency in a reasonable amount of time, and won't have items that are explicitly better than what's free.
Wow, that was actually amazing. Hope Gung Ho manages to give this game the push it needs, it looks fun, and it seems like a decent amount of thought went into the world itself. As for the gameplay, so far, the only problem is that the hit stuns seem too long. Hopefully it feels good when playing, I've been one of the few people who even remember Ninjala existed before today-the game had so little marketing until recently.
@Andrew5678
Did you know about Kingdom Hearts ?
I saw Ninjala was like Kingdom Hearts + Splatoon fancy vibes.
Look at their blade, looks like Keyblade.
@Anti-Matter The weapons look more like the transformation weapons Sora gets, like the hammer he gets from the Toy Story world, or the yo-yo from Monsters Inc. I'd say I didn't see KH in the character design, but crossing it with Splatoon, it kind of fit, especially when they were older.
As other people have said, this gives off the strongest Big Hero 6 vibe.
i am starting to fall in love with this game...but i am super afraid of the matter of it being free to play because it will have microtransaction and i am not beat for that crap again -it destroys the game, turns the community into a toxic dump, then you get the super whales coming in -the game dev probably will end up only listening to the whales only not the actual community that wants the game to be great. so on so forth, seen it many times happen to free to play games :/.
I am really hoping they don't impliment microtransactions...it will really ruin the game.
@SmileMan64 you know what microtransaction does to a game. it will kill it...so that is a naive way of thinking. -basically wishful thinking...that will not happen ; ~;
For your FYI this game is not online only. It definitely has a single player offline mode according to Gungho's official Ninjala website page
Rule 34, fan art, manga, videos.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...