Ninjala
Image: GungHo Online

GungHo Online recently launched its free-to-play Switch title Ninjala, a game which has been repeatedly compared to Nintendo's Splatoon series (and not just by us).

However, GungHo Online CEO Kazuki Morishita – speaking to our good friends over at Eurogamer – has been sure to underline the fact that, while there are certain similarities between the two, they both provide very different experiences.

I know the colouring and the style does look like a Splatoon but when people actually played a game we hear a lot of them say this isn't actually like Splatoon. Splatoon's a very good game, and personally I really like it - I'm really happy that people say it's like Splatoon - but I'd like people to play it and see it's very different from Splatoon, and for people to enjoy it on its own terms.

Splatoon's more a shooting game, and this is more close combat - it is team battles with 4 players on each side, but there's also battle royale which is a free-for-all. If you play the game, you'll see it's totally different. They're both really good games - and Splatoon is a game I really admire. If you could write that, and maybe we can do a collaboration with them!

He also explains why the company picked Switch as the target platform:

When we started planning, the Switch had just come out so we thought we'd try it out. It's designed to be played with other platforms - like PS4, PC - but I want the age range to be for younger kids, so I think it's the right target for it.

Given that Ninjala is, at present, exclusive to Nintendo's console, could we potentially see the two titles crossover in some kind of event? GungHo has worked closely with Nintendo in the past, fusing its Puzzle & Dragons series with the world of Super Mario on 3DS, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility.

[source eurogamer.net]