Ninjala's fourth season is now well and truly underway, and developer GungHo Entertainment has shared a brand new trailer and patch notes to fill us in on all the changes we can expect to see.

The new season is boasting a wintery theme, with plenty of new appropriately-themed avatar items to discover and new Ninjala Pass content available as you'd expect. Season 4 is live now and will remain so up until 24th March at 17:59 PST (25th March 01:59 GMT).

You can check out the new trailer up above, or get yourself and comfy and tuck into the patch notes below:


Announcing the Ninjala Pass Matsuri (Festival)!
Season Schedule:
Jan. 07, 2021, 00:00 (PST) – Jan. 20, 2021, 17:59 (PST)
07 Jan. 2021, 08:00 (GMT) – 21 Jan. 2021, 01:59 (GMT)
07 Jan. 2021, 18:00 (AEST) – 21 Jan. 2021, 11:59 (AEST)
This is your chance to obtain Ninjala Pass tier points in massive quantities and get a bunch of the items you want!

New gum weapons: Scrap Saber and Chewing V join the fray!
Two new weapon types, Scrap Saber and Chewing V, have been added!

A new stage appears: Fort Riverdale!
The new stage Fort Riverdale, with its clock tower shining beautifully in the night sky, has been added!

Increase to the Disconnecting Penalty
A penalty for disconnecting after matching was already added in Ver. 3.0, but, after careful monitoring of Ranked Matches all throughout Season 3, said penalty will be increased.
We will continue to monitor the state of Ranked Matches and may make further adjustments to penalties as needed.

Rating Calculation Between Seasons
Due to an increase in the rating limit in Season 3, as of Season 4 your initial rating will be based on the sum of the rating assigned at the start of the Season plus your exceeded total.

Rating Assigned at the Start of a New Season

Last Season’s Rating Rating assigned at New Season’s Beginning
2299 or below No change
2300~4999 2300
5000 or above 3650

Exceeded Total based on your rating in the previous SeasonIf your rating from the previous Season exceeds 2300 or 5000, a set multiplier will be applied to the excess during calculation.

Last Season’s Rating Exceeded Multiplier
2300~4999 0.5
5000 or above 0.05

Ex: If your rating from the previous season was 8000, your excess amount is 3000 and you will start the new Season with a rating of 3800.

Last Season’s Rating Exceeded Rating Exceeded Multiplier Exceeded Total New Season’s Rating
8000 3000 0.05 150 3800

We will continue to optimize the conditions of Ranked Matches by increasing the limit of ratings, adding new ranks, and implementing other adjustments to the balance of Ranked Matches as a whole.

Adjustments to Ranked Matches

Rating Calculation Adjustments

With this update, we have overhauled the rating calculation system in Team Battles. As a result of the changes in Season 3, we have found that ratings increase too much in Team Battles and have made fundamental adjustments to the rating calculation to prevent too much rise or fall.

Rating fluctuations will continue to be unified for all team members regardless of placing as in Season 3.

Adjustments to Make Battles Easier

・Shortened the loading time before the start of battle
・Changed the camera’s behavior in battle so it is easier to play.
・You will be able to know the stage you are playing when entering the lobby for Quick Battles and Ninjala Battles.
・Added an option in the Mobile Menu to view damage received more easily.
・When your opponent is afflicted by Gum Bind, you will easily be able to see this effect in the UI.

UI Improvements

・Favorites can be registered separately into Equipment and Avatar.
The number of communications you can register has been increased. Communications have also been removed from favorites.
・Spectators can now host rooms.
・Added a shortcut to switch to the spectator camera.
・Made changes to the shortcut buttons in various menus.
・An icon is displayed on items that cannot be equipped with facial accessories.

New Features

・Added Ninjala Collection Cards to the Mobile Menu.
You will need to use your IR Camera to read codes or enter them manually to use it.
・Increased the number of colors in Team Battles to four.

Gum Weapon Parameter Adjustments

The Ninjala development team is dedicated to ensuring that players can enjoy a wide variety of battling styles.
After careful observation of winning percentages by gum weapon and weapon popularity, we have implemented a host of balance adjustments.

Due to low victory rates, Ninja Yo-yo and Shinobi Spinner (which were balanced in a previous update), as well as Potent Poison, Baiting Shark and Gum Ghost have been powered up. We hope these refinements will allow players to continue to enjoy diverse styles of play in Ninjala battles:

・Increased damage dealt from the 1st stage of normal attacks.
・Accelerated the occurrence of the 1st stage of normal attacks.
・Increased damage dealt from the 4th stage of normal attacks.

・Accelerated the occurrence of back attacks.
・Decreased the downtime of back attacks.

・Accelerated the occurrence of attacks when Yo-yo Leap is unleashed.

Combo damage has been increased with this adjustment, allowing you to deal much more damage to your opponent. In addition, you will now be able to perform faster attacks with Yo-yo Leap.

・Extended the cooldown time of Beyond the Gum.
・Extended the cooldown time after the ability, Time to Relax, is activated.

As Beyond the Gum is special in its extremely powerful ability to neutralize your opponent, it was possible to easily morph your opponent’s appearance ad infinitum when used with the Time to Relax ability.

We have extended the cooldown time with this adjustment so that there is more risk after using it.

・Shortened the cooldown time of Overpowering Wave.

Since Overpowering Wave has many uses, such as destroying drones, attacking, and moving, its cooldown time has been shortened so that it is easier to use.

Fujiyama Rocket

・Damage has been increased.
・Increased the speed of the rocket.

The speed of Fujiyama Rocket is currently too slow and can be easily dodged when aiming at an opponent that is far away.

We have increased the speed of the rocket with this adjustment so that you can more easily aim at opponents that are far away.

Potent Poison

・Damage has been increased.
・Further decreased the movement speed of opponents in range of poison.

Damage was increased as it did not have as much decisive power as compared to other Gum Ninjutsu.

Baiting Shark

・Reduced the amount of Ninjutsu Gauge required to activate.
・Extended the time from when Scrolls are set to when they disappear.

The time until Scrolls disappear has been extended, so it is more likely for your opponent to be caught in a trap and they can be contained for a longer period of time.

Be sure to be careful if you see a Pop Eye at your feet.

Gum Searcher

・You can now use homing on your opponent.

Gum Ghost

・Hit reaction has been altered so that your opponent will stagger.
・You can now inflict Gum Damage.
・You can now guard with Gum Guard.
*However, you cannot guard against your S-Energy being decreased.

It was difficult to pursue an opponent after hitting them with the Gum Shoot, Gum Ghost.
With this adjustment, your opponent will stagger after being hit.
Now that you can more easily pursue your opponents, it has become more formidable.

Shinobi Card: Giant Killer

・After its effect has been activated once, it will not activate again until it respawns.

Resolution of Known Issues

・Fixed an issue where natural health recovery would start immediately after receiving damage under certain conditions.
– Various adjustments and bug fixes have been implemented to ensure a smooth and enjoyable gameplay experience.

* Updating to Ver 4.0 is mandatory for all players.
* To download the update, sufficient free space is required in your console’s internal storage or an installed microSD card.

Ninjala Season 4

Do you regularly play Ninjala? Does this new season have you excited to jump in for more? Let us know in the usual place.

[source ninjalathegame.com, via nintendoeverything.com]