Crossover action RPG Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars launches on Switch this week. To celebrate, Idea Factory International has released a brand new video where the producers of the game sit down to talk about what we can expect from this hack-and-slash, including what it was like to work together to combine two popular fan service IPs.
Naoko Mizuno, Neptunia series producer, and Makoto Kitano, co-producer on this crossover game, started off with Idea Factory planning its next Neptunia game. The concept of ninjas was on the table from the start, with Neptune herself becoming a ninja. Kitano revealed that they wanted the Senran Kagura girls to make some cameos throughout the game — which makes perfect sense as they're all ninjas — but when pitching the game to Marvelous, they were encouraged to do more:
"At first we thought of having the Senran Kagura characters making a guest appearance. However, when we explained the idea to Marvelous, they were very receptive, so we decided to make the battle between the two groups [Neptunia and Senran Kagura] the main focus of the game."
When asked about how they felt about these two hugely popular franchises finally coming together, Mizuno spoke of her initial reservations:
"In my head, I visualised a picture of Neptunia and Senran Kagura, and I thought the two would work well together. That was all in my head though, and I worried that when we actually put them together, they wouldn't work well visually. However, once I had the chance to see them together on screen, I thought it looked good and there was no reason to worry."
The developers wanted to retain the original art style of the Senran Kagura series to preserve the feel of those games and characters, and while you can certainly tell the difference, the big personalities of all of the characters meld together well visually.
The two producers mull over some development stories and concepts throughout, including one amusing anecdote where Mizuno reveals she walked into a boss fight completely underlevelled! We've all been there Mizuno, don't worry too much.
At the end of the video, Kitano talks of the new Hard and Easy Modes added to the Switch version of the game, allowing you to customise the difficulty before you enter any of the game's dungeons. This will allow you to enjoy the game's world and story at your own pace, or challenge mobs of enemies that are just as hard to take down as a boss is!
Fans don't have to wait much longer to play this on Switch, as Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars releases tomorrow, 19th April, in North America, and towards the end of the week on 22nd April in Europe. In fact, our review dropped earlier today, and we gave it six out of ten. We think fans of either Neptunia or Senran Kagura will enjoy the game, but ultimately, the short length and small cast of characters mean the game is over in a flash.
Will you be picking up Neptunia and Senran Kagura's first crossover game this week? Let us know in the comments.
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Comments 4
I have it pre-ordered and will get it tomorrow
I just preordered it. I hope they add more characters and costumes as future dlc. I can only imagine that they already know, that the fan base for these series, want exactly that and have it on stand by. A serious missed opportunity if they don’t
It’s disappointing the characters play the same, according to the NL review. No replayability 🙁 For a 7-hour $50 game😭
I’ll wait to pick it up on sale digitally
Had my eye on it, but unfortunately, I haven't played any Neptunia games, and there are only four SK girls from what I understand. Would rather see a full SK release on Switch.
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