Ninja Smasher

Let's get started with a fun little game I just played

Ninja Smasher is a pretty nice action-exploration game that takes a lot from classics like Super Metroid and the Zelda series.

You play as a ninja on the mission to save a princess from an evil tengu king, theres no dialogue in the game, but it isnt needed anyway, in the other hand, the graphics are pretty simplistic and "retro" styled, the pixel art isnt even close to the likes of Shovel Knight, but they look decent and well made and the music is pretty standard and repetitive, but not ear jarring for the short 4 hours the game lasts.

Were the game really shines is on it's gameplay, the ninja controls pretty much flawlessly, After you kill an enemy on the air, you also get a tiny impulse, and soon after the first zone you get a doble jump ability, which recharges after you touch the floor or kill an enemy, so you can keep yourself in the air bouncing from enemy to enemy, clearing entire screens without even touching the floor. You also got a dash attack that can be used as long as you have a jump left, and some other abilities you get from completing zelda-like dungeons, like clinging on walls or throwing fire.

The game is not amazingly designed, but the level design is decent and not too frustrating or hard, with a pretty good difficulty curve that may get you killed once or twice in the last zones if you are not careful.

The game isnt anything spectacular, but something I admire is the efforth to make something enjoyable, the game isn't great on any aspect aside from the gameplay, but it doesn't do anything inherently wrong either, and the asking price isnt too high (3.99$).

Also the game also has 3 different playable characters with different starting weapons. The ninja robot has a short range machine gun that can shoot in 8 directions and dash like the ninja. The sickle chain ninja can attack like the normal ninja, and can grapple to enemies, walls or ceilings, even reaching zones you shouldnt before time. The female ninja moves faster, attacks faster, and can shoot long range knifes for minimal damage, but can't dash or grapple.

Lastly there's achievements too, related to the completion level of a run, the time, character and control scheme used (theres a touch based control mode after you finish the game, but its pretty mediocre). These are pretty simple and straight forward and there arent any on enemies killed or other feats like that, but it doesnt do any harm either, so it just keeps track of your speerunning abilities.

In any case, you're getting you money back with the surprising amount of content tighly packed in the game, so i recommend it a lot if you like action exploration games, or "metroidvanias", if you wish.