Super Hyperactive Ninja, Rushes onto Steam, PS4, and XB1

By: GeekyGamerGirl87

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN_b7UD9T08

When I first saw Super Hyperactive Ninja; I was excited for the game and wanted to give it a try. Therefore, when I was offered a free copy of the Steam version of the game from the developer/publisher I was grateful and thankful to give the game a try for review.

Developed by Grimorio of Games and published by JanduSoft S.L., Super Hyperactive Ninja is a reboot of a mobile game ; and is an action platformer game that is every speed runner’s dream but is a casual player’s nightmare.

Now, hear me out. It’s not a nightmare as in terms of it being a bad game. No, Super Hyperactive Ninja is far from a bad game, it does describe itself as a tough 2D platformer with an emphasis on the TOUGH. The game offers three different modes Latte, Black, Bitter. However, each mode is equally tough. The only differences are in Latte mode you can be hit twice; whereas Black and Bitter modes are one hit only. Another big difference is in Bitter mode, there are no checkpoints.

The story of the game is that in 15XX an evil shogun has come to take over the land of Nippon. To make sure there are no spoils to his plan, he attacks a ninja village and steals the legendary coffee, which is said to grant unlimited power to the drinker. However, Kohimaru  –the main character—survives the attack and must hunt down the shogun to regain the legendary coffee and save his friends.

I will admit that I do like the art style of the game, as it does remind me of colorforms  –for those of you who know what those are—and that was one of the reason that drew me into the game. They took the 2D and made it very retro by choosing this art style.

When it comes to controls for Super Hyperactive Ninja, I found them a little difficult. You can use both gamepad and keyboard to play the game. I have played with both control formats and the one thing that adds to the difficulty is having to hold the button down to stay in hyperactive mode. Although, it is not an issue once you get use to it, it does become somewhat tedious as sometimes you will get a good run going, and let the button go and the character just stops running and depending on where you stop it could cause you to suffer a hit and lose a turn.

On the controller it is a lot simpler to play with, as you hold the “RT” button to enter and stay in hyperactive mode. On the keyboard it is the “C” key. So, trying to hold the “C” key and press the spacebar for jump, you tend to let the “C” key go causing your character to stop. It would be nice to be able to have  an option that allows you to turn “holding the hyperactive mode button down” on or off. Also, another thing that is interesting is; there is no way to set up the controls to your liking. So, if you are going to play I recommend playing with the gamepad over the keyboard. I would only suggest keyboard if you want to add an additional challenge to your gameplay.

The game does offer nine different characters to play with. You start off with Kohimaru and then you unlock others as you move throughout the game. Multiplayer mode allows you to fight against your friends. However, multiplayer is only couch co-op now, and before you can play multiplayer it appears that it may have to be unlocked, along with the other characters. Although the game is co-op it does not have the multiplayer option listed on the screen to be selected. Therefore, I can only speculate that it becomes available after  you have completed the game in it’s entirely.

The game also offers a feature in which you can race against yourself, and is speed run friendly. However, there is no way to select this feature either. I was under the impression that for this feature there would be a ghost version of yourself that you would race. However, I went back and played a level I had previously played and got a better score on the level, but it did not feature a ghost of my character for me to race against. So again, this could be another feature that  is available after the game has been completed.

The game does offer a leaderboard in which you are able to see the highest score across your platform. With the game offering a leaderboard; it would have been nice for them to add online multiplayer, and have it set up to where you could race against others in real time online. It would be an ideal feature to add, especially as again I could see this game being very popular as a speed ran game.

For those who enjoy the thrill of hunting achievements; the game offers a total of thirty-six different achievements to collect, which is impressive. Although, for those who do enjoy collecting trading cards that feature has not been included yet. Again, I say yet because the game is still new, and it is a possibility that trading cards could be added to the game.

Overall, Super Hyperactive Ninja is not a bad game. I really recommend it if you are a speed runner because the game does come off as a speed runner’s game. That’s not to say that if you are not a speed runner then you should stay away from it. I myself am not a speed runner but did still find some enjoyment with the game. You can try Super Hyperactive Ninja out for yourself when it launches on Steam for 7.99 USD and PS4  for 8.99 USD on May 22, 2018 and XB1 for 8.99 USD on May 25, 2018.