Super Hyperactive Ninja

Developed by Spanish studio Grimorio of Games and published by JanduSoft, Super Hyperactive Ninja is true challenging fast paced 2D platformer. Playing as one of the last Coffe-nin, you fight your way through hordes of enemies to recover the legendary coffee, stolen by the evil shogun. Use the power of caffeine to go hyperactive and overcome all challenges before falling asleep. Master the use of coffee in more than 50 levels stuffed with adventure and dangers in this indie game. Now grab a cup of coffee and follow un in this review.

THE GOOD

• Super Hyperactive Ninja has simple but cute characters. Music is also very nice and reminded of games from the 16-bit era with the arrange of the fist levels. But don’t be fooled: this apparently innocent game hides a devilish hard game!!
• The gameplay is quite simple: you must reach the end of each stage before your energy bar is depleted. If it happens, your character falls asleep and it is game over (back to the last checkpoint). To avoid it from happening, you must collect cups of coffee scattered in the stage. You can also collect coins that can be used in the shop to buy items.
• Levels are really tough and difficulty grows exponentially stage after stage. It’s great for those who enjoy a good challenge. Super Hyperactive Ninja comes with more than 50 levels, a good amount of content in my opinion. Levels have more than one route to the end that can be accessed using different items. After you finish each stage, you’re granted a score that goes from D to S. I promise it will take a long time for you to master all of them.
• Up to 9 characters can be unlocked. They differ from each other in their status, divided between charge, stamina, strength, combustion and rest. Every time you beat a level (a castle, in the game) you unlock a new character an item. This mechanic of unlocking new content as you advance makes the game very interesting. Kohimaru, your initial character, comes with the takeaway coffee, an item that fully recover your energy bar. Kumo, the first to be unlocked, comes along with one item that allows you to walk over water. Yukiko, the next one, comes with an item that can put out the fire and freeze enemies. Kamumistu, the next one, can use a cloak to hide from enemies and avoid attacks. Yaiba comes with a katana that can parry weapons thrown at you and kill enemies. Kyu comes with suction cups (plungers, actually) that can be used to climb walls. The three others are secret. I won’t spoil the fun, but all I can say is that they are special guests from other games.

MIXED FEELINGS

• Animations in this game are unattractive. Specially enemies’ animations and graphics. Some of them are worth mention (E-Honda clone, I’m talking about you). But what prevails between them is the low variety, with a same model with different colors showing up over and over (be them ninjas or ghosts, for instance). Bosses, on the other hand, are very unique.
• Graphics in stages are simple and repetitive. Some more variation would be great to the game.

THE BAD

• Gameplay is very punitive, with little space for improvisation. Once you activate your hyperactive mode, your character starts running until you let go the button. While running, it’s really hard to avoid enemies and traps. And as you can barely see what’s expecting you after your next jump, you’ll probably die. A lot of times. Unless you have the reflexes of a true ninja, only those who can memorize the stage have a chance of beating it in one go. As it isn’t my case, it took me about 20 to 30 times to finish each stage. Really discouraging.
• With its high level of difficult, Super Hyperactive Ninja is a game that doesn’t welcome all gamers. Many of them, after a few stages, will end up abandoning it.

Super Hyperactive Ninja [Score: 60%] A very niche game, with a very difficult gameplay. It has a good amount of content that adds a great value for the game. Its cute characters and items add some good variety for the gameplay. The only problem I see is that only a small number of players will enjoy it. As I only started to have fun with the game after investing a good time on it, I’m afraid most of the players won’t resist the hard initial first stages until some variation starts to temper the game. For those who are up for the challenge, I’m sure you’re going to have a good time with Super Hyperactive Ninja.