Nin2 Jump [XBLA April 27th, 2011]

[emphatic]

Just got this today. Good and bad list:

Good:
-Fun gameplay
-Good stage design
-Plays well with an arcade stick
-Programmed by Takashi Ichimura!
-Designs by Akira Wakabayashi!

Bad:
-Pretty horrible-looking menus
-Whole game seems to be low res blown up to HD. WHY!?
-Weird blur filter on the game that I can't turn off
-Can't turn off the audience on the screen
-Theater design of the screen makes the corners of the gameplay area hard to see. I guess this was intended, though.

Overall it's a good little platformer and well worth 400MS points (which go to Japan tsunami relief).

Add "fixed controls" to the Bad list. I only have A, B, X, Y on my control panel, so no Ninja Power for me.

Overall, after one very short go (didn't want to un-TATE my screen) it kinda reminds me of a mix of the brilliant Ninja Kid II by UPL and Capcom's Bionic Commando. 

[iconoclast]

I've been playing this for the last few hours and I'm really enjoying it. Adventure mode is okay, I'm not really a fan of it because 90% of the stages are really easy. It doesn't take much time to go through and get all S-ranks.

Score Attack, on the other hand, is really fun. You have to run around the stage collecting scrolls and destroying enemies in order to build your hit counter and your multiplier, and then once your multiplier hits 1000, you power up and starting soaking in tons of points for each enemy you destroy. It's a lot like Death Smiles actually.

[Special World]

I was ready to write the game off after playing some of adventure mode, but score attack is unbelievably fun. The game's pretty simple, but it appeals to my love of platformers, geometry wars, and mad Cave point items. It has that quick and easy "one more go" factor that can keep me playing for hours. I disagree about it being well-suited to a joystick, though, at least my fightstick. The button placement is extremely weird.

[lam47]

All it needs for me is button config. It's rather awkward using RB on my stick for power up.
Otherwise it's quite fun. It feels a little bit too much like the bonus DSIIX game in places but the later levels are pretty good. And score mode is much better! Though I suck pretty hard at it.

[ssfsx17]

This game practically requires an arcade stick. I haven't even beaten World 2 yet, due to the absurd imprecision of the d-pad.

[jyumi]

I might consider getting this game then if it is meant to be played on an arcade stick

[EOJ]

If this game had a control config, a normal screen mode (without the theater around the screen), and just a pure score attack mode, it would be an awesome arcade game. As is, it's a very good console game.

The controls work well enough on my Hori RAP SE, but I can see how they'd be a pain on other joysticks.

[TheSoundofRed]

Adventure Mode was extremely meh, beat it in about 20 minutes or less. But like many others have said, Score Attack has got me hooked. I haven't been able to pass 500k on any level so far though, which has me really confused how folks on the leaderboards managed to get up to 10 mil. Once I have 4 Death enemies on the screen, and they're moving lightning fast it gets hard to maneuver throughout the stages without getting hit.

[iconoclast]

To get the really high scores, you need to get 100 hits on your counter and keep it there. I got 10 million on the Spring stage because I powered up 5 or 6 times before losing my combo, so I got most of my score before my first death. It's hard to recover after that because at that point, the game is really hectic and it's hard to avoid the death enemies since they're moving as fast as you. But that's what makes it fun.

[TheSoundofRed]

edit:

Yea paying attention to your hit counter is really the key. Wasn't expecting to enjoy this game so much.

[SomeMist]

put about 3 hours into it and got my 200/200 achievements. Been spending the majority of my time in score attack mode now, and so far I've done everything with the D-PAD. Considering trying out my arcade stick soon (it worked well for super meat boy too) but I didn't want to sit by my chair/setup.

I'd say it was worth 400 msp and now I'll be saving the additional points for bangai-o HD: missle fury when it comes out.

I don't mind the audience at all as it never really seemed to get in the way, but I sort of see what Cave was trying to do. It seems like they're trying to distract you without actually getting in your field of view to make the platforming a bit more difficult. It seems sort of like guwange with how you have to dodge enemy bullets, watch your hitbox, find the enemy to shoot it down, and maze through the landscape.. it feels like that mazing through the landscape element. That's just how I felt about it.

also noticed that I LOVE the music.

[Special World]

Man, I really should have hooked my 360 up to the internet before playing. Got 17m in Summer, and then I looked online and the highest score seems to be 40k

This game rules.

[SomeMist]

Man, I really should have hooked my 360 up to the internet before playing. Got 17m in Summer, and then I looked online and the highest score seems to be 40k

This game rules.

be careful. supposedly there's a save file corruption bug that has been reported on other forums.
this is what another poster says:

Just a heads up, if you switch between playing this game offline and then online your save file will be destroyed. The game will say your save is outdated or inaccurate. After that you can still cancel the load operation but it will already be too late. How they missed something so simple is beyond me.

dunno if that's actually the case, but I figured I should forewarn you just incase.

[SuperPang]

I played some adventure mode and found it very amateurish with annoying grapple physics but I'll definitely give score attack a go later. If Ichimura programmed it it must be good. Perhaps I wrote this off too soon.

[Special World]

Set the high score on every level except castle. I really have no idea what's the optimal path for getting through there, I usually just go in a circle and then through the middle, missing some things along the way. The I have to rely on the little indicator, which is extremely spotty. That level is a fiend.

[No]

I did a stream of this playing it with the analog stick and it worked beautifully, I don't think it strictly needs an arcade stick.

[bitkid]

At first this seemed like the most amaturish platformer Flash game amalgam ever but score attack is mad fun.
I'm playing it on my SF4 fight pad and I haven't had any probs controlling it. Don't have a stick for my J360 yet.

[lam47]

Poo. I lost my save. I have not played off line or anything. Just turned it on to find it was corrupt.

[SuperPang]

I'm just not feeling this. A look at the high scores tells me there's depth here but I find it too frustrating to play to want to find it.

[lam47]

I concur.

[TheSoundofRed]

I'm just not feeling this. A look at the high scores tells me there's depth here but I find it too frustrating to play to want to find it.

After playing Score Attack a bit more, and getting about 3.9mil on the Spring stage, I feel the best way to describe this game is frustrating. Even though I can't seem to stop playing it, it is the most frustrating experience I've had playing a game in quite some time. I guess it's the enjoyable kind of frustration?

[Special World]

I don't find it frustrating; it's pretty simple and mostly pretty fair. Just get your route down to collect the scrolls as fast as possible, and establish a wait area for when you've collected all of them and have to wait for them to respawn. Pick somewhere that's raised up, so that falling enemies won't always be walking towards you. Also try to pick somewhere that's going to steer ghosts away from your eventual path. Canceling your powerup mode will repel enemies, so try to let the ghosts approach on the opposite side of your eventual path, then push them away. Then continue collecting, and get enough kills for fever. Fever's actually the most dangerous part, since I don't think you can cancel it to repel ghosts. Also remember that even though grappling your way around is easy, sometimes the best idea is to use your little flutter jumps. I think Spring has an area like that; there's an alcove with two scrolls in it, and it's very hard to just grapple your way up to the next set of scrolls when you descend. Also try to always have a little bit of your special gauge handy when you have to make a blind leap; you never know what's going to be waiting for you.

Sorry if that's all pretty evident, but I don't think the game is particularly frustrating unless you're playing Castle. I have no idea what I'm doing there; I need somebody to make a map.

[TheSoundofRed]

I don't find it frustrating; it's pretty simple and mostly pretty fair. Just get your route down to collect the scrolls as fast as possible, and establish a wait area for when you've collected all of them and have to wait for them to respawn. Pick somewhere that's raised up, so that falling enemies won't always be walking towards you. Also try to pick somewhere that's going to steer ghosts away from your eventual path. Canceling your powerup mode will repel enemies, so try to let the ghosts approach on the opposite side of your eventual path, then push them away. Then continue collecting, and get enough kills for fever. Fever's actually the most dangerous part, since I don't think you can cancel it to repel ghosts. Also remember that even though grappling your way around is easy, sometimes the best idea is to use your little flutter jumps. I think Spring has an area like that; there's an alcove with two scrolls in it, and it's very hard to just grapple your way up to the next set of scrolls when you descend. Also try to always have a little bit of your special gauge handy when you have to make a blind leap; you never know what's going to be waiting for you.

Sorry if that's all pretty evident, but I don't think the game is particularly frustrating unless you're playing Castle. I have no idea what I'm doing there; I need somebody to make a map.

I was just whining since I had lost a few good runs to mistimed Fever activation/deactivation and bad luck with enemy spawns. I hate when I'm on a roll and need to grapple up a narrow path to escape incoming ghosts and hit an enemy with a shell. Losing a 100 hit counter in this way makes me very much sadface.

[Special World]

It frustrates me that reviewers repeatedly ignore score attack mode -_-

[SomeMist]

but I don't think the game is particularly frustrating unless you're playing Castle. I have no idea what I'm doing there; I need somebody to make a map.

just break it down into rows and columns. I find going up the right column is the most difficult, so I make sure to always go down the right instead of up. It just depends on what you're most comfortable with.

I tend to clear out the whole middle section spawn -> drop down to grab lower middle scrolls (2) -> to the right scrolls (2 + 4) -> to the top middle scrolls (2)-> and flutter down to the left middle scrolls (2) -> exit out the left side middle row and make your way up the left column (2 + 2) (leaving the bottom (4) left scrolls), -> clear the top row (4) - > drop down the right column (2 + 2 + 2 + 3) -> clear the bottom row ending (4 + 1 + 4 + 4) on the bottom left 4 scrolls.

I tend to alter my strategy with each clear to avoid waiting for respawn, I sometimes go up the left column to grab the 4 scrolls in the left (they typically spawn by the time I get there), clear the top row, drop down the right column, clear the bottom row up until the middle column, clear the entire middle, and drop down the left column for the remaining bottom row scrolls.

then I try to repeat my first strat -> middle section exit left going up the left column -> top row -> drop down right column -> bottom row etc...

I've been competing for the number 1 spot on castle (I held it for a couple of days) but I just mess around with strats breaking the map down into rows and columns. I really with there were more maps like castle tbh.

[Special World]

After getting 28 million on Spring, I decided to play Autumn, since my score wasn't too great.

I did so well that I overloaded the game -_-

The screen went black and my controller wouldn't stop rumbling.

[Special World]

Thanks for the tips, SomeMist. They boggle my mind @_@

I think that ghosts might speed up depending on how often you go in and out of powerup mode. If so, that's a pretty wise decision on Cave's part, as it'll reduce the benefits of going in and out of powerup mode to repel them.

[SomeMist]

Thanks for the tips, SomeMist. They boggle my mind @_@

I think that ghosts might speed up depending on how often you go in and out of powerup mode. If so, that's a pretty wise decision on Cave's part, as it'll reduce the benefits of going in and out of powerup mode to repel them.

np. that's a good assumption as they do tend to speed up over time. It may be using the attack mode too often as you stated, or it might just be something that happens after a certain amount of elapsed time. they become impossible to out run/grapple at around 7-8 million on castle

[Kewing]

I think it pretty much is proportional to the amount of times you enter/exit power up mode. Just take a look at this video where he keeps switching back and forth power up mode http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LywmfgmUmYE. Look at how insanely fast the ghosts get towards the end.

I'm also enjoying scoreattack a whole lot. The adventure mode is decent, but feels a bit random overall; should have had a bit more inspired level design and probably a couple more stages. Also, the only complain I have with the art style is the scenary. I see they wanted to go with the paper puppets theme, but the scenary being only solid black rectangle figures, it looks kinda dull. They should've added bit more detailed elements and it would be perfect. But anyway, I'm quite pleased with it, and I think it's a nice first experimental step for Cave. Definitely looking forward to something as (and better) this.

[Special World]

I think it's a great first step, but it's actually somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me. I definitely enjoy playing it, but in the back of my mind I have a hard time rationalizing it outside of "I like tidal waves of point items."

It's such a simple game that it mostly consists of jumping around the map in circles, but I really enjoy it.