Ninjatown

Plot

Ninjatown is a peaceful place populated by ninjas. But after a volcanic eruption, Ninjatown gets invaded by enemies led by Mr. Demon, who is bent on destruction.

Ninjatown is based on characters created by toy designer, artist and former Electronic Gaming Monthly editor Shawn Smith. Smith is the artist behind the Shawnimals line of toys. Ninjatown is a spin-off of one of his Shawnimal characters, the Wee Ninja.

Gameplay

Ninjatown is a tower defense strategy game.

When an enemy reaches a certain point on the screen, it disappears, taking 1 life from the player, who initially starts with 10. At the end of the level, the player is graded from A to D depending on how many lives he/she has lost. Completing the level with no lives lost will award an A, while losing 1-2 and 3-4 will result in a B and C, respectively. Losing any more lives will result in a D, and losing all lives forces the player to restart the level. Additionally, if a player has lost several times on a level, they will be given the choice to play the map on Easy Mode. If the map is successfully beaten on Easy Mode, the player will be "awarded" with an E, regardless of how many lives they had lost in the level.

The player steps into the shoes of Ol’ Master Ninja, tasked with defending Ninjatown from waves of enemies trying to make their way through the town. To stop them, the player constructs ninja huts along their path, from which ninjas will emerge to engage the enemy. The ninjas that live in these huts range from orange-clad anti-ninjas to snowball throwing white ninjas. A total of eight ninja types can be built, each being unlocked before certain levels. Building each hut costs ninja star cookies, the currency of Ninjatown, and as enemies are defeated, more cookies are earned. The player can then invest these cookies into building and upgrading huts to deal with the ever-increasing waves of enemies.

The player can also build six different modifiers, that will endow any adjacent huts with a special ability. These include buildings like the training dojo which can increase the ninjas attack power, or the green tea bistro which makes units move faster.

The player can also make use of Ol' Master Ninja themselves. As the game goes on, Ol' Master Ninja remembers more and more of the seven Elder Ninja Powers, powerful moves that can aid the player greatly. These range from blowing into the mic to send enemies back down the path, to stopping time. Elder Ninja Powers give the player more time to build houses and upgrade units. Using these powers takes up Happiness Bars, represented by a Hickory Cane meter. Destroying enemies fills this meter. Every Ol' Master Ninja Power takes up 1-2 bars of Happiness.

Ninjatown features several different types of enemies that try to invade or destroy several places throughout the game's world. Most of these enemies are devils, such as the Speedy Devil and Tribal Devil, and other types of enemies, like Forked Toungeys that multiply when defeated, or Zombie Ninjas that can infect the player's own ninjas.

The final element is the tokens, which are won at the end of most maps if you get a better letter grade (see gameplay) than you previously had. Tokens allow the player to summon special ninjas who each have a special, time-limited area-of-effect ability. There are a total of four Tokens collectable in the game. Examples of these include baby ninjas who slow down all enemies, or ninja dropping, who emanates malodorous fumes that damage enemies.

Reception

Ninjatown was a nominee for Best Nintendo DS Game by GameTrailers.com in their 2008 video game awards. It was also a nominee for Best Strategy Game for the Nintendo DS by IGN.

In addition, Ninjatown was a nominee for 2008 Best Strategy Game of the Year by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

Ninjatown received mainly positive reviews, with a Metacritic average of 80% (as of January 6, 2013).

Comic Book

In 2008, Ninjatown was adapted into comic book format. It is available digitally exclusively through Devil's Due Digital.