Nintendo is the undisputed king of creativity. They're so good at not only creating a new series with wild and imaginative mechanics, but also repurposing their existing series. I'm a huge fan of games that fly under the radar - or what I like to call "hidden gems". I love discovering games that no one talks about and then recommending them to everyone and anyone.
If there's one hidden gem that I can't stop talking about, it's "Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido". This game was released for the 3DS and Switch in 2018. Despite all of the promoting that Nintendo did for this game during their Direct presentations, it went completely unheard of to almost everyone. Except me, of course! This one really grabbed my attention with how different and zany it looked. This one quickly became a day one buy for me.
Sushi Striker is the mish-mashiest of mish-mashes. I'd say that it's a puzzle game first and foremost. It also has RPG mechanics and loads of creatures to collect! Time to start hyping this game up!
Right as the game starts, you're treated to a high-energy, catchy as hell anime intro. If that doesn't hook you, just wait.
The story isn't anything to write home about, but it definitely feels like a Saturday morning cartoon in video game form. An evil empire has taken control of the world's supply of sushi. In the game's world, sushi is generated by beings called "sushi sprites". Sushi sprites fight alongside people called "sushi strikers" who attack by throwing sushi plates at enemies. The dialogue in the game feels very much like a visual novel, but with lots of energy. The main character, Musashi, discovers a sushi sprite named "Jinrai" and sets off on a journey to fight the empire and relinquish their control of sushi so that everyone in the world can freely enjoy sushi!
Every so often the story will throw an anime cutscene at you and they look FANTASTIC. Character models are expressive and colorful, the voice acting is very cheesy and reminiscent of 2000's cartoons, and the background music is always so energetic and catchy. Speaking of music, the soundtrack is EXCELLENT. There are so many great tracks in this game.
Let's cannonball right into the combat. Combat is 1v1, with each combatant having three lanes to themselves and sharing one lane right in the middle. Both combatants can take sushi from that middle lane as often as they like. To damage your opponent, you'll throw stacks of plates which are generated by matching plates of the same color. If you match 7 or more plates, you'll generate a rainbow plate which can be matched with any color of plate. The damage of the thrown stacks is determined by a number of things. I'll list them below.
- The color or rarity of plates
- The number of plates in the stack
- Having a rainbow plate in the stack
- Chaining together stacks of the same color
- Stacks do extra damage during sushi jubilee
- Sushi Sprite abilities
That brings us to the sushi sprites! Your loadout can contain 3 sushi sprites, each with their own special ability. For example, Jinrai will turn all plates into one color so you can match all plates into one gigantic stack. There's also Tigazo, who increases the amount of damage plate stacks do. And there's also sprites that give you a shield or decrease how much damage you take, ones that heal you, decrease skill cooldown, and more! It's totally up to you to mix and match your 3 sprite dream team to demolish your enemy.
All-in-all, the game is extremely well-made, very addictive, and definitely worth a try. Especially if you own a Switch! I prefer the 3DS version, which is still very cheap. But if you own a Switch, that version is also very much worth checking out. If anything, check out the demo!
I hope that I convince someone, anyone, to check out this absolute GEM of a game. If you have played it, let me know in the comments! I'd love to hear from you!
PEACE OUT.
