Ninjatown
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''Ninjatown'' is a
tower defense Tower defense (TD) is a Video game genre, subgenre of Strategy video game, strategy games where the goal is to defend a player's territories or possessions by obstructing the enemy attackers or by stopping enemies from reaching the exits, usual ...
strategy video game on the
Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...
that was released in 2008.


Plot

Ninjatown is a peaceful place populated by
ninja A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguarding.Kawakami, pp. 21–22 Antecedents may have existed as ear ...
s. 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 ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The magazine was fou ...
'' 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 Tower defense (TD) is a Video game genre, subgenre of Strategy video game, strategy games where the goal is to defend a player's territories or possessions by obstructing the enemy attackers or by stopping enemies from reaching the exits, usual ...
strategy game, in which 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
shuriken A is a Japanese concealed weapon used by samurai or ninja or in martial arts as a hidden dagger or '' metsubushi'' to distract or misdirect. History The origins of the ''bo-shuriken'' in Japan are still unclear, despite continuing researc ...
-shaped 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 microphone 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. Most Ol' Master Ninja Powers cost 33% energy from the meter to use, with a few stronger powers, such as the devastating Magni-frying glass, costing twice as much. 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. Each enemy has their own strengths and weaknesses, which the player must exploit to successfully defend Ninjatown. Players are graded on how many enemies they allowed to advance past their defenses on each mission (from A to D, with an A awarded for destroying all enemies), and a mission fails once ten enemies reach a defense point. If a player repeatedly fails a mission, they will be offered the option to temporarily reduce its difficulty, at the expense of receiving the uniquely "worst" mission grade of "E" if it is cleared with such reduction. The final element is the tokens, which are won at the end of most maps if one gets a better letter grade than the one previously had. Tokens allow the player to summon special ninjas who each have a unique, 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 droppings, which emanate malodorous fumes that damage enemies.


Development and release

''Ninjatown'' was Venan's first game to be built for the Nintendo DS and its developers, already accustomed to the variable limitations of the mobile phones they made games for, faced unfamiliarity with the hardware and were also surprised by the larger capacity of its Game Card. It was conceived to be a tower defense game from its very inception in 2007 when Jeremy Pope from Cashmere Productions pitched the idea to Venan, confident in its potential for a DS game. The development team worked closely with Shawn Smith to design gameplay roles for the ninjas he created. ''Ninjatown'' was released across Atlantic regions in the fall of 2008. It debuted in North America a few days before Halloween, with a European release following one month later.


Reception

''Ninjatown'' received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
. The game was a nominee for Best Nintendo DS Game by
GameTrailers ''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...
in their 2008 video game awards. It was also a nominee for Best Strategy Game for the Nintendo DS by
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
. In addition, ''Ninjatown'' was a nominee for 2008 Best Strategy Game of the Year by the
British Academy of Film and Television Arts The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
(BAFTA).


Comic Book

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


Spin-off

In 2010, an endless runner
spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...
, entitled ''Ninjatown: Trees of Doom!'' was released for
iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
(May 5) and Android (June 8), with gameplay similar to the then-upcoming '' NinJump'', released several months later.


References


External links


Official website
*{{moby game, id=/nintendo-ds/ninjatown
''Ninjatown''
at
GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1999 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for Quake, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

Interview with ''Ninjatown'' creator Shawn Smith''Ninjatown''
digital comic book from Devil's Due Digital. 2008 video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo DS games Nintendo DS-only games SouthPeak Games Tower defense video games Video games about demons Video games about ninja Video games developed in the United States