Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword (3DSWare) Review

We continue October with a new review for a 3DSWare title. It's Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword, known to our PAL pals as Hana Samurai: Art of the Sword. Different name, same game. How does it play? Let's find out with my review.

A Little Slice of Heaven

Since early summer of last year, the Nintendo 3DS system's eShop has seen a robust lineup of interesting offerings, some good and some bad. We've seen great titles like Pushmo, Mighty Switch Force, and Mutant Mudds, for starters. A title that released in the first quarter of 2012 in North America, Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword, has finally released in European territories, though renamed Hana Samurai: Art of the Sword, for whatever reason. Is the swordplay within the game a work of art or a disaster of a masterpiece?

The story of Sakura Samurai is very simple. You are the main titular character, Sakura Samurai, and you are taught the ways of the sword by a kappa creature. Your journey's objective is to scour the land in search of the kidnapped Princess Cherry Blossom. The quest will take you across plains, through bamboo forests, and into ancient Japanese castles.

The game features three main castles where Princess Cherry Blossom is supposed kept in. Between these three castles are various battlefields where Sakura Samurai will unsheathe his sword and fight. For every new battlefield cleared, your hero receives a Sakura fragment (it looks just like a rose petal). Collecting two fragments increases his health by one unit, so it's smart to try to complete all battlefields to have as much health as possible to tougher bouts.

Welcome to Sakura Samurai's world.

Sakura Samurai is a game I like to compare to Punch-Out!!, but there is a much greater freedom of movement. Instead of being relegated to moving to the sides, you can walk freely all around the battlefield. Generally, an encounter contains multiple enemies to slice and dice through such as samurai swordsmen, spearmen, archers, ninjas, and more. Each attacks differently. The game, which uses an over-the-shoulder camera view, will automatically lock on to the nearest enemy that is set to attack you. Just like with Punch-Out!!, an enemy will choreograph their attack, giving you a signal on when to dodge. Dodge correctly and your bewildered foe will be open to a strike of Sakura Samurai's sword. You can also block attacks with your blade, but this will dull it over time (it will also dull if an enemy blocks your attack). As stated, each enemy attacks differently, and some, particularly bosses, do not just attack once but make multiple strikes in succession, forcing the player to have fast reflexes and even faster fingers to dodge an assault.

Enemy strikes downward, dodge to the side.

If you dodge with perfect timing, you will earn a precision point, as well as be able to strike a foe twice instead of just once. You can earn up to 99 precision points, but you will lose them if a baddie blocks your attack, if you are damaged, or if you block a foe's strike. Earned precision points can be sold in the game's various villages for gold.

I particularly enjoy the timing and precision battles require. It keeps you on your toes immensely, and makes it so every battle is important. Some enemy types are easier to defeat than others, but there is no better feeling within the game than masterfully cutting through an armada of foes with perfect precision.

These boss characters certainly mean business.

Speaking of the village, each area of the game (I refer to areas as places between boss castles) has a village for your samurai to have a bit of a respite in. It is at these out-of-the-way places where you can rest and save your progress at the inn, buy helpful goods at the local shop, repair or increase the strength of your sword at the local blacksmith, and participate in numerous street challenges for gold.

An example of one of the villages within the game.

You can spend all your acquired gold at the store, which has a fine selection of items to purchase such as whetstones which can be used to repair a dulled blade in battle, daggers that can be thrown at faraway foes, health restoring rice cakes, frogs that will make some enemies vulnerable for a limited amount of time, and other beneficial items.

Street challenges change based on what village you are in, but these are the perfect places to earn lots of gold and prizes. You can bet as much gold as you have on you to go from rags to riches in an instant. (And since you can save your progress in the village, you can reset the game if you lose. It's a cheap tactic, but it works.) Such challenges require you to time your sword strikes to make a perfect slice right through the middle of thrown melons, to slash through falling objects, or to slash through sad and angry melons while avoiding slashing through happy melons, to name a few challenges.

Sakura Samurai is a nice looking game with colorful backgrounds, though at some times it can seem a bit subdued. Characters animate well and are designed nicely, and the backgrounds, while not tremendously detailed, have enough put into them that the game does not look cheaply made. Battles all run at a relatively steady framerate, something paramount for a game based on timing. The stereoscopic 3D of the Nintendo 3DS works wonderfully for this type of game. You get a real sense of depth to help dodge and evade attacks and get full feel of how far away enemies are. Moving to sound, the music is a subtle mix of ancient Japanese sounds, perfectly fitting for Sakura Samurai's setting. Overall, the presentation is very nice given the price and size of the game.

Master the elegant art of the sword.

Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword is not a particularly long game, averaging around 3-4 hours to beat (one of my main beefs with the title). However, the game is one that players can come back to and enjoy on any occasion. Those who like the Punch-Out!! series or are interested in medieval Japan should definitely take a look at the title. It demands some skill in later levels, but the addition of items to assist within battle help bring the otherwise high difficulty down. All in all, Sakura Samurai can sheathe his sword and stand proudly in the sunset knowing that he is a part of a brilliant game.

[SuperPhillip Says: 8.5/10]

Top Five Nintendo eShop Games

Remember when the Nintendo 3DS launched and the Nintendo eShop was an intangible thing that was not yet in existence? Not so good times. Nintendo's eShop finally launched on June 6th, 2011 in North America and the following day in Europe and Japan. With it it brought a selection of Virtual Console games, the ability to purchase DSiWare games on 3DS, and eventually original content specially made for the eShop for 3DS users exclusively. This list consists of the best original 3DS games. Applications like Pokedex 3D and Swapnote, however great, will not be listed. The pickings were slim at first, but now the library of the eShop is more robust with more first and third party games in the pipeline and coming soon. Which five original eShop titles make the downloadable grade? Only way to find out is to press on and read my abbreviated list.

5) Mutant Mudds


Coming from the small team that created some of the most graphically impressive and ambitious Nintendo DS games like Moon and Dementium comes a taste of the retro variety with Mutant Mudds. Coined as a 12-bit platformer, Renegade Kid's newest treasure has players venturing through pixelated worlds as hero, Max, on his journey to oust the titular creatures of the game, master devious jumping gymnastics as he switches between the foreground and background, and collect Water Sprites and Golden Diamonds. The game is riddled with secrets to discover and challenging yet satisfying gameplay. Those hankering for an old-school game with new-school sensibilities should check out Mutant Mudds.

4) Freakyforms: Your Creations, Alive!


One of Nintendo's first downloadable titles exclusively for 3DSWare, Freakyforms: Your Creations, Alive! pits you as the artiste. You craft a creation using various shapes, arms, legs, and features, and unleash them into a 2D platforming world, collecting coins to purchase new doodads, completing missions for fellow Freakyforms, and opening up treasure chests. The controls take some getting used to as you solely utilize the stylus to sling your custom creations all over the landscape. As you make as many monsters and friends as possible, your planet expands as does your playground. The ability to share creations via QR codes makes you want to manufacture the best possible Freakforms as you can.

3) Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword


Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword is like Punch-Out!! except instead of punching pugilists, bright lights, and boxing rings, you have dueling blades, flashy kimonos, and feudal Japanese forests and castles. Your goal as a lone swordsman is to save Princess Cherry Blossom. Unfortunately (well, fortunately as there would be no game without them), the big bad has let loose a load of henchmen wielding swords and other fierce weaponry. You need skill and style to attack at the right moment and dodge with quick precision. In between duels with savage foes and big bosses are trips to the local villages to acquire new gear, assistance, and help from the kinder. Keep your wits about you and your sword strong as button mashing will only lead to a dull blade.

2) Dillon's Rolling Western


Combining intense action with tower defense, Dillon's Rolling Western has the titular armadillo rolling around the land in ten towns each with a three day cycle. One day you're gathering materials while another you're fending off vicious and ever-vigilant enemy Grocks as they march slowly and steadily to eat up each town's collection of animals. Only you and your strategic positioning of gun turrets and other towers can assist each town in their survival. Rolling around each of the game's large distinct areas feels incredibly smooth as you use the touch screen to determine your rolling speed and distance. Take heart, though, as the game can be quite difficult as you manage resources such as time and materials to save the day. At least you can replay towns at your leisure. At ten bucks, Dillon's Rolling Western will set you back the most financially on Nintendo's eShop.

1) Pushmo


From Intelligent Systems, the studio behind Paper Mario, Advance Wars, and Fire Emblem, comes Pushmo (or Pullblox as it is known in PAL territories), the greatest game currently on the Nintendo eShop. Full of over 200 unique puzzles which have you pushing and pulling blocks to reach the trapped child within a structure of shapes. The catch is that the main character Mallo can only move a certain block at most three steps forward. As you progress through the tutorials, you learn the ins and outs of the game and reach increasingly more challenging puzzles. You even unlock the ability to create your own puzzles and are able to share them like Freakyforms via QR codes. The critical acclaim for Pushmo isn't just around SuperPhillip Central. It is all over the place to the smallest of blogs to the biggest of game enthusiast sites.

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The eShop continues to grow and evolve with unique titles unavailable on other platforms. Which five eShop games do you adore the most? Let me know in the comments section.