Ninjatown

Did You Know?

• Ninjatown is a spin-off of Shawn Smith's Wee Ninja character from his Shawnimals toy line.
• A 2010 endless runner spin-off titled Ninjatown: Trees of Doom! was released for iOS on May 5 and Android on June 8.
• Ninjatown was a nominee for Best Nintendo DS Game by GameTrailers and Best Strategy Game for the Nintendo DS by IGN in 2008.

Gameplay

In Ninjatown, the player controls Ol’ Master Ninja and must defend Ninjatown from waves of enemies traveling through the town. The player constructs ninja huts along the enemy path; each hut produces a ninja that engages foes. Eight types of ninjas are available, unlocked before certain levels, including orange-clad anti-ninjas and snowball-throwing white ninjas. Building huts costs shuriken-shaped cookies, which are earned by defeating enemies and can be spent on upgrading huts. Six modifier buildings, such as the training dojo (increases attack power) and the green tea bistro (increases movement speed), can be placed adjacent to huts to grant special abilities. Ol’ Master Ninja can also use Elder Ninja Powers, which are unlocked progressively and include blowing into the microphone to push enemies back or stopping time. Enemies include devils like the Speedy Devil and Tribal Devil, Forked Toungeys that multiply when defeated, and Zombie Ninjas that can infect the player’s ninjas. Each enemy has unique strengths and weaknesses. Players receive a grade from A to D based on how many enemies slip past; a mission fails after ten enemies reach a defense point. If a player repeatedly fails, they may temporarily reduce difficulty, but clearing the mission with that reduction yields a grade of E.

Development and release

Ninjatown was Venan’s first game built for the Nintendo DS. The developers, accustomed to mobile phone limitations, were unfamiliar with the DS hardware and surprised by the larger capacity of its Game Card. The game was conceived as a tower defense title in 2007 when Jeremy Pope from Cashmere Productions pitched the idea to Venan. The team worked with Shawn Smith to design gameplay roles for his ninja characters. Ninjatown was released across Atlantic regions in fall 2008, debuting in North America a few days before Halloween and in Europe one month later.