Mexican Ninja’s satisfying combat and art style are worth more than its low price of admission. Its standout thematic is a great start to hopefully something more from the Madbricks crew, even if some of its roguelike elements feel underdeveloped.
Roguelikes are a dime a dozen nowadays. I know I’ve commented on the nature of Steam releases and referenced other gaming commentators half-jokes about the roguelike genre; those earlier comments and jokes ring true. In a saturated genre that’s showing no signs of slowing down, it’s increasingly important for a new roguelike to set itself apart from the rest of the pack. Attempting to be the next Hades might be a pipe dream, but developer Madbricks’ Mexican Ninja has something that very few roguelikes have: unapologetic chaos “made by real Mexicans, not Clankers.” Yes, that last quote was pulled from their Steam page.
My first few minutes playing Mexican Ninja were spent moving around a junkyard in Nuevo-Tokyo. Waves of “Narcuza” baddies made their way towards me at set intervals, occasionally pausing my progression and focusing my attention on clearing the screen of enemies in true beat-em-up style before I could move onwards. Waiting for me at the end of my path was a behemoth of a man with a black and neon green bandana. Apparently, he and I had a history – I was supposedly angry at him for hooking up with my sister. After a quick back and forth of dialogue (that ended up being one-sided given my character’s silence), he belly flopped onto me and flattened me into a propter tortilla, calling me a cabron (asshole) as the screen faded to black.
Vulgarity aside, Mexican Ninja pulls no punches in going balls to the wall with its thematic. Its egregiously silly banter and explosive combat feature puns that many would immediately dismiss as being too immature. For those willing to live más, Mexican Ninja is packed full of in-your-face humor. Its art style reminds me of the Guacamelee! series, but without the traditional Mexican culture-themed metroidvania gameplay. It’s a mashup of Mexican and Japanese street cultures blended with Easter Eggs and references that so many fans would immediately recognize and love.
Its gameplay loop is a sticking point, though. At its peak, the beat-em-up combat is as fluid as they come. But getting to that peak flow state takes a degree of patience and grinding that won’t be worth it for most roguelike players. I implore you to stick it through, though: Mexican Ninja has some novel highs and so many tongue-in-cheek (or perhaps…tongue-out-of-mouth).
Mexican Ninja is a beat-em-up and a roguelike second. It’s a familiar romp of button mashing, beat-em-up freneticism, mixed with some light roguelike elements that keeps some things fresh. Throughout the streets of Nuevo Tokyo are endless waves of Narkuza (Narcos meet Yakuza), and it’s up to silent, but deadly, Mexican Ninja to take down the heads of the Narkuza clan and restore order…or so we think. There are clear similarities between this game and the likes of Absolum, Streets of Rage, with a hint of Guacamelee!, and it’s glorious in its design.
At around my sixth hour of playing Mexican Ninja, I had unlocked everything from the Way of the Donkey (the game’s stat-based tree) and its complimentary skill tree that granted me more attacks and combos to use at my disposal. At this point, I felt like an overpowered ninja: I was teleporting across the screen, blinking from enemy to enemy. I would throw my sombrero like Captain America’s shield. As it ricocheted between baddies, I turned into a deadly tornado and farted on enemies to the point where they burned to a crisp. Combat felt incredible at this point – its amped-up freneticism sets it apart from its Streets of Rage roots.
Getting to that point, though, felt sluggish. Unlocking individual upgrades felt like a chore because of the steep upgrade costs in the skill trees. Slaying bosses and enemies only granted me so much pesos that could be spent in between the roguelike runs, but not enough were granted to make the climb feel worthwhile (until the end, of course). Unlocking one or possibly two upgrades doesn’t feel rewarding after spending 20-30 minutes grinding away. I’d rather the upgrades be given earlier and have other unlockables be gated by progression through the five biomes.
Some of that steep upgrade cost was offset by minor sidequests that would unlock alternate costumes. There are no alternate characters or weapons to select from in Mexican Ninja. Instead, there are costumes – each of which feature a unique passive effect ranging from more currency (quite helpful for unlocking more skills), more health, to more stats that synergized well with specific builds throughout my runs. I just loved the silly costume designs, even if their passive effects varied in strength.
Now you’re probably thinking, “Builds? What do you mean?” Mexican Ninja’s roguelike characterbuilding comes down to Jutsus (spells), Death Charms (elemental buffs that can be slotted into heavy/light attacks, jumps, and dashes), and Passive Effects. The Jutsus, which are modeled after three Mexican-inspired deities like La Llorona, looked really cool but lacked a healthy number to make each run feel unique. At the start of the game, I only had around 4 Jutsus unlocked while being expected to choose two each run. This made things feel repetitive way too early in my review process. Luckily, more Jutsus were unlocked in piecemeal fashion as I completed sidequests (that I had trouble keeping track of, as there was no way for me to see which quests I had completed/not completed) and progressed further across the five biomes.
In terms of roguelike variety, it didn’t feel like runs were distinct enough from each other to warrant the game feeling as fresh as it could. Runs were comprised of me making my way across relatively linear side-scrolling levels on a 2.5D plane with enemies that popped out of the sides of the screen in predictable fashions. While the perspective occasionally shifted from panoramic (horizontal) to top-down, which was nice, there needed to be just a little more variety. It would have been nice to have some time trials or other minigames in the levels.
But man, that combat. I keep going back to remembering how much fun I had taking down enemies with Mexican Ninja’s chaotically silly abilities and watching the combo ticker dramatically increase as time went on. Mexican Ninja rewards you for dishing out attacks in long chains without taking damage, and some of its unlockable perks make it so that you not only deal more damage with a higher combo but also increase the combo ticker in seemingly exponential fashions. For instance, attacking an enemy from the back adds +5 to the tracker, while attacking them head on increases the combo tracker by +1. When I hit the 1000-hit combo, it legitimately felt like I was breaking the game.
One of the in-game achievements is for hitting a 5000-hit combo. I legitimately have no idea how that is done, but I’m inclined to try.
On the world building front, it feels like Mexican Ninja focuses too intensely on Easter Eggs instead of fleshing out its novel universe. Don’t get me wrong, I love Easter Eggs. I love callbacks to pop culture. I got the biggest chuckle when I faced Crack Panda, a clear spoof of Cocaine Bear meets Kung Fu Panda, at the end of the second biome. Easter Eggs add depth to the nooks and crannies of a mostly realized world. But that world needs to be just that: mostly realized. If I make my way through a game and reach a final boss, only to find that I have little idea of who that person is that’s an indication that there was a missed opportunity to make the world more realized. Mexican Ninja’s catalog of memes and Easter Eggs weren’t enough for me to understand what was really at stake in its story.
It’s a shame about the story, especially because I loved the concept. I see an attempt of the NPCs interacting with the Mexican Ninja and having some silly things to say, but again, not enough. I really hope that this universe is fleshed out further, as the Madbricks team is onto something distinct and memorable.
It’s important to take a step back here and recognize that Mexican Ninja is not attempting to be the next Hades or Gungeon game. It’s not positioning itself as a best-in-class roguelike worthy of everyone’s attention. It’s a classic case of “you get what you pay for.” In this case, it’s a bite-sized roguelike that can be completed in under 12 hours. You shouldn’t interpret my criticism as me being disappointed with Mexican Ninja; you should interpret my critiques as me wanting more from Madbricks because I recognize that there’s good potential for more content or even a sequel.
Mexican Ninja’s satisfying combat and art style are worth more than its low price of admission. Its standout thematic is a great start to hopefully something more from the Madbricks crew, even if some of its roguelike elements feel underdeveloped.
