I assume the shuriken acts as a D-Pad which allows you to go up and down as well as left and right, but I might be wrong.
Huge fan of Mikamobile! Art and animation looks top notch. Gameplay seems quite a bit like Zombieville though. Still going to be a great game though.
Hi guys, this is Noah Bordner at Mika Mobile. Just wanted to swoop in here and answer a couple questions. There definitely is vertical movement, the shuriken is essentially an analog stick/wheel/joystick/thingy similar to what you see in your typical twin stick shooter, so you can move around in any direction. The green button doubles as both a jump button while running (which renders you invulnerable for a moment) and as a parry button if tapped while standing still. Parrying can lead into an automatic counter attack which is demonstrated once or twice in the video. As NateM926 guessed, you battle your way through various arenas, clearing each one out before you can move on. Unlike Zombieville, the goal isn't merely survival. At the end of each stage, you get a rank based on how skillfully you managed to clear it, akin to Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden. Reaching "Master" rank should provide a decent challenge for just about anyone... and we added a hard mode as well which is tuned with the assumption that you've mastered the game and unlocked all or most of the moves and upgrades (think "nightmare" or "hell" difficulties in diablo). We talked about price for a while, and decided to start with an introductory price of $1.99. I think its a heck of a lot of game for two bucks, but to be quite honest we'd rather over-deliver for the price and get people off the fence than try to squeeze our players for an extra dollar. We'll be submitting the game to Apple this weekend, so barring any surprises it will be available soon.
I'm with you, 1.99 is crazy! I love Castle Crashers and other beat 'em ups, this is an insta-buy for me.
I'm really impressed by this game! I'm a developer doing a similar game, and this totally destroys my morale I guess I'll have to do a better game. Can't wait to play yours though!
Count me in too when this releases. Really enjoyed Zombieville. The cartoon look of Zombieville + Ninjas kicking Pirate "booty" x Double Dragon like gameplay = Mind blown. Now all we need are killer vampire wenches and dark mysterious superhero werewolves as playable characters alongside the ninja and you have the "hot fad" segments cornered for the Winter 2009 gaming season. Oh, almost forgot we need some kickass Miley Cyrus background music and you are golden through next summer. Seriously looks like a great game minus those things but I am holding out hope for some of these inclusions... *wink*wink* (Noah)
That's one hot trailer. But, I do music and audio for these guys, so... I'm biased. But this is still the first time I saw all these elements pulled together, and it really does look like a massive amount of game for the price. - Gravity Jim
We'll submit tomorrow, I'm just running the build through final testing to make sure v1.0 is as spotless as possible. If you want up to the minute info on the game's status, feel free to follow us on twitter (@MikaMobile).