DS Game Profile: Ninja Reflex

What is it about Nintendo’s hardware that brings out the ninja in us? A whole bunch of highly-anticipated games in which you get to play a ninja are coming down the pipeline over the next couple of months, and they all seem to be a pretty good fit for their respective hardware platforms, whether DS or Wii. Ninja Reflex might be the first title on your list, because just like Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training, it promises to help you hone your killer ninja instincts. Sounds like exactly what we need before tackling more hardcore titles like Ninja Gaiden.

Ninja Reflex will walk players through the basic skills required to flip out and kill people: Catching Koi with your bare hands, snatching flies out of the air with chopsticks, and of course, slicing up demonic ghosts in a bamboo forest. These basic staples of the ninja lifestyle are supplemented with rigorous katana, shuriken and nunchuck weapon training. At the moment, the game is boasting 6 discreet minigames, which quite frankly does not sound like a lot in the era of minigame one-upsmanship. On the other hand, the prospect of having our very own virtual sensei might be enough to carry this title all by itself.

Hit the jump to check out some more screenshots, as well as the feature list for the game, which is slated to ship on March 4th.

Ninja Reflex features a series of six martial arts challenges to test gamers’ reflexes, including:

As players develop their ninja skills, they will strive to earn a black belt while learning martial arts secrets and ancient wisdom from their own personal Sensei.

Gamers can also compete for ninja supremacy against their friends in fierce multiplayer battles with up to four players and results that are timed to millisecond precision.

Screenshots added February 8, 2008: