[Review] Senran Kagura Peach Ball – Nintendo Switch

Senran Kagura Peach Ball
Nintendo Switch

Developed By : Honey Parade Games
Published By : XSeed
Category : Board Game, Party
Release Date : July 9, 2019

Dropping the Quarter in

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before : What do you get when you cross a pinball game, anime girls, and Jello? Give up? Jiggle physics. Admittedly, this isn’t a concoction that you would come across all that often, if ever at all. But, if you were to come across it, the ending result would probably be something along the lines of Senran Kagura Peach Ball on the Nintendo Switch.

Another addition in a long-standing video game series, the game revolves around a group of female ninjas called Homura’s Crimson Squad. This particular installment begins at an arcade where one of the groups members, Haruka, is overseeing a game tournamen, who’s field is made up of some of the other members. As the tournament goes into the final round, one of the girl’s runs to the bathroom and when she returns, is covered in fur!

Haruka quickly realizes that this girl must have come into contact with her Beastall potion, which has the power to turn whoever it touches into an animal. As the other girls in the arcade see what’s going on, they rush to check out their friend, coming into contact with her and the potion, transforming into animals themselves. Luckily, Haruka has the solution : a Peach Ball which, when vibrated at the right frequency will release a mist that transforms the nearest person back into their human form. And it just so happens that the Peach Ball is small enough to fit into the arcade’s pinball machine.

All of these events take place in the game’s prologue, and from here you’ll be able to choose how you want to play the story. You’ll start by picking one of the girls that you wish to save first, which will introduce you to the game’s main mechanic : pinball.

Get The Flipper’s Ready

There are two tables to be featured in the game, but they basically run the same. One is themed to being an amusement park, complete with a teacups ride and ferris wheel, while the other is more spooky themed. No matter which table you’re on, the girl you are currently trying to save will be placed at the top-middle in her animal form.

To change her back, you’ll need to complete a series of tasks called Peach Missions, which power up the ball while weakening the girl. These missions appear on the right side of the table, and will include things like bopping the girl a certain number of times, reaching a certain score, or triggering one of the table’s special features a certain number of times, like entering the ferris wheel X amount.

Situated just above these missions is a meter that is broken down into three chunks. This is where your focus will be for wanting to rescue the girl. As you complete the above missions, you’ll earn points, and those points will fill this meter up. Each time you fill one of the chunks you’ll unlock a “Sexy Challenge” which triggers the next time you bop the girl.

Bringin Sexy Back (to human form)

So you want to turn your friend back to being human after they’ve been turned into an animal? Then hit them with a pinball, and prepare to get sexy! These challenges take place on smaller pinball-like areas and will have some object moving around that you’ll need to hit. Ultimately, this is just a way to increase your score, since no matter what rank you get on these challenges, you still win.

Why “Sexy Challenge”? Because the end result of whatever mini game you complete is something that can be deemed “sexy” happening to the girl. There is a challenge with rubber ducky’s on this smaller area, and at the end one turns around and sprays the girl down with a lot of water. One challenge puts some top hats down, and at the end two hands appear from one and tickle the girl. You can even knock around an ice cream truck that results in your girls chest area being covered in said ice cream at the end.

However, it’s the third and final one of these where things really get personal, and this one is called the “Super Sexy Challenge”. Triggering this one means you’ve won and the girl will be returned to human form, but again you have a chance to increase your score. Only now, the mini game is the girl herself. Depending on the girl, either her breasts or butt will be placed at the top of the table, and you’ll send the Peach Ball’s flying at her while the flippers move closer in. Once close enough, the flippers will be placed directly under the body part in question and a multiplier meter will appear. You’ll need to rhythmically knock the flippers and end up with a x1, x3, or x10 multiplier before you are finally done rescuing this girl in question.

Hi-Score?

In the end, this game is really just a pinball game with a few bonuses. Between pinball levels, the game plays out a bit like a visual novel, telling you more about the particular girl you are attempting to save next. While there is a bit of an emphasis put on the jiggle physics, let me be clear that there is no explicit nudity in this game. Once you complete the final Super Sexy Challenge, the girl is stripped of her animal form and her clothes, but she shyly covers up so nothing ends up being revealed.

As I mentioned before, after experiencing the set-up prologue, you get to choose which girl you save first, and this ends up setting the mood for how you’ll rescue the other girls. This also leaves open the potential for multiple playthroughs, saving each girl first, but this doesn’t give as much variety as one would hope for a second and third playthrough. The way it goes, each girl must be reminded that they are human, through conversation and finding a spark or trigger that makes them realize what they really are. This trigger always stays the same, but it can be reached in a slightly different way depending on who you choose at first. For example, if you choose to play as Yomi, she realizes that she can tell little lies to trick her friends into their trigger, so she pretends that she is her friend Muraski’s stuffed bear, Bebeby. Yet, if you play as Asuka she will just blatantly shove the bear in her friends face, but either way it’s the same item that acts as the trigger.

All jiggles aside, Peach Ball is a very fun game. I’ve always enjoyed a casual pinball game, and this one played really well. I only wish that there had been more tables with more gimmicks, but the ones in here are really cool. Of the two, I definitely enjoyed playing the amusement park table, since it felt like there was more to aim for and do on the table itself. So if you’re looking for a pinball game with a bit of story woven into it, this one isn’t so bad!