Mexican Ninja, the review: a roguelite between pulp and irreverence

Madbricks brings us Mexican Ninja, a light and fun action roguelite. An irreverent and “incorrect” title that evokes the mood of 90s games.

When I tried the demo of Mexican Ninja some time ago, several aspects of the title immediately surprised me. Among them all, the game’s aesthetic and overall mood reminded me of 90s Western productions, not just in gaming. I remember the MTV era, which helped popularize a more adult, surreal, vulgar, cynical and experimental kind of animation. The common thread running through almost all of these products was that they weren’t trying to be reassuring.

Where Japanese animation of the time presented careful drawing, clean linework and particular attention to animation, on the other side we had almost sketchy, caricatured and sometimes almost stylized characters. So on the same network you could go from two dimwitted kids (Beavis & Butt-Head) commenting music videos, to a sexy spy in a dystopian future (Æon Flux), all the way to celebrities tearing each other apart in a clay ring (Celebrity Deathmatch).

It’s no coincidence that I’ve only cited a few of the many titles from those years. In fact, the aesthetic and mindset of Mexican Ninja have a lot in common with the productions of that era. Naturally, on the gaming side too we have some great, more or less recent examples. From the more recent High on Life to Guacamelee!, then on to Duke Nukem and up to Shadow Warrior.

In these titles, as in Mexican Ninja, the imagery of a very specific culture is taken and then pushed to the extreme to create a deliberately pulp action story. The same goes for the language used, including the visual kind: excess conveys an irreverent, sharp-edged comedy.

The aesthetic and the story: a desire to be daring

The interesting part is the deliberate use of stereotypes, crude humor, satire, provocation and a taste for the politically incorrect. Mexican Ninja indeed blends Mexican and Japanese imagery, narcos and yakuza, with caricatured violence, strong language and deliberately raw humor.

In a Nuevo Tokyo where the Narcos and the Yakuza have joined forces to form the Narkuzas, in a city now set ablaze the seed of rebellion is born: its symbol is the Mexican Ninja. Naturally, in these titles the story doesn’t offer much depth and is merely a pretext for the action. So don’t expect twists, plot turns or any character introspection or development.

On our journey through Nuevo Tokyo we have to make our way through the various districts and defeat all the cartel’s bosses until we reach the final showdown. The bosses themselves are heavily stereotyped and pushed to excess, with no shortage of parodies and references. One above all: the Crack Panda!

Every zone faithfully mirrors its boss’s aesthetic: we get suburbs devastated by toxic waste, high-tech building complexes and, of course, the red-light district. On that note, I’ll let you imagine who runs that district. All of them are aesthetically coherent and convincing, with color choices and visual solutions that strike the player without making the production’s technical limits weigh on the experience. The same goes for the characters and NPCs we meet throughout the game.

Mexican Ninja has managed to maintain a shell of visual and audio coherence, with various musical styles that share the same timbre and the same Mexican sounds.

Character progression

The game is a 2.5D action game with roguelite elements: each run lets us invest the resources we’ve collected to permanently upgrade the protagonist. In the central Hub we can train with el Mero Mero Sensei, learn new ninja techniques and earn the favor of 3 powerful Mexican-Japanese spirits. Their powers are easy to tell apart: one represents defense and health, one attack and aggression, and the other debuffing enemies, rewarding those who play below a certain health percentage.

In the Hub, alongside our picturesque Sensei, we can also spend money on purely parametric upgrades for the character. Attack percentages, defense, increased health, spawn rate and efficiency of healing items and so on. While some of the techniques you can learn are very useful, simply investing in raw stat increases already makes a difference.

During a run we have to choose which paths to take based on the rewards we want. We can choose between Passive Skills, Death Charms and Jutsu. The latter are active abilities and we can only have 2 of them. We need to be careful about what we pick, because the different types of upgrades, especially when they belong to the same deity, have interesting synergies. Although the selection isn’t that vast, Mexican Ninja proves to have built a solid building system that doesn’t revolve solely around aggression, but also around defense.

One last interesting note is the unlockable costumes. Obtained by completing quests during a run, they aren’t merely cosmetic. Some come with passive bonuses and maluses that work in synergy with certain deities. Naturally, the costumes follow the game’s mood too.

Gameplay and mechanics

Our hero by default has a light attack and a heavy attack on a cooldown called the Chingadazo. For evasion he has a jump, double when needed, and a Dash, which also has a cooldown. The available combos are few and basic, but they can be purchased in the central Hub. 

During a run the game rewards you for not getting hit, because keeping the combo counter going brings damage bonuses and other perks.

The healing mechanic is a curious one: we don’t have potions, only bottles of beer that we find throughout the levels. For this reason, our ability to heal depends on luck and on how much health each beer can restore. From the central Hub we can improve the drop rate and the healing capacity, but the rest is left to chance. The developers have wisely placed vending machines to destroy before the boss fight, so you can recover any health you’ve lost.

The destructibility of certain elements of the environment is another point worth highlighting. Every area has its own environmental traps and destructible objects. Some traps must be activated, others simply wait for an unwary player to step on them. The positive note is that both the character and the enemies can take damage from them, which makes positioning a strategic matter.

Confirmations and denials

Some of the doubts I had from the Mexican Ninja demo have been partly dispelled and, on the other hand, partly confirmed. On the one hand, the game has improved the readability of its combat. Even in the later stages, the number of enemies on screen and the very colorful aesthetic still tend to confuse the player. On the other, although there are some imperfections in execution after the parry, the game has improved. The only problem I encountered is that, paradoxically, with the exception of the final boss, I found the levels more difficult than the bosses themselves.

The variety and impact of the moves have definitely improved, visually as well. The Jutsu are original and wildly over the top. Exactly what I was hoping for! To curb the sense of repetitiveness that can afflict roguelites, especially those with modest content, Mexican Ninja adopts two solutions. The first is the map’s branching paths (some of them hidden), which also develop in depth and let you find new encounters or bonus statuettes. Once struck, these let you choose between a percentage bonus to health or attack.

Tied to this mechanic are the in-game quests. During the various runs we meet characters who give us quests to complete in-game or in subsequent runs. They are essentially in-game achievements that, as a reward, grant bonuses to main stats or unlock costumes.

My two cents

Mexican Ninja is one of those titles that isn’t afraid to show its intentions from the very start. A light and fun roguelite that manages to find its own identity thanks above all to its aesthetic, its humor and a building system more interesting than I initially expected. We’re not looking at a title that revolutionizes the genre, and some mechanics still show a few limits, especially when the screen tends to become too chaotic or when the difficulty of the levels proves more demanding than that of the bosses themselves.

That said, Mexican Ninja succeeds at what it sets out to do. It’s a deliberately incorrect, exaggerated and at times vulgar game, but it does so with a precise stylistic awareness. Just like the works it draws inspiration from, it doesn’t try to please everyone and it doesn’t want to be reassuring. And that is probably its most interesting quality.

It’s not an outstanding title, but even after completing it, starting another run takes little time. Mexican Ninja definitely deserves a try from fans of the genre and of the politically incorrect.