SENRAN KAGURA Peach Ball (NS)

Brave, and bold is Senran Kagura's provocative return to formula. Doing what they were unable to do on the PlayStation 4 XSEED, Honey Parade Games, and Tamsoft Corporoation bring back, in pinball form, what fans of the series have loved from the beginning. A mature game featuring fun loving fighting females who are unabashedly driven by their own sexually fueled antics, and desires. Taking the tale from the usual Shinobi school setting, and rivalry therein the developer weaves a sort of side story that begins with a fighting game tournament at an arcade joint run by Haruka. Five of the series femme fatale take to the tournament with the goal to be the best of the best, and win the ultimate prize. Only to encounter a wacky mishap brought on by the contamination of a beastly formula confused for hand soap in the girls' restroom. One of the girls, on pee break, washes her hands with Haruka's misplaced Beastall, and becomes a sort of furry version of herself. A young woman with doggy features, if you will. Through her affectionate licking she spreads the affliction to the remaining four Shinobi girls, and in turn they each transform into a different half-animal and half-human hybrid. The resulting problem being that the longer they are under the influence of Beastall the more animal-like they become. To counter the concoction Haruka conjures up an odd plan to put the girls in a special pinball game, and cure them with a special ball. That, and through shared memories help them regain their human conscience.

Spanning two playable modes, two themed tables, and including five beastly Shinobi girls you, the player, are tasked with bopping the roster of protagonists back into form via a dynamic pinball experience. Choosing between character themed balls of a yin and yang variety (weak & hard vibrations) you will ping special targets, enter holes, ride lanes, swerve the curves, and engage in many different PEACH missions to complete the story, and reach a high score for bragging rights.

One of the modes made playable in this titillating misadventure includes character specific stories in a story mode that spans five levels with a trio of mission objectives included in each as a completion requirement along with intermittent textual dialogue between key characters, and panel art/animation revolving around Yumi, Yomi, Ryona, Murasaki, and Asuka. There's that mode, and a free mode with single playthroughs, and a limited ball count where there are no story elements, and only high scoring opportunities of the pinball kind.

The fan service that is expected comes in the form of the series borne girls that are placed back, and center of the day, evening, and night cycled playing fields of the Peach Land and Spooky Shinobi Park tables. By bopping the girls with the ball via the flippers (ZR/ZL), and completing peach missions involving spawning/stationary fairies, coins, banks, and mascots like Hanzo the black elephant you'll be able to strip the girls of their beastly form. Forcing them to reposition themselves as you do so for different bopping angle opportunities. The more bopping you do, and the more missions you complete the more the hidden parts of the table will open up. All in a truly cinematic way. For example you'll engage in Sexy Time Challenges in a 3D display elsewhere on the inner workings of the table where multi-ball is the focus, and the only thing standing between you, and the girl in question is one or more of Senran Kagura's zany mascots. Including the squirting duck, frogs, and an ice cream driving a cart around. Ultimately giving way to bonus peach points, and a traditional alphabetical grade for your performance. Hitting the right targets in the right order will also land you in Fever Mode opportunities where the score multiplier is increased for a limited time. Needless to say there's plenty of Peach missions to engage in, and decent assortment of customizable Shinobi girls to free from their curse. Dare I forget to mention the heart catnip power-ups that evoke a sort of erotic reaction from the girls.

Also returning to the forefront of gameplay are the extra modes from previous entries meant to be add-ons, and enhancements to the main experience at hand. You'll find the shop returning with a choice of shop vendors, and shop costume pieces for dolling up your favorite Shinobi waifu. The usual assortment of lingerie, swimsuits, tearable costumes, and accessories that all cost Zenny currency that you'll earn by playing the game's two main modes. New to the shop inventory are the Dakimakura pillows that add a certain weeaboo flair to the girls with lewd pillows featuring their partially exposed likeness forced in front of them as if to invite a certain anime loving demographic. Along with shop comes the Dressing Room for applying all the costume pieces that you already have, and will acquire. With each costume piece, whether it be the main animal outfit, the traditional Shinobi garb, or themed attire you can toggle the color to your liking through buttons located to the left of the item. Each girl will be able to wear a main outfit plus lingerie, or a swimsuit with accessories on the side. The catch being that there is a point limit to accessories, and each accessory has it's own point value. Meaning you can't always fill in all accessory slots.

If you fancy showing off your lovely ladies in their newly acquired wardrobe you can do so through the returning Diorama mode. Like the other returning modes the Diorama returns with a modest selection of tweakable features. Including backgrounds, poses, and added effects meant to allow the gamer to have their envisioned fantasy portrait of the Senran Kagura girls brought to life as they so desire. For the fan service loving fans you'll be glad to know Intimacy Mode also returns with the grabby hands, and heart meter meant to get a bashful response out of the girls being toyed with. To me it seemed like a simplified, and more tame version of one of the originals, but it still offers enough fan service to please, in my opinion. The main fun is found in pinball play.

For those of you looking to enjoy the soundtrack, and in-game movies as you have with past entries of Senran Kagura you can do so once again in Gallery mode. Some things like the story elements will be unlocked as you play through Story Mode while other items such as movies, and music can be obtained through in-game feats or via the shop. Do know that this game's extras aren't as robust as other Senran Kagura games though, but the replay value is definitely there with Free mode, and the high score replay value offered through a leaderboard listing. That, and the grind for customization options.

The Verdict ...

Those of you who know me know I'm an avid fan of the Zen Pinball series by Zen Studios. I have held that game in high regards in regard to it's design, and the arcade feel that it has. Having played through this Senran Kagura version of pinball though I believe Zen Studios finally has a proper competitor. I'm personally hoping "Senran Kagura Peach Ball" isn't a one and done deal. I hope it makes enough sales to inspire the developers to make a bigger, perhaps more inclusive pinball only version of the game with DLC tables like the ones Zen Studios does for it's core app. I think they could go far if they offered a similar business model. In closing I will say the pinball action in "Senran Kagura Peach Ball" not only revives lost core values of fan service, but brilliantly brings to life the sexy action of the series into a competent pinball table format. It's fun to watch, and fun to play. It gets the Gaming Inferno's blazing seal of approval! Not so much for the extras, but more so for the two main modes of play.