Alright! I dig it! It's crude, but there are a ton of ideas and personality whizzing around in here. A real breath of fresh air for brawlers in this early stage of their life.

I love the puppet aesthetic and how far they carry it, through every animation and attack of every character. It's fun, and lets the game get away with a ton of cartoony violence. The four playable characters all feel quite different, which is still really rare for the genre to this point, and cycling through all of them and finding where each one was most useful was gratifying. The levels are packed with powerups and interactivity, and some of that is hit-or-miss, but it's much appreciated when the alternative is barren, boring streets and a couple bludgeoning weapons per level.

As far as shortcomings, there really aren't any big ones for the immediate gameplay - it feels great. Tiny nitpicks with y-axis hitboxes or the design of some of the terrain elements are just that, and nowhere near dealbreakers. Movement and combat are as quick and responsive as you could want. Enemies are quite diverse, too.

Other than that, the game is a tad short, sometimes feels quartermuncher-y, and ends in a bit of an anticlimax, and those do knock it down from true classic status. But overall, I'm impressed! Not one I would be coming back to over and over, necessarily, but worth a playthrough, if for nothing else than one of the better post-final-boss congratulations messages ever:

By the activity of the ninja.
The resurrection of Satan was checked.
People will never forget the brave figures of four young men ...
Thank you, NINJA KIDS!!

Ninja themed beat em up game with a puppet style to the character art. Four characters to choose from with each having a different weapon and screen damaging magic element. Katana character attacks the faster, roll dodge becomes a dodge and slashing run, and a wind effect after swings give a bit more range, shuriken character has infinite ranged attacks but isn't as fast when enemies are close, kusarigama has a close attack but attack can be held to extend the range, sansetsukon has a mid range attack and your jump attack becomes an aoe ground slam. Some amusing enemy deaths when you cut them in half or decapitate zombies and the characters give you some variety but the enemies are never that fun to fight as your attacks lack impact and you only have your basic moves.

Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1344806342708477952