The Senran Kagura series has become something of an infamous hit with what must be a cult following within its niche community. The series made its debut on Nintendo 3DS with the beat ’em up title Senran Kagura Burst. Having traversed multiple genres with a plethora of spin-offs over its eight year lifespan, we arrive at Senran Kagura Peach Ball on Nintendo Switch: a pinball game featuring the scantily clad anime girls that the series is now (in)famous for.
The story follows a group of gamer girls, who have been infected by an arcade worker’s mysterious concoction, known as Beastall, which turns the girls into an animal girl. The story offers enough entertainment to keep the game interesting, as Haruka – the only remaining human girl – takes each of the infected animal girls onto a pinball table where the gameplay unfolds. The goal is to restore the memories of each girl, which makes for various entertaining scenarios such as the masochist Ryona’s. Her Beastall form is a dog, and as such wants to be treated like a bitch (if you’ll pardon the pun). Hitting the girl, who’s sat seductively at the top of the pinball table, gradually restores her to her former self with the aim being to get a certain amount of points to turn her back into a human.
As for the gameplay itself, it’s just pinball. It brings nothing knew to the table, but provides a serviceable platform to tell the story. As far as pinball games go, it renders itself inaccessible on a family-friendly level simply down to its age rating and ridiculous subject matter (not to mention the constant near-nudity). However, as we mentioned earlier, this is a series with a dedicated audience and if you’re both within this niche and partial to a game of pinball then you’ll find nothing at fault here.
So the game doesn’t do much wrong, but that’s ultimately because it doesn’t do much of anything. It’s pinball with two different boards, each with three different variations that fail to offer anything unique to the gameplay.
Peach Ball – being a Senran Kagura title – also manages to squeeze in plenty of seedy fanfare for those inclined to dive into the game’s Dressing Room. Here you can dress the characters up in plenty of ridiculous outfits and take photos of them in a variety different poses. And perhaps worst of all, you can then take them into a game mode called Intimacy, which allows you to massage – or rather, grope – the girls to fill up their heart meters and ultimately kiss them. Cool!
Senran Kagura Peach Ball (Nintendo Switch) Verdict
So, Senran Kagura Peach Ball is a game of two halves: part pinball game, part pervert simulator. If you’re looking for a decent game of pinball to play with your family, please look elsewhere! If you’re here for the promiscuous anime girls, they’re here in force but there’s just not enough of a game hidden underneath its flirty exterior to warrant a purchase.
3/10
