Review: Jitsu Squad [PS5]

There have been some stellar additions to the beat ’em up genre as of late. Streets of Rage 4 returned to the series in a glorious fashion. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge wowed us with its modern take on that fantastic series. Could Jitsu Squad join the hallowed halls of the greats? Let’s find out.

Make Way Turtles

Jitsu Squad comes to us from the fine folks at Inin Games and Tanuki Creative Studios. Starting out as a successful Kickstarter campaign, Jitsu Squad is a chaotic side-scrolling brawler featuring a cast of anthropomorphic ninja animals. You choose from Aros the Boar, Jazz the Toad, Baby the Rabbit or Hero the Raccoon, on your quest to retrieve the Kusanagi Stone from the evil Origami.

The proceeding game plays out in typical fashion for the genre. Scroll right, screen fills with enemies, destroy them, rinse and repeat until the boss. Jitsu Squad does throw some variables into the formula. There is a parry system whereby you can turn the tables on attacks. Consequently, in boss battles the parry is necessary for survival.

Additionally, you can power up a meter below your health by attacking and by pick-ups, whereby you can transform into a super powered form that doesn’t take damage and unleashes damage like Super Shredder on steroids.

Animated Chaos

The graphic style and all of the parodies in Jitsu Squad are some of its standout features. The protagonists and the enemies are both large, and well designed. Moreover, the bosses are crazy creatures that transform and attack with zest. And all of the stages are littered with cool background details you’ll want to stop and take notice of.

In one stage, you can find the corpses of Guilius of Golden Axe and Ghouls and Ghosts’ Arthur in the background. In another, you find a myriad of arcade parodies including SEGA Astro City units against the back wall. Half of the fun is just soaking in all the little details the game has to offer. Also, look for an appearance from indie darlings Yooka-Laylee.

The game consists of eight stages on various planets, featuring all of the prerequisite forms including jungle, ice, and my favorite, the surfboard across the lava. This stage features a great song that will surely get stuck in your head: “Surfing On the Lava.” The self-referential nature of the song had me laughing while trying to fend off the enemies and avoid damage. Obviously, this game knows the genre conventions and is here to laugh about them.

Reaching the Final Stage

Jitsu Squad is just plain chaotic fun. I had a blast playing through this one. You’ll love all of the little hints at other games. You’ll laugh at the hilarious assist characters and enemy animations. The combo and parry system is up to the task and with multiple difficulty levels, this is one you can tackle with the kids. Bring a friend for couch co-op for some extra fun.

Final Thoughts

I hadn’t heard of this one before I was given the review code. I could not have been more pleasantly surprised! Jitsu Squad stands neck and neck with the recent TMNT game. It’s simply that good. If you are at all a fan of the brawler genre, you owe it to yourself to check this one out.

At the finish of the game, a sequel is teased in its final images. I for one, can’t wait to see what Tanuki Creative Studios comes up with to top this one.

Jitsu Squad is available in digital format now for PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC on Steam. Jitsu Squad also received a physical release for PS 4/5 and Switch.

Review code provided by ININ Games.