Ludography
Cubic Ninja cover

2011 · AQ Interactive · Adventure · Platformer

Cubic Ninja

Nintendo exclusive

Introducing Cubic Ninja, the Nintendo 3DS title that lets you play without ever touching a button. Simply tilt and turn your Nintendo 3DS to solve challenging puzzles, outwit devious enemies, and escape intricate traps.

Released
7 April 2011
Platforms
Nintendo 3DS
Genres
AdventurePlatformerPuzzle
Developers
AQ Interactive
Publishers
—
Perspective
Third person
Themes
ActionScience fiction
Country
Japan
Age ratings
ESRB ECERO APEGI 7USK 0

About

Cubic Ninja (Japanese: キュービックニンジャ, Hepburn: Kyūbikku Ninja) is a puzzle video game developed and published by AQ Interactive for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released in Japan in April 2011 and internationally in June 2011 by Ubisoft. The game requires players to use the console's accelerometer and gyroscope to manipulate the titular character through various levels on a quest to rescue a princess.

The game was released to mixed reviews; although praised for its unique gameplay concept, critics panned aspects of the game's control scheme, along with its "frustrating" wired level designs and relatively short length. Despite its poor reception, the game would eventually gain infamy due to an exploit allowing users to execute homebrew code on their console.

Keywords

  • martial arts
  • abstract
  • qr codes

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Cubic Ninja is a puzzle-based platforming game, in which the player manipulates CC, a ninja cube, through various levels, whilst avoiding enemies and traps contained within. The game is controlled primarily using the 3DS' gyroscope, requiring the player to tilt the console in the direction they want CC to move. The game can also be set to use the circle pad instead. Using power-ups collected from scrolls, CC can shrink, gain a shield, throw shuriken at enemies, and unlock all of the doors in a level.

The game contains 100 levels, including several boss battles. Players can unlock different characters, such as cubes made of rubber and titanium, that exhibit different properties when used. Cubic Ninja also features survival and time trial modes, along with a level editor; levels can be shared with others via QR codes.

Reception

The game received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, however, Famitsu gave it a score of one eight, two sevens, and one eight for a total of 30 out of 40.

Describing the game as "one of those frustrating games that is almost really cool, but never quite delivers", IGN praised it for its "fun and creative" gameplay, but the gyroscope controls were criticized for not being sensitive enough, while the circle pad control scheme was considered "wonky". Additionally, the game was panned for not containing enough content to justify being a full-price game, considering it to be "an experience that feels like it just as easily could have been a $5 iPhone game".

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Nintendo 3DS7 April 2011Japan · North America 14 June 2011 · Australia 23 June 2011 · Europe 24 June 2011

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Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.