Ninjala - Man-to-Man Brawls #1

Описание: Season 10 of Ninjala also brings with it a new mode: Man-to-Man Brawl, a pretty requested mode in which, as the name suggests, you fight one-on-one against an opponent. I personally don't really like it that much, as the gameplay itself--the weapons, the mechanics, and the HUD--were designed around 4 to 8 players scoring points around the stage under a time limit, and it feels like, without some major tweaks to how Ninjala works, this mode can become problematic. But more on that later.

Man-to-Man Brawl matches are set in Underground Oedo, the giant sumo cage Berecca fought the Lion Dog Car and Robo Yokozuna Gorikimaru at the end of Chapter 2 of the story mode...which appears to have been abandoned in favor of the anime. Not that there's anything wrong with that (except the limited-release nature of the anime), but I suspect the story mode never gained much traction despite the huge amounts of lore in this game, so it looks like they found another use for this setting.

You can see my run of Chapter 2 of the story mode here:    • Ninjala - Chapter 2 - Berecca's Tale: Defe...  

Unlike the other modes, which run on a timer and continues until time runs out, Man-to-Man Brawls are run on a set of rounds, each of which ends when one or both characters are knocked out. Inflicting a KO scores you 1 point, and inflicting an Ippon scores you 2 points. The first player to reach 3 points wins. Therefore, a Man-to-Man Brawl will consist of at least two rounds and at most five rounds, depending on the numbers of regular KOs versus Ippons accomplished between the two sides. Once someone reaches 3 points, the match immediately ends, regardless of how much time is left on the clock (which begins at 120 seconds, unlike the 240 seconds as is with most other modes). Your S-Gauge is automatically set to 10 instead of 4 or 5 like it normally would be, and a KO, whether standard or Ippon, does not reset anything while the one who inflicted it can continue moving. The mechanics are otherwise identical to those of the rest of the game, and all weapons are allowed.

For the record, these are the matches I played in the midst of that WNA Resort session. I was pondering whether to keep it all unedited and uncut as it is or to excise these matches out for a separate video, and I ultimately decided on the latter because they're very different in tone and feel.

Incidentally, it seems it's been since April that I put up any Ninjala matches. I guess that means I might have one more after this one before Pokémon Scarlet and Violet comes out.

Match #1
Man-to-Man Brawl
Ogre Gloves
Underground Oedo
Song(s): "JalaPico -8bit Version-"
This one was done in a hurry...I wasn't really sure how many matches I'd want to play to fill out a video, but it seems I would've needed more than the four here, if this video's length wasn't a dead giveaway...I also noticed my opponent has grown pretty used to how Man-to-Man Brawl works due to the dropped Utsusemi roughly at the location of my spawn in hopes of trapping me for another KO.

Match #2
Man-to-Man Brawl
Ogre Gloves
Underground Oedo
Song(s): "Critical Funk"
And just like that, this one ended almost as quickly as the first match. I don't know exactly how the Gum Ghost interacts with the standard gum shield, but I would hope it drains their S-Gauge anyway.

Match #3
Man-to-Man Brawl
Ogre Gloves
Underground Oedo
Song(s): "Rise Up, Underdogs!"
This is the second match against HRA Najimi. I don't know if this means there aren't a lot of people playing Man-to-Man Brawl or it's just due to the timing, but I'll say that the Ninjala matchmaking is not very good and has a tendency to place people against the same opponents over and over, no matter how many people are actually playing. (This cannot be reset short of closing the game and starting it back up, but the game will soon put you back into the rooms you were in before.)

Match #4
Man-to-Man Brawl
Ogre Gloves
Underground Oedo
Song(s): "Be@t Jungle -8bit Version-"
And now I'll show you something problematic: my opponent here was fond of staying stuck to the walls near the ceiling, then running away whenever I'd get close. If you're on the ground, you're at a disadvantage due to having to chase them, and if you're also on a wall, the camera will not let you see where they are or what they're doing. Undoubtedly, my opponent was using Wall Shooter, which lets you charge up your special faster while on a wall (and this one appears to be Gum Grenade). I don't know how this game handles ties, but it looks like my opponent was willing to stall out the clock entirely if necessary. They move to the ground if you catch up to them on the wall, and they spend your KO time moving back to the wall. I fear this may become too dominating of a play style, since unlike in regular matches, you don't have other opponents to go after, nor do you have Drones to help you score points while ignoring hit-and-run players like this one.