Whose great idea was it to mix Mexican culture with Japanese? No, not sushi dipped in nachos, nor mariachis in topknots, still, Mad Bricks’ Mexican Ninja is a blend of both nations. And beans. Lots of them.
Set in Nuevo-Tokyo, a land where the narcos and yakuza have fused to become narkuzas, you’re job is to clean the streets by taking the gangs off them, and literally slashing seven bells out of anything breakable in the hope of earning some coins.
Mexican Ninja is a mix of a side-scrolling arcade hack and slash, with the loop of a rogue-like. The controls are straightforward in that you have a basic light attack, an incredibly slow heavy attack, a dedicated dash, and a special move that, for the life of me can’t remember unless I switch on the Steam Deck again. And it’s two arm’s lengths away. Pah.
At the start of each run, you encounter a couple of shrines that grant the special, which includes knives that drop out of the sky, a forward thrusting attack, and an ultimighty fart that turns your enemies’ insides out, and all at the press of a trigger button, albeit with the caveat of a small cooldown.
The other shrine at the start grants a temporary perk that includes a higher percentage for attacking, more health, or giving the gangs more burns than a clap clinic. They’re all quite trivial to begin with; however, Mexican Ninja is quite a tricky game to get into.
That’s not because of the controls, an overly complex fusion of organised crime, nor shoddy graphics. All of those aspects are pretty good. The writing is witty, though repetitive (it’s a rogue-like – expect repeated dialogue), the visuals are excellent, and the controls are intuitive, though I’d have liked a block button.
My (taco) beef with Mexican Ninja was how hard standard enemies hit, or how weak your hero is to begin with. With a sluggish heavy attack, I was relying on fast attacks alongside the special, seldom using the dash as it didn’t feel right. That bit me on the arse, and later ended up using it. The moment a mob swarms you, or you miss-time a dodge, the subsequent incoming damage is overwhelming, and death ensues.
Returning to a ghetto limbo, if you’ve collected enough coins, you can invest in permanent perks, but it took quite a few runs to get there, and hitting every single breakable on the streets in the hope of some pennies. At least you can customise your look from four fancy colourways. Slick as Rick.
So, after trudging through repeat runs of silly mistakes, I’d accumulated enough wonga to increase my damage, and boy, did that improve things. So too did upgrading my heavy attack, so I could use two consecutive moves to take out some of the larger enemies in, you guessed it, two moves. This didn’t make Mexican Ninja a cakewalk, but certainly more enjoyable and balanced, allowing me to earn enough dough to improve my health, too.
Now that I’m good enough, the demo is over and my wasabi-filled enchilada is getting cold. You got a feel for this? I recommend you download the demo now, as it’s not out until 2026. Adi-nara.
