Wabisabi might instil a bit of complexity or class as a prefix, but Wabisabi SushiDerby isn’t about the intricacies of presentation when you have sushi dashing around a restaurant table looking to win a race, but also stay alive. Forget your sideskirts and nitroboosts; we’ll be looking at wasabi and fish flakes.
To be clear, you aren’t directly controlling the races, but influencing them with your, ahem, build. You begin with a simple tuna-infused sushi and have the option to equip it with a series of stat improvements and abilities to help win your race against other sushi. Your rice hybrid will then have to complete a series of laps avoiding condiments and combat-based challenges from other sushi, while also avoiding the god hand, a.k.a. customers with chopsticks.
Considering the setting for Wabisabi SushiDerby is a restaurant, Johnny Public naturally wants to have some food, and as cute and fun as your races are, they aren’t practical and aren’t going to last forever. Nor are they hygienic. An alert will appear in the top left of the screen notifying the next choice for the customer, notably the topping such as tuna, salmon or natto, and if that’s the build you have, you have to boost past the red targeting system or face instadeath. As mentioned, you don’t directly control the sushi, but you can cheer them on by pressing a cooldown button that awards an evasive boost, but also that additional sprint across the finish line.
Though your sushi is lost forever, and it’s inevitable anyway as they will lose their freshness and deteriorate, you can create a new one with better stats and higher rankings. Even better, when you lose your sushi through being eaten or should you cash in and get a new one, you’ll be awarding some pennies to buy a new racer, as well as their skillset. So, how does the skill system work? First of all, you need to buy the right topping.
Wabisabi SushiDerby incorporates a skill tree of tiered toppings. When winning a race, you will gradually unlock additional races that are specific to toppings (i.e. clam only) and eventually move up the ranks. Granted, your sushi will never last more than a few days, but certain toppings go ‘in season’ with stat boosts such as top speed, acceleration and explosive power. The latter affects the cheer cooldown, which is essential to winning the races and avoiding the customers. Once you’ve selected your topping, you then have the option of buying a card set that focuses on a skill such as top speed, then three choices that can improve your stats or award an ability such as pulling back racers in front of you, or leaving fish roe bombs that slow them down.
At the end of each race, your sushi’s freshness drops, losing some stats. You can once again improve these with the skill cards available at every race; however, these will often be at a detriment to your last run as the sushi’s getting rotten! It’s a very simple and accessible experience, meaning you can finish everything, unlocking all toppings and customisations in a few hours, though there are harder difficulties that make it even more challenging. Overall, Wabisabi SushiDerby is a cute and cheerful autorunner that’s addictive in short boosts and might encourage you to eat healthier, too. Well, at least make sure you’re eating clean first.
