Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido review – Not quite as satisfying as actually eating sushi

Originally announced as a 3DS exclusive, Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido lands on both 3DS and Switch consoles, but fails to deliver on its console price tag

Title: Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido
Developers: Nintendo EPD, indieszero
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo Switch (version reviewed), 3DS
Release Date: June 8, 2018

At a glance, Sushi Striker is a cute little game aimed at entertaining children over long car rides. Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find a surprisingly intricate puzzler that sadly lacks the depth to warrant its £39.99 ($49.99) price tag.

The world of Sushi Striker is certainly a unique one. You play as Musashi, a young boy or girl living in a world woefully devoid of sushi and rife with conflict. The world is torn apart by the sushi struggles between the Republic and the Empire. When the Empire subjugates the Republic, all consumption of sushi is forbidden, sending the world into a fascist sushi dictatorship.

Musashi, a hungry young child, meets Franklin, a sushi striker whose goal it is to bring sushi to the world using the power of sushi sprites. Musashi is so captivated by sushi, he begins his own journey to overthrow the Empire and deliver sushi to the masses.

If that story sounds a little ridiculous, that’s because it is. Sushi Striker is beyond silly, and while that’s initially quite charming, it soon becomes little more than dead weight wrapped around a fun puzzle game. By the end of the first act, I was already speeding through the dialogue at the beginning of each chapter because I had lost interest in the story.

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The story presents itself like a Saturday morning cartoon, complete with opening theme and everything. Sushi Striker does a great job of tapping into the nostalgia of watching dubbed episodes of Dragon Ball Z. But like a cartoon, Sushi Striker is fun and exciting for short periods. This is not a game meant to be played at length. Tell me you wouldn’t have watched this as a kid though?

The gameplay is where Sushi Striker shines. It’s fun, fast-paced, and more intricate than meets the eye. It’s played by connecting up multiple plates of the same color and launching them at your opponent. To spice things up the sushi, in true style, is moving by on a conveyer belt and you are constantly dealing with the flow of plates.

You are also equipped with various items that tweak the way you play. You can equip up to three sushi sprites, each with different abilities. Lane items which affect the conveyer belt lanes, for example speeding them up or slowing them down. And you can also select a favorite sushi and will net extra points for matching with that particular dish.

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All these little elements at play mean there is a lot more to Sushi Striker than a simple matching game. With each level having sub-missions and being letter graded, there is plenty to keep avid sushi fans satisfied.

Between levels, players have access to the overworld map where they can select levels and tweak their sprites. This makes traversing the game’s various chapters and acts easy, but is also disappointingly reminiscent of a mobile game. Being like a mobile game is not a bad thing per say, but when you’re playing a game that is charging AAA prices, it’s hard not to feel short-changed.

It’s meant to be played like a mobile game too! Sushi Striker’s strength is how easy it is to pick up for a couple of minutes and play. It’s a commuter game. While Sushi Striker is far more compelling than your average app, not least because players aren’t mired in micro-transactions, you can scratch the same itch with a mobile game for free.

Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido is available on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS. Click here to read about our e-commerce policy.

A copy of this game was provided to App Trigger for the purpose of this review. All scores are ranked out of 10, with .5 increments. Click here to learn more about our Review Policy.