• Price: $14.99
• Developer: Mojiken Studio
• Publisher: Toge Productions
• Release Date: July 5, 2018

We were generously provided with a review code by (At) sarahhana, and are delighted to cover Ultra Space Battle Brawl, a game we mentioned in our article highlighting Switch games from Indonesia.

Starting up Ultra Space Battle Brawl, I got hyped up pretty quickly. The music on the title screen is extremely upbeat, and reminded me of some of the music from Mega Man Battle Network. Appropriately, the opening theme for this game was composed by Manami Matsumae, who worked on music for the original Mega Man. That’s a pretty impressive addition to this game!

Ultra Space Battle Brawl, or USBB (as it shall be abbreviated henceforth), offers different difficulty modes. I always appreciate games that allow you to experience them the way you need or want to; not everyone has the coordination (me) or time to master combat systems in games, and just want to have fun.

I decided to randomize which character I started with. I ended up with Nyammo, a girl who destroys public facilities in order to make shelters for cats. (Besides the destruction of public property, I can get behind protecting kitties. 🥰)

The game is very aptly described as a combination of Pong and fighting games. You have to hit the “ball” over to your opponent’s side and continue to do so until their damage meter is depleted, resulting in your victory! Each round is timed, and at certain points, your opponent will power up – so you will have to be more careful then. You can power up during these battles as well; this power up mode seems to be known as “Ultra,” which is appropriate given the title of the game. What’s interesting is that you can cross into what would usually be the space exclusive to your opponent, and your opponent can cross into your space as well.

I started the story mode, and successfully defeated my first opponent in the first two rounds; I found out that there are ultimately three rounds per battle. (If you knock each other out, it seems to count as one win for each of you and the second round will be the final one.) The battles are set on different planets; I went from battling my first opponent on Mars to fighting the next one on Venus. Every three rounds will have a differently shaped “goal” area for you to protect in order to keep you on your toes. The “goals” are protected by miniature versions of each character’s face, which is cute. Some rounds will have “bumpers” like in pinball, which makes it more interesting. It was funny watching one of my opponents hitting the “ball” into the bumpers and causing it to go into their own goal!

There are bonus rounds, but I’m uncertain as to how they are activated. The purpose of those bonus rounds was also unclear.

There are some rounds that have two opponents, and others where your goal moves around. I had a lot of trouble with the rounds with moving goals. If you lose, thankfully you have the option to continue with the same opponent instead of starting over from the beginning of the line of opponents. It still was irritating to constantly lose in the last few battles – I would end up losing when the ball got stuck in the corner and kept hitting my health meter/goal. It felt like a cheap loss. The final opponent also seemed to get more chances to use their “ultra” mode than I did.

My second character was Yayuk, who enjoys studying – I really thought it was a cute little added touch for her to use a textbook as her “paddle” to hit the ball with. The different characters you use all have different Ultra abilities.

The story mode gives you some basic background on the characters before you start the chain of battles, and maybe an interaction or two with opponents. You get to see a brief “ending” as well, but there really isn’t much content for character backstories like you would expect from a “story mode.” There is a gallery mode with the art from story mode, as well as some additional art of the character you used for that playthrough. The gallery also includes some nice additions contributed by guest artists!

The art and the music are my favorite parts of the game. The press kit indicates that the music consists of a combination of “funkot,” which is Indonesian house music that is generally associated with truck drivers, and 80’s synthwave music. (Here are some additional articles on funkot, if you are interested!) As far as the art is concerned, a 2018 Ungeek interview with Sarah Johana of Toge Productions mentions that the USBB characters are meant to look like Indonesian people! I unfortunately do not know too much about Indonesia, so I really appreciate the Indonesian influences in the game!

In terms of gameplay, I enjoyed it for the first few battles, but the last two or three battles for each character made me want to pull my hair out (and made my hands feel like they were going to fall off). Despite playing the easier “normal” mode, I felt like I still had a really hard time with the last few battles.

I wish that there had been an actual easy mode, because the options were either “normal” or “ultra”; there did not seem to be a tutorial either, so initially I had to learn through trial and error. I also wish that there was more “story” in story mode instead of the simple information about the characters before and after the chain of battles. The gameplay in general lacked variation. It’s unfortunate that USBB lacks online matchups as well, because I could see that doing really well for this game. You can play against friends and family, but I do feel like you might face more challenging opponents from those who are enthusiastic about competitive online play. (I will acknowledge that that may be more difficult to implement in the game, however.)

I really like the creativity of mixing Pong with fighting games, but it felt like there were some missing pieces, and it felt too difficult in many battles. Its saving grace was the ability to restart battles against a character you lost against, because I would have been very discouraged if I’d been sent back to the beginning. (I had to pause my game a few times, and ended up hitting the option to return to the main menu by accident twice; that wiped out all of my progress twice when I did that so I wish there was a confirm button for that.)

I absolutely appreciate the effort put into USBB. I think that it may not be a perfect game for those like me who have some difficulty with fine motor skills. If you enjoy creative interpretations of the fighting game genre and enjoy a real challenge, this may be more for you! There is a demo available on the eShop for you to try out to see if the difficulty level is suitable for you.

Switch it ON or Switch it OFF? I’ve never seen a game like this before, and for me the creativity is off the charts. I definitely recommend it for skilled fighting game fans. I’d love to see a sequel with more difficulty level options! 7/10