SD Shin Kamen Rider Rumble Review – A Rider Kick Goes A Bit Too Hard

For those who are unfamiliar with the franchise, Kamen Rider is about a person with the ability to transform themselves into a superhero wearing an insect-like suit who fights supervillains and drives around in a cool bike. So naturally when I was given the opportunity to review SD Shin Kamen Rider Rumble, the elements that I was definitely looking out for were Transformation, Supervillains, and the cool bike.

While some of those elements were present and done very well, there was one however that felt like it got a little bit side-lined, but understandably so. With that being said, does SD Shin Kamen Rider Rumble truly live up to expectations and captivate new audiences like myself as well as fans of the franchise? Read on to find out more.

Story Mode

The mode opens up with nice cutscenes of Kamen Rider on his bike Cyclone driving around some desert. The cutscenes also have black bars on them giving you that cinematic feel and as the music swells, the title “SD Shin Kamen Rider” pops up in your face signifying that this is where your adventure will begin. I personally liked the opening, since the game is actually based on the latest Shin Kamen Rider film and having it start out like a feature film really keeps in line with that idea.

Gameplay starts when you meet Ruriko Midorikawa, who takes you to the safe house and explains to you the story of SD Shin Kamen Rider Rumble which involves a terrorist organization called SHOCKER augmenting humans. This process gives them immense power which represents a threat to the safety of everyone in the world, and it is your job as the Kamen Rider to stop SHOCKER and save the day by ensuring that humans stay humans. 

The story is pretty straight-forward and is told in cutscenes in between battles with the villain characters sometimes explaining their goals or with the Kamen Rider having a dialogue with himself. The game’s narrative actually follows the events that happen in the feature film Shin Kamen Rider, and translates the action scenes into video game format which is where the gameplay aspect comes in. 

While the story itself is something you would not remember for years to come, it is still serviceable and manage to draw you in just enough to make you want to beat up the bad guys for threatening the safety of the world.

Gameplay

Before you start your journey to stop the SHOCKER organization, SD Shin Kamen Rider Rumble takes you through a tutorial phase where Ruriko will explain the fundamentals of the game which includes the Safe House. This serves as the Kamen’s Rider base of operations where you can select through the various activities which include:

• The Cyclone
  Unfortunately you do not get to drive the Bike around and it only lets you access Quick Play mode or Co-op mode. This is where most of your game-time will be spent as the game is quite difficult (even on easy mode) and you would want to farm upgrade materials to further strengthen your Kamen Rider before tackling missions that you may have difficulty clearing.
• The Computer
  This is where you can enhance your Kamen Rider with various upgrades ranging from increased damage to increase health and additional effects for your skills. To upgrade a skill you must possess the necessary materials required to upgrade (Coins and Crystals) which can be obtained by simply beating up bad guys and clearing stages. The upgrades themselves also needs a specific condition fulfilled such as “Defeat X number of enemies” and so forth.
• Pin Badges
  Pin Badges are essentially modifiers that you can insert on your Kamen Rider before heading out on missions, the game has a lot of these to unlock with each granting different bonuses such as increase in health and many more. However you can only equip one pin per run, and to upgrade these you must fulfill certain conditions. So choosing the right one to suit the situation definitely plays a factor when you encounter the enemies.
• Continue Mission
  A simple option that allows you to restart where you left off (or knocked out from).

Un-Edited Image Credit: Bandai Namco Entertainment

Un-Edited Image Credit: Bandai Namco Entertainment

Un-Edited Image Credit: Bandai Namco Entertainment

Combat 

On to the main focus of the game, SD Shin Kamen Rider Rumble appears to be a simple beat ’em up similar to that of Captain Commando which I fondly remember playing on my playStation 1 all those years ago, the button mapping’s are pretty straight forward with two buttons dedicated for your Basic Attacks while the other two being dedicated to dodging and jumping.

However, because this is a Kamen Rider game, there exists an additional layer of skills once you transform into your full suit. I genuinely think this was very cool as it is extremely thematic and in-line with what I have seen from different mediums that has Kamen Rider in them. Your character will assume a pose/stance and once in the suit you will gain access to Finishing Moves that uses your SP every cast.

When fighting enemies, there are two things you will need to take note of to ensure you are being efficient during your encounters. The first would be the Combo Rewards, which will give you coins based on the highest counter you’ve achieved before all enemies are defeated while the second is Stage Evaluation which can be built up through Combos and Damage Dealt.

I personally found this to to be the best feature of the game, as not only does it make you play more carefully and aggressively at the same time, but it also encourages you to utilize everything in your arsenal to score big. While transformed, aside from having access to Finishing Moves, you can also take off your coat while transformed to gain access to a Super Finishing Move that does a lot of damage (hence scoring more points) at the cost of a huge portion of your SP.

While also having your coat off, you will do more damage at the cost of receiving more in the process. This has you being more strategic with its usage and adds a layer of complexity to the satisfying combat mechanic of SD Shin Kamen Rider Rumble. Personally I only use the Super Finishing Move to end the encounter by wiping out all the enemies in one single blow.

Roguelike Elements

During missions there are multiple things that could happen as you go through the stages. You could have a random event where if you satisfy a condition you will gain an item, a stronger enemy may appear which also drops additional loot. All these extra elements will give your Kamen Rider certain bonuses and buffs like being able to freeze enemies or enhancing attacks so that they can knock people around further.

These bonuses can be upgraded provided that you find duplicates of the items that confer these bonuses as you continue your playthrough. However, should you be knocked out, all these bonuses will be lost to you and you would need to start collecting them from the beginning once more. These bonuses also includes power ups for your Finishing Moves.

This also comes back to my earlier point in regards to adding complexity to a satisfying combat mechanic which has me deciding if I should risk it all and go for an all out combo for better rewards at the risk of losing all my current power-ups and bonuses or play a little bit more safer to ensure I reach the final boss fully upgraded to improve my chances of winning.

Precious commodities such as Coins are also not safe from dropping if you get knocked out. Luckily you will come across an ATM machine during certain parts of the stages which allows you to deposit your hard earned Coins and keep them safe from being lost.

You can also find the occasional Vending Machine similar to that of the ATM machine. These Vending Machines sell drinks which give the following bonuses:

• Energy Drink – Increase dmg for Standard Attacks by 3% for 3 battles
• Viper Drink – Revive at 10% hp if you collapse 
• Cola Drink – Recover 10% sp when battle starts for 3 battles

All of these drinks cost Coins to purchase, with the Viper Drink being the most expensive as some encounters do get pretty dicey and getting that extra life which allows you to do just a bit more damage can come in pretty clutch and may be the difference between winning and losing. This also connects well with the idea that you will be rewarded by playing more strategically if buying drinks now or saving up for an upgrade later is the better option.

Towards the end of every stage you will also be given a choice of two rewards to select from. These rewards are random in nature and could be exactly what you need to get through the stage or something you are just going to have to work with given the circumstances.

At the end of each mission you will come across an Elite of the SHOCKER organization, they have their own unique mechanics and move sets that you will need to learn quickly unless you feel like going through a grind. Personally for me, the game is extremely challenging, even on easy mode.

The first boss had me retrying a few times while also going to quick play mode to get some upgrades before attempting to beat him once more. The feeling is definitely akin to that of a “Souls-like” type of game where the boss battles do require some form of precision and time to master.

Verdict

SD Shin Kamen Rider Rumble is definitely a fun game to play, it has a certain charm to it which reminds me of the good old days of traditional arcade games and playing Captain Commando with friends. Its roguelike nature easily adds to the game’s replayability as you could constantly run the same level but still get a different experience due to having different upgrades and random scenarios.

It is by no means a perfect game however as I find that sometimes the difficulty may be a bit too hard with damage values on the boss units especially being unreasonable despite playing on easy mode. I was definitely thinking twice about going through another grind just to get beaten up by Kumo Augment again for the third time due to a small mistake on my part.

In any case, who is this game actually for? I believe fans of the Kamen Rider franchise, especially the latest Shin Kamen Rider feature film, would definitely enjoy this the most as the game does follow the narrative beats of the movie and puts you in the shoes of Shin Kamen Rider in the fights against these supervillains.

While I did mention about the unreasonable difficulty spike of the game, that could also be attributed to the fact that I just need to be more precise with my actions and only capitalize on proper openings rather than simple feints. Overall, the game is definitely enjoyable to play and beating up the basic enemies while tossing them around the screen definitely feels satisfying and empowering at times.

SD Shin Kamen Rider Rumble is available now on Nintendo Switch and PC. You may find further details regarding the game at their official website.

SD Shin Kamen Rider Rumble was reviewed on Nintendo Switch and the code was provided by the Publisher.

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