Have you ever thought to yourself, “Man, I really wish I could play a game like Mario Party but wish it was easier to play?” For some, playing Mario Party can be a challenging and frustrating experience especially when playing with competitive players. Nintendo has dominated the market with the Mario Party board game experience being a fan favorite. Now, if you were to create a game that was similar to Mario Party, what franchise would you choose? Would you choose an anime, cartoon, TV show, or movie? Typically, movie-based video games fail, so choosing a popular anime or cartoon franchise would be the best; this is what CyberConnect2 and Sega had to consider when designing Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Sweep the Board!
When you think of the top anime series currently out, what titles come to mind? Most likely, you will name Demon Slayer, One Piece, Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, MHA, Bleach, or another Shonen anime. Now, out of those titles, which one has a balanced roster of male and female characters? If looking solely at heroes within a series, My Hero Academia, Naruto, and Demon Slayer would be three of the best options. From those three titles, CyberConnect2 has worked with Naruto and Demon Slayer. In recent years, Naruto/Boruto has gone down in popularity while Demon Slayer has only increased in popularity.
Gameplay Setup
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Sweep the Board! features five special boards showcasing special moments from Season 1 to Season 4. The first two boards showcase demons and locations from Season 1. The second board showcases different parts of the Mugen Train Arc; this board also features a special fast travel mechanic involving the train. Although the fourth board may revolve around the Entertainment District Arc, the board itself isn’t very flashy. The fifth and final board shows off the Sword Smith Village and the two upper-rank demons.
At the start of the game, you will have to choose between offline, local wireless, or online play before setting up the match. Once the mode is selected, players get to choose between Sweep the Board, Skill Training, and Raffle. The Raffle mode is similar to Toad’s Shop and allows you to unlock stamps, battle attire, wallpapers, titles, frames, and avatar images. Players can buy raffle balls using Kimetsu Tablets or premium tickets.
When setting up the match, players first choose their controller layouts, characters, and then the map. After choosing the map, players then select the number of turns they want to play, if special awards are on if there will be a handicap, and if players can spam stamps; the stamp system works identically to the stamp system as Mario Party Superstars. with the rules set, it’s time to hunt some demons.
Winning the Game
Like Mario Party, the player must race around the board and get to a predetermined location. Unlike Mario Party, the player does not need to spend coins in order to capture the objective; this destination is marked by either the crow or a demon. Upon arriving at the destination, the map will switch between either day or night. At nighttime, players can encounter demons out in the wild. While moving throughout the map, it is possible to land on aid squares, item squares, shops, or bad luck spaces.
In order to move throughout the map, the player must roll a dice; players can use the regular dice or the Slayers’ Dice. The Slayers’ Dice is only available at certain times and goes on cool-down after use; if using an Ally’s dice, your ally will leave your side. The player in last place will be helped by Nezuko and get bonuses to their rolls.
Players have a variety of ways to train and rank up as members of the Slayer Corps. Players can earn experience by completing the gourd mini-game, sword training, demon-slaying, and/or by winning mini-games. Mini-games can be solo or team-based. Boss fights are typically co-op, however, lower-level demons are solo fights. Demon Fights use either motion controls or button controls; when using button inputs, you will need to aim the joystick in the right direction and press the button when it flashes on the screen. Players work together to chip down the demon’s health and slay the demon. Player’s performance determines how much experience they earn. When the demon is slain, the final blow scene from the anime will play.
Once you have completed the match, the winner will be shown. Depending on how the player did will earn Kimetsu Tablets and unlock different Skill training mini-games.
Graphics
At the moment, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Sweep the Board! is only available on the Nintendo Switch; the game is scheduled to be released on other platforms later this year. Despite being on the Nintendo Switch, the characters and boards look great and are well-designed; this comes as no surprise since it is CyberConnect2 who made the game and they do a good typically with their graphics. The only visual issue that occurred while playing was the flashing on the screen for input prompts wouldn’t match the vibrations and the characters would become slightly pixelated during the celebration screen.
The game could include different character outfits to give more variety to each Demon Slayer. Some characters have skins while others do not.
Controls
The game’s controls do take a little bit to get used to if using the motion controls. The standard button layout is a lot easier to use than the motion controls. Without using the joy-con wrist bracelets, the motion controls will not always register properly. In the six games we played, we noticed that the game would only recognize about 55% of the movements. At first, we thought this might be due to defective Joycons, however, when even using brand new Joycons, there were still issues; because of this, we all voted to use only the buttons.
Audio/SFX
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Sweep the Board! utilizes the voice acting from the show and brings some of each character’s favorite quotes. Additionally, the sound effects and music seem like they come directly from the TV show to immerse the players in the environment and feel like a part of the action. The boss fight cutscenes make you feel the impact of the fight.
The only audio issue we faced was when the winner was declared, the music could crackle.
Replay Value
With Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Sweep the Board!, the replay value of the game ultimately comes down to how much the player enjoys the game. The game has a ton of things to unlock which requires playing through multiple maps in order to unlock them all. The maps each have their own feel and don’t feel like a carbon copy to one another. As you unlock new mini-games, the game does become more fun to play and feels more refreshing.
Verdict
At the end of the day, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Sweep the Board! is an excellent clone of Mario Party Superstars. In fact, many might argue that it leaves its predecessor in the shadows. With a variety of mini-games, multiple characters and maps, and scenes from the show, players can experience enjoying Demon Slayer in an all-new way. The change to allow players to buy multiple items and not require coins to capture the destination lowers some of the stress of playing the game. The addition of Nezuko as a support Ally for the player in last place makes it so the game is never truly over until the final dice has been rolled.
Although, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Sweep the Board! can be a fun time, but there are a few issues that might anger players. Firstly, the motion controls working about 55% of the time takes away from one of the game’s core mechanics. Occasionally, the training mini-game will bug out during the daytime and cause the mini-game to be skipped. The vibrational feedback issue during the boss fight can also make players not want to participate in that game mode. Despite these issues, using the buttons to play the mini-games takes away from these issues.
At the end of the day, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Sweep the Board! is a fun game to play at parties or with friends. The changes made from regular Mario Party make the game more accessible to casual players while still being fun for competitive players.
A review code for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Sweep the Board! was provided by Sega for the Nintendo Switch. If you want to play the game on another console, wait til later in 2024. The game is available for $59.99.
