I’ve always heard of the Senran Kagura series, but never took the time to sit down and play one of the games. I’ve seen the cover art for the games, but never really any gameplay. Like most, I had my opinions on the series. That is not to say they were negative, they were not in the slightest bit, merely just a series I never played.
Enter Senran Kagura: Peach Ball. A different take from the Senran Kagura series from what I understand; a pinball game! I thought, what better way to test out this series than with a simple pinball game set in the Senran Kagura universe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yC6xIReMQs
The basic story behind Peach Ball is Haruka is an employee at the Honey Arcade, where there is a video game tournament being held. On normal days, the arcade isn’t super busy, so to pass the time, Haruka does some fun chemical experiments. This time, she comes up with a concoction called Beastall, that when touched, turns humans into animal forms, very sexualized animal forms. (Think a human with dog feet, dog ears, and skimpy clothing that is fur.) Haruka ends up leaving the Beastall in the bathroom right next to the sink.
You might have an idea where this is going. Another character, Ryona, goes into the bathroom and uses the Beastall as hand soap, inadvertently coming out of the bathroom in dog form and licks four other girls, changing them as well.
This is where the Peach Ball, a device, shaped just like a pinball, that has the power to change animal-form humans back to their original state, comes in. It is up to the player to play pinball with the Peach Ball, with the animal girls sitting on the pinball tables, and hit the ball into them and their anatomy. . .
I would be downplaying the game if I did not say this game is over-the-top sexualized, but from my understanding that is what the Senran Kagura series is known for.
The gameplay is surprisingly fun. I did not think I would enjoy a pinball game as much as I did while playing Peach Ball. Players choose a character, and then a girl to change back to their human form. This is done by tying up the girls and carrying them over to a trusty pinball machine and placing them on top. After that, standard pinball play begins, but after continuously hitting the girl with the ball, it sends the player into a mini-game where the lady is bombarded with attacks. After multiple standard mini-games, a super one triggers, which deals the final blow with the Peach Ball, changing the busty animal lady friend back into her human form. Pretty simple.
Challenges are also available during each gameplay session that nets more points with things such ash as score X amount of points, or bop the lady ten times, or hit a certain spot on the table X amount of times. The challenges are visually represented on the right-hand side of the screen, next to the table. When I first started Peach Ball, I felt like the challenges being on screen was intrusive, and it bothered me. I wanted to complete them but I would look at them to see what I needed to do and then my ball would fall between my flippers. As I kept playing and getting used to the game though, it became easier to check them.
Peach Ball has numerous unlockables, including different outfits, balls, and music tracks. There is also a gallery mode where the girls’ outfits can be changed and viewed and even pose them for a picture. There is also an included mode that lets one intimately touch and play with the girls individually.
The controls for Peach Ball are pretty simple and easy to get used to as there is not much to control. This is one game that benefits fully from the Switch’s digital triggers, unlike games like Rocket League where having an analog trigger for fine-tuning speed is needed.
Peach Ball is a great on the go game, as the graphics are clean and bright and colorful. There is a healthy separation graphically between the table and the ball that makes it easy to see when on the smaller Switch screen. The tables have a bright color palette too, making it easy to discern one thing from another.
All in all, Peach Ball was an enjoyable game that surprised me. If you are looking for a good pinball game, with a humorous story that is great to play on the go, Senran Kagura: Peach Ball is a good pick up.
More information on Senran Kagura: Peach Ball is available on the official website. A digital Switch copy of the game was provided for the purpose of review.
For more anime reviews, check out our thoughts on My Hero: One’s Justice, RemiLore: Girl in the Lands of Lore, or Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson.
