Kinniku Banzuke: Road to Sasuke

## Description

Sasuke (also known as Ninja Warrior outside of Japan) is an annual sports TV
show where 100 competitors compete each year in 4 obstacle courses. The
courses require both agility and strength and are increasing in difficulty.
Courses do not dramatically change every year and are basically the same,
although there are some alterations in parts of them every now and then.

The game lets you do the training on each of the courses with some of the pre-
defined characters, or you can create your own character and enter the full
competition. Sasuke is a sport where failure is not an option. No matter how
far you’ve come, if you either make a mistake and fall into the water that is
at the bottom of each of the first three courses, or run out of time, you lose
and get disqualified. As courses are gradually increasing difficulty, in real
life after the first course only a handful out of a 100 competitors remain to
try the second course and so on. Sometimes none of the competitors even
reaches the last course, and even rarely finishes it all.

Gameplay-wise, it’s a button mashing game where you press specific button or
repeat a button sequence in order to make your character run with occasional
pause when you need to jump or perform a more unique action specific to the
course. The first course is less muscle and more agility, meaning you’ll have
to run and jump a lot to make it in time to the end. Some of the obstacles
consist of jumping over bodies of water, holding onto the rolling tree log
without falling down, rope climbing, or balance walking. Second stage is more
muscle focused and will require you to hold onto something or to lift heavy
objects. Third stage tests your limits by having very few places to stand and
rest, and you have to pass most of it by holding onto something or your body
weight with just young fingertips. The final stage is direct rope climbing
where you have to climb 15 meters high in 30 seconds flat. The game also
features real-life commentators, Tsutomu Taruki (垂木 勉) and Ichirou Furutachi
(伊知朗 古館).

Kinniku Banzuke: Road to Sasuke