NIS is well-known for their corky, over the top RPG titles, that have weird stories and addictive gameplay. Penny Punching Princess is no different. Players will be hooked on grabbing some money and bribing their enemies to just get something new.

Story

The story takes place in an era after “Might meant everything…” and now Money runs everything! That’s right, Penny Punching Princess revolves around money ruling all, and does a fantastic job in portraying it in the story, as well as gameplay. The dialog is enjoyable, as it never takes itself seriously and will keep your attention from beginning to end.

Visuals

Penny Punching Princess takes inspiration from the retro sprite based dungeon crawler look of the Cladun series for the characters and enemies, and mixes it with digitally painted scenery that look along the line of Disgaea titles. The character design of each monster looked amazing, as well as the themes for each stage. The blend of the two styles mix well and gave the title its own identity, not to mention, made Penny Punching Princess feel right at home on the Switch. Honestly, the retro look brought this game to life for me, and I can see other players loving it as well.

Gameplay

This is where the game felt unique, as it felt like a dungeon crawler mixed with a brawler, and with some RPG elements to give players a challenge. And when I say challenge, I mean challenge! As players will notice, they can not just run through each level just bashing buttons, players will need to use a bribing mechanic to help build armor, take overpowered enemies off the map, activate traps and even gain temporary abilities to heal or gain an attack.

Players will find this mechanic very enjoyable, as its one of the only ways you can progress through how difficult the game jumps up to in early levels, but you can not just bribe at any moment. Players will have to collect money as well as let the gauge fill up to do so. Once players have a good amount of gold they will be able to bribe monsters, depending on their cost.

As mentioned, once you bribe a monster you can use them to build armor, which will also give the Princess abilities for the dungeons, but it isn’t as simple as just bribing any monster for armor. Once a monster is bribed and recorded in your management list, you will be introduced to armor that can be created with them, as long as you have bribed the right amount. Which give players a goal to reach for strengthening up for some of the upcoming boss battles as players make their way through each chapter.

Verdict

Penny Punching Princess is a fantastic title for the Nintendo Switch and PSVITA. With its witty story, fantastic visuals and addictive gameplay players will have a reason to comeback to this title. I really enjoyed the bribing mechanic, and overall feel of the game as a whole, and recommend this title for all players who own a Switch. I give Penny Punching Princess a 7 out of 10.