Review – Denshattack! on Switch 2

There are plenty of on-rails arcade games. You can probably still find most of the classics in your local arcade: Virtua Cop, House of The Dead, and Jurassic Park just to name a few. Though the genre thrived in the ’90s, it has had somewhat of a recent resurgence with the release of last month’s Star Fox and last year’s Night Striker Gear. Great games. Well, what if I told you that I’m not reviewing THAT type of on-rails game? If you’ve ever thought, “Why isn’t there an on-rails train game? It’s already on rails,” you’ve come to the right place. Even better if you thought of a bullet train going high speeds, pulling off tricks and outrunning giant mechs. This, my friends, is no fantasy. This is Denshattack! and it has to be seen to be believed. 

I’ll set the stage. You put a token into a Crazy Taxi cabinet when all of a sudden the taxi onscreen resembles a high-speed Japanese bullet train, the roads all become rails and Tony Hawk skates by grinding a set of grind rails but his skateboard isn’t a skateboard at all. It’s a train! Developer Undercoders have created an off-the-wall, out-of-left-field 3D arcade game that resembles the best and wackiest of early 2000s Sega. If the colorful cell-shaded visuals, funky, sample-heavy hip hop/punk rock soundtrack, and focus on racking up points by doing tricks reminds you of Jet Set Radio, you’re getting the idea. However, this only describes Denshattack’s most basic elements. 

 

 

Denshattack! follows Emi, a Ramen delivery driver who lives in a heavily surveilled and domed depiction of Japan that’s using the rail system to keep its citizens inside its confines. This rail system is only traveled by the VACTRAIN which is owned and operated by the corrupt Miraido corporation, banning all other forms of trains from the rails. Emi is quite skilled on the rails and is encountered by a fanzine journalist named Fernando who tells her of the competitive train sport, Denshattack. What Denshattack exactly is, is more of a hybrid of skateboarding and racing using bullet trains. But in this world, that’s even more extreme due to being considered a rebellious act with each region of Japan having a gang that participates. Emi quickly becomes intrigued by this and is able to utilize her skills from delivering ramen to impress Fernando as he seeks to take down Miraido by documenting its corruption with Emi challenging each gang’s boss. Thus a happenstance friendship begins as Emi and Fernando’s journey across an industrialized Japan begins. 

Denshattack! may be an on-rails game but it begins with an off-the-rails premise and only gets progressively crazier as the game goes on. You’ll be playing 67 stages across nine diverse regions of Japan and these stages take a few different forms. Your train will dive inside volcanos, drift through flowery meadows, bring radio towers down like giants, and ride up skyscrapers. None of these scenarios are ever boring. Some stages only require that you reach the goal in a traditional arcade format. Others will see you racing against several other trains with the goal of finishing in the top three. Sometimes, you’ll be placed in a large level of several branching railways with a set of three or more tasks, usually deliveries, to complete. My favorite is the Trick Park levels, complete with the two minute timer, that requires you to pull off any many trick multipliers as you possibly can before time runs out. 

 

 

Actually, I lied. 

The Boss levels are by far the most entertaining moments in Denshattack! and I don’t want to spoil any of them! At the end of each world, you come face-to-face with Ramona Flowers’ evil ex-type personalities, each representing a different music style similar to Jet Set Radio. These duels are the levels where Denshattack really gets to show its scale, play with different camera angles, and pull out its most outrageous obstacles to throw in your path. It’s hard to not laugh out loud when you’re steering a mech’s rocket fist through skyscraper windows, outrunning a giant mechanized sand worm and using spin tricks to hit giant baseballs back at an opposing bullet train. And these are just a few early examples! By the end of the game, and especially after a downright thrilling final act, your jaw will be on the floor. There is more entertainment in Denshattack! per second than just about any other game I’ve played this year. The intention is clear and successful: Bring as much hyper-stylized spectacle as an arcade attract screen can possibly offer, but make that into a ten hour video game. 

Equally as brilliant is how Undercoders are able to consistently introduce new mechanics and moves that your train can pull off. Because of this, the gameplay never feels stale. Be it wall-riding, drifting across two tracks at once or even looping around tunnels, Denshattack! has a lot to teach you. It’s all rolled out smoothly and drip-fed expertly. In fact, you get two worlds in before you gain the ability to switch out Emi’s train for different trains with varying perks. These are the key to the game’s mechanical depth.  By collecting each stage’s gears, paint cans and scrolls, five collectibles per level total, you’ll unlock new trains for purchase at castles found in each world. In addition, these collectibles also unlock stickers and color schemes to outfit your trains with as well as Fanzine entries for each region. There’s plenty to grab. 

 

 

Denshattack! might seem like a simple game on its surface, but that’s only if you’re trying to see the credits. If you’re going for full completion, you’ll need to master its scoring system, most of which is driven by completing drifts, tricks, and bridging actions together via manuals. Chain enough actions together and you’ll fill a Guitar Hero-esque lightning meter that opens up optional rainbow tracks and tunnels that give huge multipliers. You will become acquainted with combining both triggers, the right stick and the left stick for some truly sick jumps, stomps, flips and twirls. As you successfully trick your way through Japan, you may make allies out of rivals. Brilliantly, the loading screen reflects this change as it grows more and more crowded as you complete each region. 

Though you can blaze through Denshattack! in a few days time, it comes with high replay value if you’re wanting 100% completion. You will likely be replaying its 67 stages multiple times if you’re going for Gold medals and each stage’s seven optional objectives. The process of doing so reminded me of the ranking system found in 3D Sonic games. You’ll need to be fast but also taking advantage of chaining actions together for points. Medals are earned through a combination of three factors per stage: Reaching the goal under a certain time, achieving a specific score by chaining tricks together and completing all seven Dares (objectives). Only by doing all three will you get Gold medals. Through most of my initial passes of each level, I mainly achieved Bronze medals though the game is forgiving in that you can wipe out as many times as you want and still move on to the next stage. I also only hit one difficulty spike with Chapter 6’s Trick Park jump up in score threshold.

 

 

It’s very easy to jump at the wrong time, miss an incoming route, or get derailed by missing a drift. Lower scores will likely be common your first few times through a stage. This is where the aforementioned unlockable trains can make a difference. One train I unlocked allowed me three crashes before a stage’s No Crash achievement would be voided, but that came at the cost of all my tricks scoring lower. Another train showed me the perfect drift zone when executing a drift so I’d get bigger boosts and higher scores — but the zone was smaller with stricter timing required. These were the two trains I relied on most through the majority of my playthrough, but some go even more extreme by dropping your score down to 0 with a single crash but offering higher, faster accumulated multipliers as a result. Given that these perks are entirely situational, it was wonderful that Denshattack! let me choose the train I’d use before the start of each stage. 

If you’re nervous about any sort of execution barrier, don’t sweat it. Denshattack! comes with a good intro tutorial that demonstrates the basics and a move list dubbed “The Tricktionary” that any up-and-coming conductor can refer to at any time. If you’re concerned about the blistering pace of the game and decorative locales being an overwhelming sensation, there are numerous accessibility settings to tone down the camera movement, motion blur, and speed lines. It’s worth noting that on Nintendo Switch 2, Denshattack! maintained 60 fps in handheld mode gameplay but dipped lower to a 25-30 fps range during certain cutscenes. This didn’t hinder my experience, but it may be jarring for some who are expecting a smooth ride. Texture quality is lower on Switch 2 than on PC or competing consoles with some of the Fanzine images appearing blurry and grainy as a result. Again, this is purely cosmetic and by no means a hindrance. The good news is, a day 1 patch should iron out these issues as the development team is already aware of what needs fixed. Thankfully, it’s a short list. 

 

 

As lighthearted as this review has been, it’s hard not to admire the ambition Denshattack! represents for Undercoders, a decent indie development team in an indecent time. In the midst of a video game industry on fire, this Barcelona, Spain-based team have crafted their masterpiece by simply making a fun game first and foremost. And it just so happens that the final product is not a mere nostalgic look back to stage-based score attack arcade games but is something we have never seen the likes of before. Denshattack! would fit in perfectly on a Dreamcast, can be played on the go in an actual train, and has a generationally exceptional soundtrack that includes some of gaming’s greatest musicians from the last 30 years. Because of this, I found the game to be a beautiful celebration of all things arcade. If you’ve got the ticket to ride, Denshattack! will take you on a hell of a journey. 

 

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