Reviews, Shuriken Sentai Ninninger, Super Sentai

Review: Guitar Ningeki Star SwordGun (Shuriken Sentai Ninninger)

Guitar Ningeki Star SwordGun
May, 2015 – ¥4,500

P1110566

If it wasn’t weird enough that Starninger is an American cowboy ninja that uses a burger phone to transform, let’s add the fact that his weapon is a guitar…that is also a sword…that is also a gun. Yep. Included with this Star SwordGun is the Furai NinShuriken, an all new shuriken that harnesses the power of wind and lightning. The toy was released in May, 2015 for around ¥4,500.

The Furai NinShuriken is much like the Goton NinShuriken, except it only has two modes. “Kaze Magic” is the wind based mode that shouts “Hurricane Ja!” when spun. The shuriken has a unique gimmick that lets the front panel flip down to transform. Flipping it down will reveal “Kaminari Magic”, the lightning based attack set. Spinning this mode will announce “Thunder ja!” Both modes play an attack sound when the middle button is pressed.

The Star SwordGun itself is pretty basic, like most weapon toys are. The toy features two handles, one for the sword and one for the gun, both of which have their own dedicated triggers. Each trigger plays one unique sound. The other button on the front of the guitar activates the final attack ‘The Attack!” but without a shuriken inserted it will just play a normal sound when the trigger is hit. Inserting the Furai NinShuriken in the device doesn’t change the base attack sounds, but spinning it does activate the shuriken’s sounds as well. Pressing the final attack button and spinning it will activate a standby sound. The sword trigger will sound “Ninja Slash!” while the gun trigger will sound “Ninja Shot!”

Other shuriken can be used in the toy to varying success. The Goton NinShuriken is the most affective, but the other Ninninger based shuriken can be used and fit moderately well with the sound layout of the toy. Likewise the Furai NinShuriken can be used in other toys, but to a much lesser degree of accuracy.

Overall, the Star SwordGun is just an okay toy. The gun mode is fun, while the sword mode is obviously very small. The Furai NinShuriken is the real winner of the toy, but unfortunately still doesn’t offer the same level of independent fun as the Goton NinShuriken. Like the Ninja Starburger, I love the motif and design of the toy, but the playability and execution unfortunately fall a little flat. At least the sounds are cool.

[youtube http://youtu.be/7Zt5li66pBY]

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