New month, new games – although November tends to be the month with the most arcade releases to discuss, so buckle and keep those eyes peeled, as we are about to become very busy around here. One way to start things off is with exA-Arcadia, which officially marks five years since they’ve been on the market this month. They just began shipping out Fixeight EXA LABEL (making it an October release), while opening pre-orders for a game that we’ve heard about for some time now: JITSU SQUAD Featuring Samurai Pizza Cats.
What is Jitsu Squad?
Announced via Kickstarter at the beginning of 2021, Jitsu Squad is an original 1-4 player beat ’em up game. You play as one of four animal characters on a quest to rescue their master from the clutches of the evil Origami, while also confronting shadows from the character’s past. The developers, Tanuki Game Studio, mention Marvel Vs. Capcom, Super Smash Bros., and Dragonball Fighters Z as inspirations, although you can see where this game would have fallen into the arcade brawler category of the mid-90s.
It came to home consoles, where I grabbed a copy for my Nintendo Switch, but we found out early on that it would receive an arcade release thanks to exA-Arcadia. We’ve had to wait a while though, but said wait is finally over.
Jitsu Squad Featuring Samurai Pizza Cats
Having played both the Switch and arcade versions, I can attest to them playing like different games. Enemies in the console version tend to be a bit “spongey,” taking a lot of damage before disintegrating into cartoon viscera. The exA version is tuned with arcade pacing, reserving the real damage absorbers for the boss fights. Many other small elements have also been enhanced(input lag, event timers, text boxes, animations), safely making this the definitive version of the game.
(Note: This footage is from 2023 and does not have the Samurai Pizza Cats in it. I got to play that version at Amusement Expo, but I have not played the most recent build)
Another major addition is with the playable characters Speedy & Yattaro from the Samurai Pizza Cats. This fifth fighter is exclusive to the arcade version and while all of the characters are voiced by anime voice actors, Speedy/Yattaro are being voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi – the original voice of Yattaro, and one of the most prominent anime voice actors out there.
The Jitsu Squad Arcade Kit
Available from your preferred exA-Arcadia distributor (particularly if you want to get the correct art for the cabinet that you have), Jitsu Squad comes in at around the standard $1600~USD price that many exA titles have. Like Fixeight EXA LABEL, it’s also supporting the 4-player cabinet, although it will work in a 2p just as well.
Here is what comes with a typical kit. Orders will begin shipping out this month:
Thoughts
I’ve been anticipating this game for quite some time – in part as it is content for the 4-player exA cabinet that I have, but mainly due to it being a beat ’em up game. That is one of my favorite genres, so I’ve been happy to support it when possible. Raw Thrills did a beat ’em up in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles several years ago, but aside from that, we haven’t had a whole lot of games to choose from.
The game also has a cutting sense of humor that I appreciate – what else might you expect from a game that has a song called “Surfin’ On The Lava?”
This is not the only beat ’em up that exA-Arcadia has in the works, and they should be debuting one of them at IAAPA in a few weeks.
What do you think about this one?
