American Ninja Warrior Is Getting Its Own Video Game

Licensed properties getting video games has been a thing since forever, dating way back to the old days when companies like Atari thought that it would be cool to make a quick buck on half-finished titles like E.T. Well, the long and illustrious history of licensed video game properties will get just a little longer now that American Ninja Warrior is joining the fray.

The announcement for the new game was made over on the GameMill Entertainment YouTube channel. The trailer features a minute worth of gameplay from the upcoming game called American Ninja Warrior Challenge. It's being made in collaboration with the NBC network, and it will be available for the Xbox One, PS4, and the Nintendo Switch starting March 19th, 2019.

The trailer showcases some of the gameplay elements, which appear to mix in standard analog controls with quick-time event button prompts. We see the player-character running, sprinting, jumping, and climbing across various obstacles throughout the course, and some of the segments will require pressing the appropriate button prompt at the right time, otherwise you'll fail and have to start the course all over again. The objective is obviously to reach the end of the course in record time.

As showcased in the trailer, players will also be able to create their very own Ninja Warrior, including choosing their outfit, appearance, color scheme and name. You'll also need to train them up and boost their stats, complete challenges to earn money in order to unlock new gear, and attempt to become the best in the field.

The game will play out very much like the eponymous television series. You'll start by competing in the local city courses and attempt to work your way up the ranks until you reach the national TV edition of American Ninja Warrior, and set about becoming the best in the world by completing the four-stage course that's based on the original Mt. Midoriyama from the Japanese version of the show.

Gameplay will be accompanied by the over-the-top commentary team of Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila, who will provide play-by-play voiceovers of the action taking place onscreen, along with color commentary to keep things spicy.

There's also going to be the inclusion of offline multiplayer modes so players can compete with each other for the best times, along with online leaderboard support so you can challenge your friends for the best score.

It reminds me of the old American Gladiator games on the Sega Genesis and the SNES that came out during the era of the 16-bit wars.

The feedback for this game hasn't been all that hot, and most licensed property games are rarely ever lauded by gamers or critics. Only a couple of rare occasions did we see such games make a positive dent in the gaming sphere; X-Men Origins: Wolverine comes to mind, where the game was closer to the likes of the 2017 movie Logan than the 2009 movie counterpart it was originally based on. But, otherwise, it's an uphill struggle to get gamers excited about licensed property games. Nevertheless, you can look for American Ninja Warrior Challenge to launch this upcoming March for home consoles.