I’ve reviewed hundreds upon hundreds of games and collector’s boxes over the years, and I’ve taken all sorts of paths doing it — sometimes professional, sometimes absolutely not. But honestly, I do this because it’s fun, and probably because it gives my dopamine levels a nice little kick.
The reason I’m even typing this right now is that I decided to skip one of the games I originally planned to review, purely because of the publisher and the stunt they pulled with this exact release — The Ninja Warriors 2 Saviors – Return Of The Warriors.
It All Began With This One…Or Actually Both…
I’ve bought loads of collector’s editions over the years, and honestly, looking at this one… what’s the point of a solid black box as a display piece? And right next to it sits the Ultracore box — another “meh” release that should’ve been a major collector’s item but somehow wasn’t.
What went wrong? Personally, I think a lot of it comes down to digital stores changing how we buy games, the rising prices, and the confused idea of what a collector’s box is even supposed to include these days. Some of you might remember the old Loot Crate boxes. Those creators went out of their way to make every box feel special. And yes, I know — people complained about the plastic or whatever excuse they had for not supporting them — but the real magic was that they were cheap, fun, and even had free postage. I often wondered how the company didn’t go bust sooner.
Strictly Limited, on the other hand, always felt like they were squeezing every last penny out of us. Half the time they didn’t even show what we were buying — like this mysterious Ninja Wa… err, Saviors black box.
The only genuinely good thing here is that these two boxes are the same size and build quality, so they do look nice next to each other on the shelf… well, as long as I hide part of the black one :p
But after pre‑ordering both of these and ending up with something quite different from what was originally advertised — and getting it long after everyone else — I eventually just stopped caring. I ignored every new release from Strictly Limited and their main competitor. I was simply done paying premium prices and not getting the item I was hoping for.
And Then When You Open It…
Now this is how the box should have looked on the outside — either on the slipcover or on the actual box itself. It would’ve looked absolutely awesome on the shelf. But with all the stuff packed inside (see the next sections), it would’ve been tricky to line everything up without stealing attention from the genuinely impressive interior. Especially when the game is meant to stand inside the box, the way it’s shown above.
There’s one more cool detail, too: the PS4 game cover is actually reversible, which would look great swapped around inside this display box. Maybe that was the intention — fine — but most collectors want the contents inside the box, not floating around as part of some display experiment.
The Stainless Heroes Are Back, Once Again!…
When I saw the line “The Stainless Heroes Are Back Once Again!” it reminded me of another negative tied to this release. The game was originally announced as The Ninja Warriors Once Again!, and I even wrote about that version before launch. Best of all, I reviewed the Amiga version of the first game at the same time, so the name change still feels extra pointless.
And honestly, imagine if any of the artwork shown above had been used on the outside of the black box. That would’ve been an absolutely killer showpiece on the shelf.
The Rest Of The Box Contains Some Cool Stuff, Other Not So Much…
Some very cool stat cards for all five fighters are included. Ironically, I’ve never unlocked all of them in the game, yet the cards themselves show the super‑move button combos. There’s also some metal thing‑a‑mobob in the box — absolutely not something I’d ever put on display.
You also get five pretty cool pins, a great‑looking postcard, and a mysterious paper item sealed inside a bag that looks awesome… but let’s be honest, I’m never opening it.
The Verdict…
All the stuff in the box is shown in this picture — a huge poster, and notice the reversible cover on the game case.
So yeah, that’s the full package. It looks pretty damn good, and some of it genuinely is… but the price tag, the endless waiting, the name change, and the fact that the collector’s edition arrived months after both the standard and online versions — that SUXX BALLS. Instead of loving it, I’ve ended up thinking of it as a disappointing box rather than remembering the good parts.
The game itself is pretty good, although nowhere near as epic as the original Ninja Warriors. My friend Roar and I actually reached a point where we got so stuck that we just switched it off. That must be five or six years ago now, and we never picked it up again. Maybe I should fix that this week — you know, instead of playing VR all night long.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
