City Connection and Clear River Games have announced Ninja JaJaMaru: Yokai Night Parade, a 90s hip-hop-inspired hack-and-slash action RPG heading to PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC in 2027. The game serves as a spiritual successor to The Great Yokai Battle.
Retro gaming fans have a new platform horizon to look forward to as a long-standing franchise makes a stylistic leap into a funky 90s aesthetic. City Connection and Swedish publisher Clear River Games unveiled Ninja JaJaMaru: Yokai Night Parade, blending fast-paced ninja combat with street culture and rhythm elements.
Platforms, Release Windows, and Franchise Roots
The title is slated to debut in April 2027 across multiple hardware generations, targeting the PlayStation 5, PC via Steam, and Nintendo Switch 2. While initial details began circulating in December 2025, the official broader unveiling confirmed the game’s multi-platform reach. Publisher Clear River Games, a Karlstad-based outfit founded by the Freemode Group under Embracer Group, specializes in reviving classic retro franchises. This latest project acts as the spiritual successor to Ninja JaJaMaru: The Great Yokai Battle.
City Connection was founded in 2005 and owns the IP of long-established game maker ‘Jaleco’. The name ‘City Connection’ is reference to a previously released game by Jaleco, much loved by the City Connection president. City Connection is a game developer and publisher, as well as a soundtrack business (Clarice Disc), licensing business, publishing/editing/writing business, and engages in all manner of activities relating to video games. City Connection specializes in increasing the value of much-loved IP, utilizing some of the industry’s most experienced talent and reinventing games for a modern audience. City Connection strive to deliver quality games which delight gamers and respect original IP.
Combat Systems and Dungeon Exploration
Players step into the shoes of JaJaMaru as he searches for the kidnapped Princess Sakura, accidentally straying into an otherworldly dungeon where hordes of yokai are hosting a massive party. The action centers around defeating wave after wave of dancing spirits while collecting equipment.
The title introduces a deep arsenal, featuring over 300 types of equipment ranging from Ninja Swords, Kusarigama, and Shuriken. Combat mechanics let players execute multi-hit melee combos, unleash unlimited ranged attacks, and perform nostalgic aerial stomps. For heavy-duty finishes, players can rely on nine distinct ultimate skills, each supporting up to five tiers of upgrades. As players clear dungeons, they will unlock a variety of Ninpo, mastering these flashy, ultra-powerful Ninpo skills to sweep away hordes of yokai all at once, with JaJaMaru’s familiar sidekick, Gama Pakkun, making an appearance too.
Specialized challenges await those who pass through glowing torii gates that appear inside the dungeon to enter the Yokai Night Parade,
where you battle yokai under special rules. Challenge boss yokai as they lead massive hordes and show off their unique dance moves, and emerge victorious to claim a wealth of loot.
Base Customization and the Road to the Yokai Supreme Commander
Between dungeon runs, players manage JaJaMaru’s room, which serves as your home base. Here, you can power up your stats, upgrade your gear, and more. You can also decorate the room to your liking using furniture items acquired in the dungeons, with furniture items even granting stat boosts to JaJaMaru.
Once you’re fully prepared, head back into the dungeons as exploration spans diverse regional biomes including factories, yokocho alleys, onsen, and snowy mountains, with formidable foes awaiting you in every region. The journey culminates in defeating Nurari Pyoko, the Yokai Supreme Commander plotting the grandest Yokai Night Parade in history, and rescuing Princess Sakura.
Though the 2027 launch window leaves plenty of time for further development reveals, public demonstrations have already begun making waves. Clear River Games featured a playable demo at its booth in hall 10,2 at gamescom, alongside a digital showcase appearance in Pixel Arcadia on August 24th, giving early adopters their first taste of the rhythm-infused hack-and-slash action.
