Fortunately, the developers placed several save points scattered throughout each level, and you can even freely travel to previous levels if you wish. The game can easily take 12 or 13 hours to beat, lasting just as long as the Wii version (and it adds a local wireless battle mode to extend playtime even further). The game's levels are large they require either one long play session or a lot of smaller ones to complete. Indeed, Mini Ninjas is not a short experience. And while the developers took the time to design all new worlds to adventure through, they didn't skimp on the content. This means that while Mini Ninjas on the DS has the same overall story as the other Mini Ninjas games – a set of brave, newly trained ninjas (three of whom are playable) must defeat an evil samurai warlord who is upsetting the balance of nature and transforming innocent woodland creatures into a samurai army – the actual content of the levels is almost completely original.
While the DS game adheres to the same story and themes present in the Wii version, it still manages to provide a unique gameplay experience that can be enjoyed alongside the other games, or independent of them.
But with Mini Ninjas for the Nintendo DS, that's not the case. There's always a danger that the handheld version of a multiplatform game will be an afterthought compared to its console brethren.
