We are in an era where old-school pixelated brawlers and roguelikes are abundant, but Ra Ra BOOM does not shy away from a bold statement. They are the ninja space cheerleaders fighting rogue AI on post-apocalyptic Earth, featuring a flashy art style that promises chaotic and wonderfully enjoyable gameplay. This upcoming 2D beat-’em-up by Gylee Games aims to push the genre forward, featuring a comic-anime style, team-based combat, and a narrative element that adds a human touch to the chaos.
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With a Spin on the Side-Scrolling Beat-’Em-Up Concept
Ra Ra BOOM is not just another side-scrolling button masher; It is providing a lane-based brawling experience that allows you to cross back and forth between the foreground and the background during fights, requiring the player to think not only about dodging attacks, but also strategically utilizing lanes to kill enemies before taking an attack. This makes for a unique, refreshing tactical element and takes the focus off players worrying about simple combo chains.
What Ra Ra BOOM also does is combine on-rails shoot-’em-up mechanics with the traditional fighting genre, letting characters fire projectiles, perform special moves, and infinitely melee until the players are pretty much dead. At the same time, Ra Ra BOOM is still an accessible game for casual players, and it provides enough depth for players seeking a multiple-hit combo satisfaction and to play through waves of mindless robots.
Introducing, The Ninja Space Cheerleaders
The protagonists of Ra Ra BOOM are four cheerleaders, Aris, Saida, Ren, and Vee, all with their own unique combat mechanics that fit various play styles:
Aris– does mid-range attacks; she is fast and looks balanced.
Saida- hits hard, but her melee attacking is slow, so she is dependent on her close attacks.
Ren– has fast close-range attacks utilizing ninja skills for some quick damage. Rens DPS is sky high for a tight window, which is fun to play with.
Vee- provides the defense and shield people from damage while using a ranged weapon. She can body people up close, without needing speed.
Players can switch between characters at any time while playing solo, allowing them to chain their combos in the creative and switch play style to make it work for them, while also tackling enemy waves. In Couch Co-op, other players can join in control of one character, working together to handle gameplay so that the margins of play only become visible to serve as defense or engage, rather than doing whatever rogue robots have planned when hordes are swarming them.
A Colorful Post-Apocalyptic World
While many other post-apocalyptic games can have a washed-out or overly desaturated feel, Ra Ra BOOM complements and still shimmers with a vibrant, hand-drawn art style. The art varies the environments in saturation and pop, with comic book-like outlines enhancing the stores. Although the world and the planet may be in ruins, it feels lively. Players journey through nine different levels across various strange environments, including dank sewer systems, abandoned amusement parks, and lush swampland, each presenting a plethora of unique robotic enemies.
The enemies have varied and creative designs, including the aerial drones that bombard players with projectiles, to units of mechs that require teamwork to take down. Even the fights with the bosses will be multi-phased and require players to adapt, requiring each cheerleader to be deployed in different ways and to experiment with their abilities if players want to succeed.
A Story with Meaning
Ra Ra BOOM’s other strong feature is a fully voiced narrative; rather than serving as a backdrop, it pervades the game. The fights with the robotic villains resonate with emotional weight because of the relationships the cheerleaders have with one another. With a goal of saving Earth from the threat of AI (whether it expresses itself as colossal flying robots or buckets of bombs), the game’s narrative is wise enough to sprinkle in moments of humor and friendliness, as well as conflict, to humanize the chaos in the fight scenes.
If the character-honoring gameplay in Ra Ra BOOM is truly dedicated to the characters controlled by players, it could help differentiate Ra Ra BOOM from the majority of brawlers that neglect storytelling. By giving players a reason to become invested in the characters they are controlling, Ra Ra BOOM adds weight to the action taking place.
A Game with Streamer and Community Potential
Ra Ra BOOM’s bright, vibrant styling, fast-paced gameplay, and comedic inclinations offer a unique blend of features that make it well-suited for popularity among content creators and streamers. Ra Ra BOOM is a perfect offering for any content creator or streamer looking for something fun to share with their audience. The game opens the door for challenges, speedruns, community events, and combo showcases to keep players entertained, exploring the game beyond the campaign.
Release and Expectations
Ra Ra BOOM is set to release on August 12, 2025, on Steam, followed later on some consoles. As the indie scene grows more crowded (and cringeworthy) with nostalgia-based, pixel art brawlers, Ra Ra BOOM has the potential to freshen the genre with bright colours and multiple approaches towards gameplay that will challenge players while pursuing fun and friendship, with some intense robot-slaying peppered in there too!
If you like beat-’em-ups like Streets of Rage 4 and River City Girls, for example, but you’re looking for something with a more modern anime twist, Ra Ra BOOM looks set to give players an experience as cute as it is enormously fun!
