SquareCrusher! vs Ningyo
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SquareCrusher!
Engage in fast-paced retro arcade action by dodging robots and crushing corrupted code. Earn points, collect gems for power-ups, and climb global leaderboards. This addictive game offers infinite replayability with simple controls and retro visuals.
- Fast, simple arcade action
- Infinite replayability
- Power-ups and power-downs
- Combo crush bonus
- Unlockable upgrades
- Game Center leaderboards
- Retro visuals & sound
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Dodge robots. Crush squares. Beat your best. SquareCrusher! is a retro arcade reflex game for iPhone and iPad. Drag your spinning fist through squares to score points, avoid enemy robots, and chain crushes together for combo bonuses. Every round is a chance to push your score further. Collect green gems to spend in the Crushmart, unlock power-ups, and build your lifetime score to climb the ranks. CRUSH, DODGE, REPEAT Simple drag controls get you into the action quickly. Stay alert as the challenge builds, and watch out for power-downs that can turn a good run upside down. POWER UP YOUR NEXT RUN Use effects such as invincibility, slow motion, and score multipliers to keep your run alive and your score climbing. CHASE YOUR HIGH SCORE Challenge yourself or compete on Game Center leaderboards. Rank up through play to earn permanent score-multiplier boosts. RETRO ARCADE STYLE Pixel graphics, an 8-bit soundtrack, and quick rounds built for another attempt. PLAY ON IPHONE AND IPAD Sync your progress across devices with iCloud. Game Center sign-in is required for online leaderboards. Free to download, with ads and an optional one-time purchase to remove them.
Ningyo
Ride a mermaid to catch fish and feed mythical creatures. Navigate treacherous waters, avoid sea monsters, and race fast salamanders. Strategize to feed kaiju friends or other fishermen as you progress through levels.
- Ride Ningyo the Mermaid
- Catch and feed fish to kaiju
- Race fast salamanders
- Navigate Yurei spirits
- Strategic feeding choices
- Level progression
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Inspired by the artwork of Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). Play as a fisherman and ride on the tail of Ningyo the Mermaid, who will bring you to spots where you can catch fish. Along the way are Ningyo's kaiju friends. When you come upon a Kappa or Shishi you must catch a fish, then bring the fish to the kaiju friend before they let you pass. If you do not have a fish, the kaiju will eat you! To play, hold your smartphone horizontally. Slide your left thumb to move left or right. Tap your right thumb to hop and jump. You get a point each time you feed a kaiju friend or turn on a lighthouse. Avoid falling into the sea. Receive a bonus when you reach a score of 10, 20, or 25. Tap the red score on the top right corner to pause or start the game over. You will encounter ghostly glowing spirits called Yurei. Each time you ride a Yurei the sky gets darker and makes it hard to see anything but them. If you bump into too many Yurei you may have to wait until daylight returns so you can see again. Yurei can be a great help in getting you where you want to go, but they cannot be trusted. They may suddenly go off in the wrong direction, so you must be careful. No matter what happens, keep up with Ningyo. Don't lose your mermaid. She's your only real friend in this adventure. There are also large salamanders that run really fast. The kaiju love to eat these salamanders, so hop on a salamander for a fast ride, then crash them into the kaiju and land safely on the island below. Advanced move: place your fishing line out in front of the salamander's nose to trigger other salamanders you may encounter. If you get a few going all at once, let the front salamander hit and feed the kaiju, as you ride on through to the next target. Racing salamanders is a fun move to master. You will notice that salamanders move upward when on their own, but when you ride them, your weight causes the salamander to move downward. You can hop off onto islands and hop back on to try and navigate your salamander so that it hits the next hungry kaiju. Once you feed 10 kaiju friends, you move to the next level, in which you will notice more fishermen out fishing ~ mostly because they heard a rumor of how good the fishing is in this area, so now you have competition. The kaiju friends are happy the shore and islands are busy, because they will eat a fisherman just as well as a fish. It is up to you to strategize. Do you feed the kaiju fish, or do you cross over to the dark side and feed Ningyo's kaiju friends the other fishermen? It's up to you. Kaiju don't care. They'll eat anything that's made of meat. Another fun move to master is picking up other fishermen onto Ningyo. You must stand on the very back of Ningyo's tail while facing forward. There is a low island with a single fisherman. If you do nothing he will hop onto the front of Ningyo as you pass. Now the front of Ningyo has a fresh batch of kaiju bait. If you come to a Kappa or Shishi, they will eat the fisherman on the front of Ningyo, giving you another point. Creepy, right? It's a weird game, but it makes Ningyo so happy. As you advance you will find ways to amuse yourself, like pushing the fisherman pulling up nets onto a Yurei. The kaiju friends will eat the fisherman, and you get a point each time you feed a kaiju friend. You can push other fishermen onto Ningyo the mermaid, and when they reach a kaiju friend it will eat the fisherman, giving you another point. So you can play in different ways, either only using fish to feed kaiju, or going on a murder spree and feeding other fishermen to the kaiju. The more you play this game, subtle details are revealed during gameplay which will create new and different strategies for the player to consider. How far can you ride a Yurei or Salamander and survive? Each time the course is random and different, which can be very exciting and challenging for a fisherman and his mermaid.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: SquareCrusher! at 11 against Ningyo's 1. Ningyo's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. SquareCrusher! sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Ningyo sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for SquareCrusher! against 5.0 for Ningyo. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SquareCrusher! has 11 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
| Parameter | SquareCrusher! | Ningyo |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (11 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 11 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | — |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 13 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Radler Designs | Jay Moores |
Customer experience
SquareCrusher!
Ningyo
In-app purchases
SquareCrusher!
- Disable Ads$0.99
Ningyo
- Remove Ads$0.99









