Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos review

As of 2025 the Neptunia series has been around for fifteen years. Fifteen years of parodying video game consoles with anime girls is a long time, and Neptune and the gang have some serious longevity whether you enjoy their brand of silliness or not. As a series of predominantly RPGs the quality of the Neptunia games has admittedly been a little hit and miss, yet despite this I keep coming back to them. So let’s celebrate fifteen years with another entry in this baffling series, the bizarre motorbike arcade experience that is Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos.

Our protagonist of choice this time around is Uzume Tennouboshi. This recurring character apparently represents the Sega Dreamcast (although I couldn’t tell you why aside from the spiral on her tie) and has never headlined a game in the series before. Our story begins with Uzame waking up in another dimension, brainwashed into loving Dogoos. These dog-faced slimes are the Goombas of the Neptunia world, so it’s somewhat alarming that she has to fight to remember they’re the enemy. It turns out the other Neptunia girls are experiencing the same issue, and it’s up to Uzume to get on her bike and help them out of their trance to try and figure out what the hell is going on. It’s a silly little story that honestly is more enjoyable than a lot of the more long-form Neptunia narratives.

To help your friends come out of their Dogoo trances, you’ll need to remove as many of the slimy foes as possible. This means racing around arenas on your motorbike and collecting them faster than the enemy riders can, with the winner reaching a specific number first. This is what every stage of Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos essentially boils down to, so you’d better get to grips with your wheels.

Controlling your bike is relatively simple, although I can’t pretend it feels amazing. Alongside moving and steering you can also jump to get over gaps, boost to go faster and drift to turn corners sharper. Drifting is especially important to master, because when you drift the area surrounding your motorbike that absorbs Dogoos gets much larger. This means the most effective way to collect a big group of the little pests is to drift into them at max speed, which is rather satisfying when done perfectly.

There’s another way to gather Dogoos though, and that’s to fight dirty. By riding up to your slime gathering opponent and hitting them with an attack you’ll cause them to drop a chunk of their collected Dogoos and give them to you, and especially if they’re ahead of you this is ridiculously effective. The AI opponents will also aim to attack you too though, and with both melee and ranged attacks to worry about you’ll need to stay on your toes.

Each of the game’s fifteen stages boil down to this Dogoo collecting gameplay, but they’re varied enough to keep it interesting. Split across five distinct worlds, each of them features unique Dogoo types that change the game. Angel Dogoos allow you to fly across gaps, Token Dogoos can be put into slot machines for prizes, and there’s even a world that has Dogoos that make you bigger and smaller to navigate the arena effectively. These creative elements help keep you engaged throughout Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos, and ensure the endless drifting doesn’t get monotonous.

As you progress through the game you’ll recruit all your favourite Neptunia girls to your party, and can choose any of them to play as. Each of the girls has different attack stats and specialities, although I must admit I was happy to just stick with Uzume for the duration and didn’t feel the need to change it up (especially because her melee ability was the best and that was my preferred method of attack).

As well as selecting different girls, you’ll also earn money you can spend on new bikes and parts to equip them with. Customising your ride to maximise its Dogoo absorption area or top speed is easy, but in reality it just isn’t necessary. I completed the entire game without a whole lot of hassle by changing to a new bike once, and I never even bothered switching in new parts. The challenge isn’t really enough to make you feel the need to upgrade and shake things up, even if you go back into the stages you beat to take on the optional challenges.

There’s one particularly big issue with Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos I haven’t mentioned yet, and that’s the length of the game. I completed the story in well under two hours, and although I could probably have added an hour or so to that by replaying every single level and taking on the optional objectives it’s still not a lot of game. Considering this is retailing at around forty pounds it’s a tough sell, even for the most diehard Neptunia fan.

Although I had some fun with Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos, it’s not a game that’s easy to recommend you purchase at launch. With iffy controls, a short runtime, and no real need to dive deeper into customisation options, the entertaining arcade action isn’t quite good enough to overcome the issues the game has.