SHINOVI NEXUS -Senran Kagura-: Pre-Registration Opened on Two Stores, Not Three, and Google Play Was Left Out

Pre-registration for SHINOVI NEXUS -Senran Kagura- opened on 31 July 2026 on two of its three announced storefronts. The App Store took sign-ups that night, and so did DMM GAMES, which is also running a lottery worth 300,000 yen in DMM points. Google Play did not open. The publisher's own press release marks it 近日中の開始を予定, meaning it is due to start shortly, and every English report that listed three open stores got that wrong.

The reveal came inside a livestream, not a standalone trailer drop. HONEY∞PARADE GAMES ran a broadcast titled HONEY∞PARADE GAMES特番2026！81の日スペシャル！ on 31 July, and the title-reveal PV went public on the official YouTube channel at 20:09 JST. The Japanese press wave landed at 21:30 JST, eighty minutes later. The PV runs 3 minutes 49 seconds. It carried the title, the key visual and the cast index, and nothing else: no gameplay demo, no release date, no monetisation detail.

The name is SHINOVI, not Shinobi

The official Japanese title is シノビNEXUS -閃乱カグラ-, with a plain hyphen on both sides and the abbreviation シノネク. No official English title has been published. Every identifier the publisher controls romanises the first word as SHINOVI: the site path hpgames.jp/shinovi-nexus, the YouTube handle, the official X account and the DMM subdomain dmg-shinovi-nexus.hpgames.jp.

English coverage split on this within hours. Anime News Network, Noisy Pixel and Final Weapon printed "Shinobi NEXUS"; RPG Site printed "Shinovi Nexus". Until the publisher ships an English title, the publisher's own slugs are the only evidence available, and they say SHINOVI. This article's URL keeps the older spelling because it was already live.

Platforms, region and the 2026 window

The site footer's リリース field reads 2026年 and stops there. The App Store listing shows an expected date of 31 December 2026, which is the standard pre-order placeholder for a year-only window and not an announced date.

Region matters more than the English write-ups implied. The store listing is Japanese, the PC build ships through DMM GAMES, and the site has no English version. No Western release has been announced.

HONEY∞PARADE GAMES was established on 9 May 2017 as a wholly owned Marvelous subsidiary dedicated to the series, with Kenichiro Takaki as its first representative director. Takaki left in 2019 and is not attached to this project. The studio is still listed as a Marvelous group company, and the App Store seller string drops the infinity glyph: HONEY PARADE GAMES Inc.

The main visual shows three of the fifteen announced characters, drawn by Nan Yaegashi, who has illustrated the series since the 2011 3DS game.

The full roster, by school

The official character index lists fifteen characters across three schools. No English outlet has published the full list. Romanisations below come from the publisher's own per-character URL slugs, and readings from each character page's title string.

秘立蛇女子学園, Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy

胡桃 reads Komomo, not Kurumi. This is the only school with live profile pages as of 3 August 2026.

The 紅姫 name-plate, the logotype used on Benihime's profile page. Benihime is also the character in the PV thumbnail.

輝立天翔学院, read Kiritsu Tenshō Gakuin, rendered "Radiant Tensho Institute" by RPG Site

刃霧 reads Hagiri. The school is not new: it was introduced in NEW LINK, founded with Phoenix zaibatsu money as a place where good and evil shinobi coexist. The site publishes no furigana for the school name itself.

死塾月閃女学館, Gessen Girls' Academy

煌 reads Kira, not Akira. 死塾 is a death cram-school, not the ordinary 私塾.

Five of the fifteen voice roles have been published, all of them at Hebijo. The other ten characters exist as portraits on the index with no CV line. Gekko and Senko are the exception in a different sense: they are established NEW LINK characters and both keep their NEW LINK actresses, which is corroboration rather than a new announcement. No narrator has been named.

A NEW LINK sequel, not a clean slate

The game is a direct sequel. The story is set three years after シノビマスター 閃乱カグラ NEW LINK, and the site's own meta description calls it シノビマスター最新作, the newest Shinobi Master entry. The premise picks up after the establishment of the 忍禁戒, a shinobi prohibition edict barring 善忍 and 悪忍 from fighting each other, with the player cast as a 先生 supporting the students. That framing is site story copy, not verified trailer narration.

That kills two claims circulating in the English coverage. There are not fifteen new characters: at least two are returning cast, and all three schools pre-date the game. And this is not a return after a long absence.

The gap between NEW LINK's shutdown and this announcement is fourteen months, not six years, and NEW LINK still has a playable offline client covering story, dress-up, diorama and acquired card art. NEW LINK's tagline was 命懸けで咲き誇れ; this one's is 命懸けで獲りにゆく。

Whether it is a gacha has not been announced

The site footer says 基本プレイ無料, and 4Gamer prints the fuller string 基本プレイ無料＋アイテム課金, free-to-play with item billing. The App Store listing shows two in-app purchases: a premium currency called 忍魂 at 160 yen, and an アイテムパック at 1,000 yen.

That is the entire published monetisation picture. No rates, no pity, no banner structure, no rarity scale. Both prior mobile entries in this series were gacha titles and a premium currency is listed, but nothing official calls this one a gacha, so it is unannounced rather than confirmed.

Four systems, no numbers

The official site names four pillars: command battles built on 忍法 under the ハイパーシノビバトル banner, cel-shaded 3D models with dress-up and diorama modes returning, the player as 先生 training the cast and raising affinity, and coming-of-age storytelling across the roster. The project was teased under the codename "Project N" before this reveal, per Noisy Pixel.

Nothing below the pillar level has been published: no party size, no turn structure, no element system, no rarity tiers. HONEY∞PARADE GAMES has a booth at Comic Market 108 on 15 and 16 August 2026, which is the next dated appearance on the calendar.

One of four system posters on the official site. The reveal showed rendered models like this one but no gameplay footage, no release date and no monetisation detail.

Two things that will date this

When Google Play pre-registration opens. The press release says 近日中, shortly, with no date. Until it opens, the Android half of the audience has no way to register, and the gap between the two store openings is a measurable read on how far out the build is.

Whether the monetisation model is announced before the 2026 window closes. A year-only window with no month, no beta and no gacha structure published on reveal day leaves four and a half months of 2026 for all three. If a model is not named by the time a release date is, the launch is being run very close.

FAQ

Is it Shinobi NEXUS or SHINOVI NEXUS? SHINOVI. The official Japanese title is シノビNEXUS -閃乱カグラ-, and the publisher's site path, YouTube handle, X account and DMM subdomain all use shinovi. No official English title exists, and English outlets are split between the two spellings.

When does SHINOVI NEXUS release? The official site says 2026 with no month and no quarter. The 31 December 2026 date on the App Store listing is a pre-order placeholder, not an announced release date.

Where can I pre-register? The App Store and DMM GAMES, both since 31 July 2026. Google Play was not open on announcement day and is listed as starting shortly. DMM is running a pre-registration lottery worth 300,000 yen in DMM points.

What platforms and regions? iOS, Android and Windows 11 64-bit, the PC version through DMM GAMES rather than Steam. The release is Japan only. No Western version has been announced.

Is it a gacha? Not announced. It is free-to-play with item billing and the App Store lists a premium currency, 忍魂, at 160 yen. No rates, no pity and no banner structure have been published.

Is it connected to Shinobi Master Senran Kagura NEW LINK? Yes. It is a direct sequel set three years after NEW LINK, and the official site describes it as the newest Shinobi Master entry. Two of the fifteen characters, Gekko and Senko, return from NEW LINK with the same voice actresses.

How many voice actresses have been confirmed? Five, all at Hebijo: Yuki Nakajima as Benihime, Ayumi Hihara as Kagami, Kazuki Mikawa as Nagi, Fuka Izumi as Komomo and Hitomi Sekine as Hibiki. The remaining ten roles have no published CV.

Who is making it? 株式会社HONEY∞PARADE GAMES develops and operates it, Marvelous Inc. holds the IP, and Nan Yaegashi designs the characters.