Kenneth Ellis

Get your Money Jutsu ready and get set for the new Ultimate Ninja 4: NARUTO Shippuden from Namco Bandai. Its the first Naruto game set during the Shippuden series released in North America, and for all the Naru-tards out there,  this is big news!

That’s right, another Naruto game. Whats the big deal?

WHATS THE BIG DEAL?! Well for those people who are not familiar with the Naruto series, then nothing much. But for the masses of Naruto fans teeming through the lower 48 (and possibly those other 2) then this is the day you’ve been waiting for: The first Shippuden based game to reach the Americas. And so many things to be excited for.

As with any new fighting game in a series there is going to be a few new features. Firstly, new characters to bash your buddies face with. And with the sheer magnitude of characters the Naruto series has to choose from for the game, it could be anybody! As expected, along with all the standard characters, new ones from the Shippuden series will make appearances. These include such characters as Deidara, Sasori and Chiyo to name a few. Secondly, there will be a new game mode called “Master Mode” which will be a fusion of role-playing and action-platformer game types, and will be the device by which the story of the game is told. For the major Naruto fans this might be the entire reason you should get the game. In this story mode it will follow Naruto’s journey back to Leaf Village before the beginning of the Shippuden series. More to the point, this game is the ONLY way to see this part of the Naruto storyline. Its not in the anime series and its not in the manga. Pretty clever Namco/Bandai… well played indeed.

Oh, were you wondering why Brock looks so angry? Ultimate Ninja 4: NARUTO is only coming out for the Playstation 2 in March sometime. No Trophies/Achievements for you. Too bad, but there is still the whole “game” thing you could try out, just for the fun of it. From the look of the game video though, it looks like “The Little Playstation that Could” still has some coal to burn.