If you’ve already had a chance to see my preview of NARUTO Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3, you’ll know that that Wii has some big promises to make with regards to its quality as a fighting game. Especially as we enter a market where games like Street Fighter IV, BlazBlue, and King of Fighters is setting the standard for what people want to play, NARUTO Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 has to be a rather good game. But that’s just talking about the Wii. TOMY Corporation has another Naruto fighting game up its sleeve, and this one is on the DS.
I know, right? A fighting game on the DS is already an impressive feat, but considering that this Naruto game, NARUTO Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2, is striving for graphics equivalent to a PS1 3D-fighter, and a story mode that plays out like an RPG, well, we might just have a game worth checking out. While I doubt it’ll reach the heights of some of those other fighters I mentioned, or even of NARUTO Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3, it has some neat things going on. Hit the jump for my impressions.
NARUTO Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2 (DS)
Developer: Dream Factory
Publisher: TOMY Corporation
To be released: September 2009
NARUTO Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2 is at it’s core a one-on-one 3D fighting game based off the Shippuden universe. With 34 characters (the entire original roster, then the new cast), incorporation of all the jutsu moves from the anime and manga, and and a rather interesting story mode, developer Dream Factory is trying to make the best Naruto game on the DS that it can.
Since this is a handheld game, single player is going to play a much larger role. In the story mode, you’re Naruto, running around towns, villages, and the overworld like any other JRPG. You can change your stats, get items (which are conveniently hot-keyed to the touchscreen) to use during battle, fight general baddies before taking on a boss character in a dungeon. Sounds typical, except all the battles are fights in a fighting game, as opposed to an RPG battle. It looks to be a pretty neat little twist on typical fighting game story modes, and the heavy focus on Naruto’s reunion with Sasuke aims to please fans of the series.
A new mode to NARUTO Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2 is the quest mode. This mode is like a randomized dungeon crawl, being the only way to get certain unlockable content. This looks to be especially interesting to people who play through the story mode and want to keep that sort of gameplay moving.
As for multiplayer, things are a bit limited. Since there is no WiFi play, versus battles are limited for local play. While not a bad thing, it might just mean that your fighting is going to be a solo affair. Which is a bit of a drag, as many of these characters look pretty good for a DS game, and the effort to make 34 of them is a nice touch.
For a fighting game, NARUTO Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2 is a bit simpler than its Wii brethren, but it promises to keep the fight style intact. With only two attack buttons, a block button, a teleportation button, and a super button, attacks are directional based, much like in Smash Bros. Those items I had mentioned before are also laid out on the touchscreen, offering chakra boosts, health boots, and stat editing on the fly. For the single player mode, you can choose which items to place here, but in multiplayer it’s all randomized. Thankfully, lots of fan-service attacks, yells, and moves are brought in, and while the game has a blocky, grainy quality, in motion it looks pretty good.
What publisher TOMY and developer Dream Factory are aiming to do is create a simple on-the-go fighting game with a recognizable franchise that is appealing to people. While certain features, like the lack of WiFi, is disappointing, the game is trying out some interesting ideas, as well as improving on ideas laid down with the original Ninja Destiny.
