Name: "Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations"

Platform: Playstation 3, Xbox 360

Developer: Bandai

Rating: Most likely Teen

Players: 1-2 (?) players (online: unknown)

DLC: Unknown

Release Date

US- March 13, 2012

UK- March 30, 2012

JP- February 23, 2012

 

Now, I'm no fan of Naruto. In fact, the character himself bugs the hell out of me, and you'd better believe it!

 

 

 

 

But I am a fan of the Ultimate Ninja series, and figured I'd give it a go. Please note that this preview is based off my time with the Japanese demo.

 

For those unfamiliar with the Ultimate Ninja series, it's basically the Naruto version of Super Smash Brothers. While the demo only allows you to control Naruto, past incarnations of the game have allowed for battles involving up to four players. Like SSB, th ebattles took place on a two-dimensional plane, although there were multiple levels within each arena in both height and depth. Generations, however, throws you into a three-dimensional arena. There were no obstacles in the demo besides a tree or two, although I would imagine that there will be more in the final version.

 

Although you only control one character (three generations of Naruto in the demo), you can set assist characters a la Marvel vs Capcom, and with the tap of a button Sakura bursts in to lay on the hurt. Apparently, you can't switch between characters in battle. The winner of the battle is the one who reduces his opponent's HP to zero. Like in previous installments, there are two levels of combat; normal abilities and Chakra abilities. When you use Chakra, physical attacks become more powerful, thrown weapons change, and you can dash across the entire arena in two seconds. Either way, you can escape your opponent's onslaught with a decoy at the tap of a button, although it takes time for the gauge to refill.

 

While the story so far isn't clarified, it would seem that it follows the veins of Dissidia: Final Fantasy: don't think about it. Just enjoy beating the crap out of your favorite characters with other generations of the same character.

 

It takes a while to get the system down, especially since the demo doesn't give you a proper tutorial, but you'll catch on pretty quickly. All in all, Generations brings in a good brawling experience. If you're a fan of the series, or just looking for a good fight, give this game a try.

 

With an international release of March, the English version of the demo should be available soon.

Yes. Thank you. I've been waiting for someone to finally talk about this.

For those unfamiliar with the Ultimate Ninja series, it's basically the Naruto version of Super Smash Brothers. While the demo only allows you to control Naruto, past incarnations of the game have allowed for battles involving up to four players.

 

I agree to everything but this. I don't see a resemblance to SSB. It's better comparable to normal 2.5 fighters like Soul Calibur (of course with Ninjutsu and Item features) or Dragonball Budokai.

 

Oh another noteworthy feature is that the guard-system was changed. in Storm 1 and 2 you had to press L2 or R2 in the right moment do use the Body Replacement Jutsu. Now they changed it by adding another gauge. It allows you to use the Jutsu 4 times or so without the need to time it perfectly... after that you have to wait again until the gauge refills. For me it is an important change to the battle system.

I agree to everything but this. I don't see a resemblance to SSB. It's better comparable to normal 2.5 fighters like Soul Calibur (of course with Ninjutsu and Item features) or Dragonball Budokai.

 

Oh another noteworthy feature is that the guard-system was changed. in Storm 1 and 2 you had to press L2 or R2 in the right moment do use the Body Replacement Jutsu. Now they changed it by adding another gauge. It allows you to use the Jutsu 4 times or so without the need to time it perfectly... after that you have to wait again until the gauge refills. For me it is an important change to the battle system.

 

Thanks for the notes. I only played the PSP games.

 

But I still see a closer resemblance to SSB. Personal views: the more the merrier! Just gives people more interpretations.

This game is actually the third installment in the Ultimate Ninja Storm series of games, which are noted for their similarities in gameplay mechanics and the 3 dimensional aspect.

This game is actually the third installment in the Ultimate Ninja Storm series of games, which are noted for their similarities in gameplay mechanics and the 3 dimensional aspect.

they made quite a few adjustments to the system thankfully, to try and lessen spamming such as a new substitution bar, chakra shuriken stall, combo breaks and a few more things to make the game more strategic.

awesome, i was curious when this comes out