Naruto: Ninja Destiny Hands-On

Late last week, during a meeting with representatives from Tomy, we had an opportunity to get a little hands-on time with a preview version of Naruto: Ninja Destiny. This 3D fighting game for the Nintendo DS (yes, you heard that right) is based on the Japanese game Naruto: Shinobi Retsuden that was released last year. A number of changes and improvements have been promised for the US version. Having played the two games side-by-side, we're pleased to report that Tomy appears to be making good on said promises.

The first thing we noticed about Naruto: Ninja Destiny is that its in-game character models look much crisper than those in the Japanese game, largely thanks to the introduction of black outlines and improved shading. Within moments of starting our first wireless one-on-one fight, it also became clear that the US game's frame rate is significantly better than its Japanese counterpart. We're told that Ninja Destiny runs at 30 frames per second, while Shinobi Retsuden only managed 15. Although we can't be certain how accurate those figures are, the improvement is certainly significant.

As is often the case when Naruto games arrive in the US, the character roster in Ninja Destiny has been tweaked somewhat since the Japanese game's release. You can look forward to playing with 16 rather than 13 combatants this time around, although about 10 of those will need to be unlocked--presumably by playing through the story mode. Characters confirmed for inclusion in Ninja Destiny at the time of writing include: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi Hatake, Gaara, Neji, Rock Lee, Might Guy, Shikamaru, Itachi, and Nine-Tailed Naruto.

All of the characters have unique moves in their arsenals, of course, but regardless of who you're playing as, the controls are the same. The DS's face buttons are used for light attacks, heavy attacks, special moves (some characters will have two different ones), and jumps. The left shoulder button is used to teleport behind your opponent (using up chakra energy in the process), and the right shoulder button is used to block. The D pad is used to move left or right and to sidestep around the pseudo 3D arenas.

Furthermore, the touch screen is used to activate power-ups. We're told that Naruto: Ninja Destiny features at least 15 different power-ups, but at the beginning of each match, you'll be randomly assigned just six of these to last you through all three (at least that's the default) rounds. Power-ups that we had an opportunity to try out during our time with the game let us replenish our health, replenish our chakra, become immune to knockdowns for a time, increase our attack power, prevent our opponent from using his or her own power-ups, and even to add a number of shuriken to our arsenal for ranged attacks. We had no trouble hitting the six large "buttons" on the touch screen in the middle of a fight. Because our matches were being played over three rounds, the use and conservation of power-ups definitely added an element of strategy to the proceedings.

Although Naruto: Ninja Destiny will feature eight different environments that look quite varied for you to fight in, they're essentially just flat arenas with different backdrops. Those of you who are fans of the show will be pleased to hear that all of the characters in the game are voiced by the same talent responsible for the anime series. And, those of you who are dedicated enough to have already imported a copy of Shinobi Retsuden will undoubtedly want to consider an upgrade when Ninja Destiny arrives in stores next month.