SinceNaruto: Rise of a Ninjawas released almost 15 years ago, it has largely been forgotten in the annals of history. While it was far from a flawless effort itself, it remains an important title due to the fact that it laid out a near-perfect template for subsequent anime games to follow. It was one of the first anime games to blend together two genres and treat neither like an afterthought. At its core,Naruto: Rise of a Ninjais a satisfying fighting game, but it also treats players to an engaging and interesting adventure game.
On its own, the idea of blending two genres is far from innovative, but the way in whichNaruto: Rise of a Ninjamanaged to leverage both genres to complement one another is a queue that future anime games should follow. Even recent releases likeDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chroniclesthat play in a remarkably familiar manner toNaruto: Rise of a Ninjamanage to improve significantly on the arena fighting aspects of games but most fall short of updating the action-adventure portion to a similar degree. Still,Naruto: Rise of a Ninjaand its spiritual successors layout the perfect blueprint for anime games.
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja Plays Like a Shonen Anime
A successful anime game has to stay true to the spirit of the show. WhileNarutois absolutely centered around combat, presenting it solely as a fighting game fails to capture a significant portion of what fans love about the series. A game likeNaruto: Rise of a Ninjaallows fans to explore and interact with the world of its respective show and experience all the brilliant moments in between fights, which, for a series likeNaruto—and indeed most shonen anime—can be a lot. This isn’t to say that pure fighting games based on shonen anime can’t be successful, but they lend themselves better to even more battle-heavy franchises likeDragon Ball, as evidenced by titles likeDragon Ball FighterZtopping mostlists of best games based onDragon Ball.
The key, however, seems to be that developers need to treat the story mode aspect of any anime game with the same level of seriousness that they treat the mechanics of the core fighting game. While subsequentNarutotitles like theNaruto: Ultimate Ninja Stormseriespresented marked improvement on the combat aspects of past games likeNaruto: Rise of a Ninja, the story mode and exploration have always been a point of weakness that undermine the overall effort.
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja Pairs the Story with Practical Purpose
Ultimately, games likeNaruto: Rise of a Ninjaface one major obstacle. If the core fighting aspects are done well enough, the story mode will inevitably be in danger of feeling like a serious lull. Luckily,Naruto: Rise of a Ninjaand its sequeloffer a remedy for this situation by doubling the story mode as an effective tutorial. As players traverse around the Hidden Leaf Village, platforming and progressing in the story, they are introduced to various combinations which can later be used during fights. It’s a brilliant way to ease players into a rather complicated combat system and simultaneously keep them invested in progressing through the story.
Naruto: Rise of a Ninjaalso has a handful of platforming puzzles that reward players with coins that can later be redeemed for items like theiconic Miso Chashu Ramen at Ichiraku Ramenthat can be used for healing, as well as various weapons, and upgradable scrolls. It’s probably here thatNaruto: Rise of a Ninjaleft the most room for improvement, with a relative dearth of items and upgrades, but the basic concepts laid out in the game can still inform future titles for years to come.
Naruto: Rise of a Ninjais available on Xbox 360.
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