CyberConnect2’s Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series has been praised for retelling the Shippuden story in grand style and detail, to the point that fans can skip the anime. It’s a testament to the team’s efforts how they were able to tell this epic story in three games, resulting in some of the best cutscenes in video game history.
However, for all of the grandeur they’ve done for Shippuden, it’s sad how the original series never got this treatment. The original Ultimate Ninja Storm did a poor job recapping this manga and anime, only giving fans a couple of boss fights near the end. Since fans still haven’t fully gravitated towards Boruto, we think a game that properly tells the original Naruto story is long overdue.
Massive fans of the series will probably bring up how Naruto: Rise of a Ninja and Broken Bond on Xbox 360 recap the original story pretty well. The problem is that they’re only available on Xbox 360 and weren’t given backward compatibility for Xbox One or Xbox Series systems. It would be great if they were given a re-release on modern systems, but they also have plenty of filler and a battle system that relies too much on gimmicks.
After seeing CyberConnect2 successfully recap the Dragon Ball Z storyline with Kakarot, we think those devs could do the same thing with Konoha’s Jinchuriki. Letting fans use Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and more in a single-player adventure has the possibility of being fun. If the devs also add a fully explorable Konoha, which they already did with the Shippuden games, that would be even better.
We also wouldn’t mind if CyberConnect2 decided to give the original Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm a redux. Remaking the game with better visuals and an improved Story Mode would make fans happy. Some fans even prefer the gameplay of this first game, so CyberConnect 2 can hit two birds with one stone by bringing back these mechanics while adding a new Story and more characters.
The devs at CyberConnect 2 are pretty busy right now, so we wouldn’t mind if a new game in this ninja series was made by someone else. CyberConnect 2 is working on the Dragon Ball Daima DLC for Kakarot, in addition to Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles 2 for SEGA, so that’s a lot of work. It would be great if they came back for Naruto, but they might be tired of that ninja by now.
click to enlargeA single-player Naruto game would breathe some life into this series. Giving fans another reason to check this franchise out aside, it would be nice to see this character in something not fighting game-related. We wouldn’t mind an Ultimate Ninja Storm redux, but a new single-player title could be a lot better.
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