Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes review

The second most popular anime of the century puts up a solid fight on PSP, but it does seem familiar

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GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Fast

  • +

    button-breaking combat

  • +

    Bright

  • +

    slick graphics

  • +

    Fan-service

Cons

  • -

    Fewer characters than on PS2

  • -

    Gets tough

  • -

    Long loads

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Aug 29, 2007

You’ll be forgiven if you feel like you’ve played this orange-clad ninja beatdown before: it’s a stripped-down port of the PS2 brawler Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2, which was itself only slightly tweaked from the firstUltimate Ninja which came out just last year. So yes: if you’ve played one of these “3D characters in 2D worlds” bash-a-thons – or the Smash Brothers games they’re clearly styled after – you should be right at home. Which is good, because then you can get straight to the really rather nicely crafted face-kicking.

This is flat-out one-on-one combat, plain and simple. Well, okay: it’s simple, but not too plain. All of the 20 characters – down from 30 in Ultimate 2 - are mystical ninja of one kind or another. So, your base selection of punches, kicks, thrown weapons and guard breaks are complemented by flashy, “jutsu” moves – like, for instance, when Sakura spawns a giant-sized spirit clone of herself with fireball eyes and a tendency to smash her enemies under its mammoth open palm.

More info

GenreFighting
DescriptionIf you like your fighting games full of licensed anime characters bashing one another's 3D ninja teeth in, look no further than this.
Franchise nameNaruto
UK franchise nameNaruto
Platform"PSP"
US censor rating"Teen"
UK censor rating"Rating Pending"
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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Eric Bratcher
Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.
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