Along the way you'll swap out characters as the Shippuden story arc progresses, but the overall usefulness of these initial three characters will make picking another character moot.Ĭombat consists of a button for physical attacks, a button for consumables like shuriken or bombs, and a dodge move that is perfect for getting past some of the basic traps laid out for you.

From the outset you've got Naruto, who on the whole doesn't have much to offer aside from a decent attack strength and the shadow clones ability that will make copies of him appear on screen Sakura, who is able to destroy obstacles and can stick to walls, allowing her to climb up narrow passageways Sai, the new guy meant to replace Sasuke, has the ability to draw beasts, one of which can carry him up great heights, perfect for reaching the tops of buildings. Gameplay is a really standard affair, platforming with a fairly simplistic combat system, the wrinkle here is that you've got a party of ninjas, all with different abilities that allow you to explore your surroundings. Sound effects are minimal and somewhat weak with nothing special to note. Now, I'm not expecting them to have something like the show opening track playing, but even the ambient music of the Naruto show felt better than this. Music is wholly unforgettable with a generic driving rock sound that feels nothing like the soundtrack that the show has to offer. Some of the special attacks and enemies add a slight graphical variety with some impressive looking effects that can fill up the screen, but that kind of stuff is usually reserved for boss fights. Stages that take place in a forest or cave though feel flat and monochromatic. The character sprites are small, have limited animation ranges, and the levels are pretty bland, with the city-scape stages feeling the most detailed and varied. What's even stranger is how inconsistent this feels with other Naruto titles released by Tomy in the past. Naruto vs Sasuke isn't really that great looking a title, not when you've got stuff like Castlevania, Bleach, or Professor Layton paving the way for great looking 2-D on the DS. Unfortunately this game almost feels like it belongs back in the Game Boy Advance era, with some fairly low quality graphics and gameplay that feels like a minimal improvement over Legend of Kage, an early NES game.

Today's offering, Naruto Shippuden: Naruto vs Sasuke is a bare bones platformer that attempts to encompass the Shippuden storyline, much like how Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 did for the 360/PS3, in a handy dandy portable offering. To further saturate the market with this gaming juggernaut, Atlus has felt it's high time to get some of the Tomy games out for the Nintendo consoles. The Naruto phenomenon shows no signs of slowing, teaching kids and tweens the world over how to be a legendary warrior of old.

Naruto shippuden sound effects