Site contributors, Alucard, Drukenmaster and Sasuke recently sat in with Bandai on their Ultimate Ninja Conference Call. What follows is their report:

This past Thursday, we sat in for a conference call and Q&A session in regard to Naruto: Ultimate Ninja. There was a presentation from Bandai Rep. Brian who was also involved with the games “Legend of Heroes” and the “.hack” series.

Brian explained that the game’s story mode is loosely based on the manga/anime, but does not specifically adhere to any particular arc or section in the time line. The game does offer some “what if?” scenarios not covered in the series; no specifics were mentioned, but I’d like to imagine “What if Kakashi turned on Sakura?” or “What if Shikamaru could summon Optimus Prime?”.

The game features 12 characters with two unlockables that would not be revealed, despite Alucard’s prodding… The character voices come directly from the English dub VA’s, so fans of the dub will recognize Sasuke’s brooding darkness and Naruto’s high pitched redundancy. Believe it.

The game still sports simplified controls, comparable to the Smash Brothers franchise, however, a button-masher this is not. Strategy enters in the form of chakra management. Most special attacks have different levels of chakra usage that result in different levels of damage. Combine that with good ‘ol hand to hand slap fests and an endless supply of kunai and you have a game that your girlfriend can’t beat you at out of the box.

The game also features interactive environments with power-ups and chakra boosts that can be accessed by engaging in wanton destruction, which is also a plus.

Bonuses in the game come in the form of vending machines. When you complete certain tasks, you will be rewarded with cash which you can spend on unlocking extras such as collector cards, bottle cap figurines, sound test, etc. The more money you pump into the vending machine, the better your chance at getting some nice goodies. The game has endured some slight changes from the original Japanese release… but nothing that we could tell would make a big difference, possibly because we’d never played it.

All in all, the conference call was greatly informative and when it came to an end, we were even more excited about the release. I do believe that we’re all in for a treat.

Yours truly,

DM, Sasuke, Alucard

Thanks guys! Existing fans of the original Narutimett Hero may be a bit disappointed by the two “secret” characters. Word has been released through the strategy guide that they’re merely separate versions of Cursed Seal Sasuke and Kyuubi Naruto. All in all though it should be a good title. Look for it in few days on store shelves!