Like most ports of Japanese origin, the Nintendo Switch version of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road to Boruto has taken its time to go handheld – the original launched back in 2016, and its anime film tie-in expansion a year later – but with three different story modes, and a frighteningly large number of playable characters, this full-fat version certainly helps ease the pain of its timekeeping skills with a sheer force of content. Should you have exhausted the substantial offering of the 2018 port of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy on Switch, then you should expect something equally gripping.
There are few anime series quite as successful and beloved as the journey of one Naruto Uzumaki, and developer CyberConnect2 has produced a videogame adaptation that’s so good some might even consider it better than its source material. The Ultimate Ninja Storm series has been around for almost 17 years now and has grown from a humble fighting game with a small roster on PS2 to the gargantuan battler we see today. The arena battle formula has served Namco Bandai’s anime adaptations well countless times before – just take a look at Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 or the My Hero One’s Justice games for starters – with each battle consisting of free-roaming throwdowns between various characters from the Naruto universe, with lots of QTEs and a lot of cutscenes.
Thankfully, the action more than lives up the Naruto brand, with its 3v3 battles as captivating to watch and play as before. Some old systems have been reintroduced, while some recent additions have been taken out, making this instalment more in line with the first couple of games. Now you can change between characters at will with a flick of the analogue stick – enabling you to best utilise your support characters, only now with a single health bar between them – making it far easier to switch up your attacks on the fly. Wall-running returns, adding in a welcome extra dimension as battles shift between walls and the ground, and so do awakenings and ultimate 'jutsus' (over-the-top super moves that see your characters teaming up to pull off extra powerful manoeuvres).
Thanks to the relatively simple input scheme, it’s quite easy to pick up and enjoy Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road To Boruto’s arena battles (that heavy dose of over-the-top set-pieces and QTEs certainly help), but don’t expect to actually follow the story if you’re a newcomer to the world of Naruto. This is, after all, the fourth game in a long-running series, one that picks up on the manga/anime’s storyline part through the Fourth Shinobi World War. Sure, you’re getting a lot of content – a roster size and story component that rivals that found in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm – but unless you know the source material intimately, you’ll only getting half the experience. New Naruto fans are better off investing in the aforementioned trilogy before going all-in with this instalment. Even the addition of the Baruto expansion – which follows the exploits of Naruto’s son – is a slice of story best served to existing fans.
The cutscenes in Story mode – one of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road To Boruto’s many modes – are probably its biggest letdown, mainly because the developers have relied on semi-static images played over audio from the anime. It’s as if the developer wanted to make this adaptation feel a little different from the anime, but why trade the quality of the source material when its inclusion would only serve to enhance the interactivity of the fights themselves? The result is a conveyance of narrative that’ll likely put off long-standing fans and potentially bore newcomers into simply skipping them until the next fight is unlocked.
As a port, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road To Boruto runs really smoothly, with next to no instances of slowdown or noticeable framerate drops. Menu transitions are smooth, and we found being able to switch between characters far smoother than previous entries. There’s also support for online play, and the netcode held strong in all of our multiplayer matches, although we learned quickly that those simple inputs hide some real complexity when you start learning which characters and their jutsus make the best team. However, there’s no real additional content for Switch users over other console versions, bar the obvious handheld support.
Conclusion
Thanks to some welcome changes to its core systems – mainly the improved battle mechanics and the great onus on story content – Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road to Boruto is the most accomplished and enjoyable instalment in the series yet. While it’s certainly more for the hardcore Naruto crowd, it’s nevertheless a meaty package with an impressively vast roster, a huge amount of unlockable content and the addition of the film-tie in for the Baruto storyline. If you love all things Naruto, this fourth instalment is a must-have addition to your ninja collection.
Comments 31
I love Naruto and I just finished it recently. I'm definitely going to pick this one up. Imagine if we got a demon slayer game on switch
Little note: you refer to FighterZ as an arena fighter, when it's a 2D fighter. Perhaps Xenoverse is what was intended, as that is an arena fighter at its core.
These games are my guilty pleasure and this runs AMAZINGLY on Switch - pretty much par with PS4 versions - having this on the go is amazing!
@DarkTron Quite right - this has been fixed.
After playing the trilogy on my switch recently and getting back into it I might have to pick this one up, only if I can find it cheap though
I didn't even know that this was coming to the Switch! Nice!
It's a great game, but I already finished it in 2017. They want sale a old game twice or something? Where is new Naruto or Boruto games?
Can't wait til Namco does a sale again, might get this fourth sequel when that happen as I still haven't finish the Shippuden trilogy yet. Seems to me Bandai Namco tends to released these late for the Switch a few months, years, or so after their launch on other platforms. Last year was Ni no Kuni and Sword Art Online, and the year before that was Dragon Ball FighterZ and Dark Souls, this year will be Road to Boruto and Jump Force. Next year will probably be Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, Ni no Kuni II, and/or Tales of Arise perhaps.
@RPGamer yeah my pfp was shikamaru. Naruto was my first anime that I started almost 3 years ago. I skipped the filler but it's still alot to tackle. I suggest watching it by arcs. Like I would watch to a pint take a break and watch something else than get back into it
This is some great news!
This is a game that pretty much needs no review. Either you are a fan and you will buy it or you are not and it's not your thing.
Games are just so easy, i tried to like them but the gameplay is just so watered down i lose interest.
I love when a title eventually becomes a nonsensical string of random words. <3
Almost solid 60fps when battling..
If only the anime was good...
These kind of games have their audience but I wish Naruto would get the FighterZ treatment and have a competitively tuned 2D fighter with those amazing Arc System Works visuals.
@RPGamer yes sir. I like to change my pfp every now and again
They've had a long time to polish Naruto games at this point. There is really no excuse for them to not be really good and tailor made for the fans.
I just wish studios would put a similar level of effort into other anime games.
Good review. You answered all the questions I had, thanks.
@PickledKong64 there is one in development not sure if it's for Switch though 🤞
Well I have the Ninja Storm Trilogy but have mostly played the second game rather than the first one. I get dizzy playing the first game so I just jumped into the second. I have read all but 2 volumes of the manga and have been watching the anime through Toonami.eventhough it is during the ninja war arc. I will definetly get this game soon and will probably get back to playing the trilogy, it's been some time since I last played. It would be awesome to get a Naruto game in the similar vein as Dragonball FighterZ sometime in the future.
@joezilla83 let's go. Hope it's on switch
@RPGamer great show you wont be disappointed. Only show I watched in one day. And that wa spread covid. Idk if I'm proud or disgusted in myself lol
@Heavyarms55 by biggest problem is that they dint use the fight themes from the show. It sucks
@T7Hokage017 A lot of anime just beg to be either action/adventure games or JRPGs. But rarely if ever do we get decent ones like that. Usually just cookie cutter fighters for any other series beyond Dragon Ball, One Piece and Naruto.
Gundam is another series with a lot of games but very few turned out well. And even the ones they did don't really feel like "Gundam". Like you said, Sailor Moon could make a good game. Almost any iisekai anime like Re:Zero, Shield Hero, Overlord or Konosuba. Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood comes to mind too.
I have some hope for that upcoming Fairy Tail RPG though. And that's a series that drips with game potential too.
@RPGamer Agreed, both of those would be great fits for games as well. Cowboy Bebop in particular has a setting you could do almost anything with.
@T7Hokage017 Of course they know there are other ways to make games, but slapping characters into a generic fighting game is real easy these days. And studios know it's an easy cash grab that fans of a series will usually grab, even if it is real mediocre because it has their favorite characters in it. Long time gamers know better but we aren't the target, they are targeting either young/newer gamers or die hard fans that will buy everything related to an IP...
The best Gundam games I have played were Federation Vs Zeon and Encounters in Space, both on PS2 in English, strangely the Gamecube version never left Japan. Neither were great but both were passable and fun games that came close. There were a few other titles in that generation that actually delivered great story experiences but failed on the game play side...
@RPGamer While I agree that it's an outstanding anime, I wouldn't quite go so far as to call it a masterpiece personally. I consider it to be "only" a 9/10. Because it is episodic and fails to dig deeper into either its characters or its world. I mark it down that one point for failing to take full advantage of its own set up. If that makes sense.
@stocko Hi, if you happen to have picked up this game on the switch, could you help me to see if either the AU, US or EU versions have the option for Japanesee dub voices?
@sniperrifler Hi there, I have the EU version and yes it has the Japanese dub included! I have a spare physical copy (I got an extra one for a present by accident) - would you be interested in buying? Let me know
@stocko Hi man, thanks for your reply! I'll probably have to pass on your offer, since i usually prefer getting copies of games from my local region.
Tap here to load 31 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...