Like Its Predecessors, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Is By Fans, For Fans

Siliconera got some hands-on time with CyberConnect2’s newest Ultimate Ninja Storm game at E3, mainly with five characters with movesets updated to the most recent Naruto story arc. We checked out Uchiha Madara, Six-Paths Obito, Sasuke, Six-Paths Naruto, and of course, Haruno Sakura. Of those five, three stood out to me as particularly interesting characters.

Naturally, I was most eager to try out Six-Paths Obito. For those of you that follow the story, Six-Paths Obito has power comparable to that of a God, and I was curious to see how that transferred into combat. His moveset felt much like his character—distant and powerful. The Truth Seeking Balls (spheres of black chakra that hover behind him) are often deployed as projectiles, and his ultimate Jutsu is an attack featuring the Sword of Nunoboko.

Six-Paths Naruto doesn’t rely on projectile attacks as much as Obito does. As you might expect, he gets up in an enemy’s business with shadow clones. By charging enough chakra, you can unleash an Ultimate Jutsu—and Six-Paths Naruto uses a fan favorite: the Tailed Beast Planetary Rasenshuriken. It’s as much of a mouthful as it is a screenful, and pulling off these Ultimate Jutsu attacks can make the combat engaging and interrupt the pacing just enough to feel natural, and no too speedy.

On the subject of flashy Ultimate Jutsus, let’s move on to Uchiha Madara. He actually had my favorite overall combat design of all the characters. Madara uses a mix of attacks with his Gunbai (a large, round fan used my military personnel in feudal Japan) and Susano-o, a gigantic humanoid entity made entirely of chakra. His reach is outstanding and grabbing foes is easy even from a distance. His Ultimate Jutsu involves Susanoo performing an attack that literally levels mountains.

On the Xbox One version of the game, pressing Y three times then following up with B will allow a character to perform an Ultimate Jutsu. When done correctly, or when the enemy is low on health, a character will recall a pivotal moment in the story that provides their motivation to keep fighting.

CyberConncet2 works fanservice into the gameplay without letting it interfere with the flow of combat. The characters are lovingly crafted from their appearances in the official manga and anime, and if the number of combos seems to diminish, you can always add support characters you can summon using the Right and Left buttons on the Xbox One controller.