Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy On Switch Focuses On Stability

The Naruto series has inspired some solid fighters. Each one in the Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm line has allowed people to have a ninja equipped with certain jutsu and items from the series, alone or accompanied by supports, as they take part in a fighter that prioritizes combos, dodges and knowing when to perform strikes that lead into more powerful moves in an open, 3D field. With Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy on the Nintendo Switch, fans of the series get the chance to experience the first, second and third games in the series on a Nintendo system for the first time. The result is an experience that feels reliable, even when it is not stunning.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy is quite similar to the collection already available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. People have Ultimate Ninja Storm, Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 and Ultimate Ninja Storm 3. The 10 support character add-ons from the original games. The third game gets extra costumes for characters, including kimonos, samurai suits, school uniforms, swimsuits and some other assorted outfits. The Goku Naruto and Hello Kitty Sakura outfits are absent from the third game, but there is still a respectable array of alternate appearances for some of the third game’s most popular characters. Right away, it starts people off with the games that matter. I always preferred the second game and considered the third my second favorite, but each one does work well here and offer everything a player would need.

One difference people may notice is that Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy is not exactly as stunning as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One version. If you play with the game docked, it looks very close. It is 900p, compared to the other system’s 1080p resolution. In handheld mode, which is when I took every screenshot, the game takes a hit and goes down to 540p. It does not look terrible. Event scenes can look okay, but you are not going to get the same level of detail as you will when you are playing at home.

But, I would almost consider it a sacrifice worth making. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy runs very well on the Nintendo Switch. Whether the system is docked or undocked, it maintains a consistent frame rate. I felt like it tended to stick right at 30fps. If anything, I might have noticed things slowing down a bit if a support character was present and an ultimate jutsu as being used. Considering the size of the screen and the focus on getting to play it anywhere, I was fine with things not looking their best. (Others may feel differently, of course.) I felt like I could count on it to provide a serviceable experience.

It can be frustrating, knowing you can not play using only one Joy-con. Each person must either be using two Joy-Cons or a Pro Controller. That can be a bit frustrating, since a major selling point for the system is being able to immediately have access to two controllers for two players, and means you have to have a second pair of Joy-Cons or Pro Controller for someone to play with you when the system is docked or in Tabletop Mode.

I also noticed that Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy performed well when playing online. I was playing at home, using a stable connection, and tended to have a fairly positive experience. Out of ten matches, only three had some sort of lag, and in only one of those situations was that lag persistent enough to have an effect on the match. The only real problem here was finding a match. It usually took me a while to find a match, and even then it was easiest to search after 6pm CT.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy is a helpful compilation for the Nintendo Switch. It lets people catch up with entries in a well known series and play them at home or on the go. It maintains a consistent frame rate, as it tends to keep things at 30fps whether the game is docked or undocked, online or offline. It offers quite a bit of DLC included, even though Goku Naruto and Hello Kitty Sakura are absent. All things considered, it does a more than serviceable job of giving people multiple ways to play these three games.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy is now available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.