Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy Switch

[Flocka Bilodeau]

Trilogyis a collection of the first three games in the UNS series. On Switch, the collection is a port of a port. Each of the included games originally released for PS3 and Xbox 360, then were bundled as a trilogy and sold on PS4 and Xbox One last Summer. That port has now been ported to Switch. Have we said the word port too many times?

More impressive yet is the fact that the framerate remains solid during the game's flashy ultimate jutsus (super moves, essentially), which are massive in scale. In one, Naruto creates hundreds of clones of himself, each a fully realised 3D model and slams his opponent to the ground. In another, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura each summon a giant monster and attack their opponent, resulting in a massive explosion. Switch handles all of these effects without so much as a hiccup.

Naruto's first outing on Nintendo Switch is a wonderful first step for the orange ninja. While we would have loved to have seen the fourth title included to cover the entirety of in a single game, it's hard for us to thumb our noses at three complete games in one package for about 40 bucks. For a Naruto fan, this is a no-brainer. If you like fighting games, this also might be for you, but beware if you mainly play online as you're going to be frustrated. If local multiplayer or single-player are more your speed, however, there's a ton of content spread across three excellent games, each of which are, despite their seemingly low resolution, a great showcase of Switch's technical prowess. The thoughtful inclusion of both Japanese and English voice tracks is great for fans, too. If you're looking for a fighting game to round out your Switch library, Trilogy is well worth a look.

Steve's three-and-a-half years with Nintendo Life saw him covering games with news, reviews, interviews, guides, and more. His past work can also be found on IGN and Kotaku, and in 2020 he co-founded Good Vibes Gaming.

I was sad to hear this wouldn't get a physical edition in the West, I might have to grab the Japanese version one day. But for now this is terrific value-for-money and a lovely time if you're a Naruto fan. I picked the digital version yesterday and look forward to some Kakeshi action later.

I bought the 3rd one as I couldn't justify the full purchase or bothering to switch to a US account. I've had no issues with online at all, just the fact that I am utter rubbish when I thought I was good, pretty sure I'm on a 1 in 7 ratio which made me feel a bit terrible.

Pardon my ignorance, I'm new to this series, but are these games purely fight after fight after fight (i.e. like Street Fighter 2, Tekken etc), or is there anything else to it? The mention of side quests and the story taking so long got me wondering.

@gcunit The first game has the village as an open 3D hub where you can explore, buy things etc. You initiate the fights on the menu as missions, which will be a bunch of cutscenes the a 3D fight (not a 2D plain like Street Fighter).

I suspect that one of the reasons why this isn't being released at retail in the West is because the file size of the Western version of the trilogy is slightly over 17GB due to the addition of all those additional languages, pushing it into 32GB cartridge territory (the Japanese version fits snugly in a 16GB cartridge).

@Indielink Yes, actually you're right, but it was a bit of sarcastic criticism because we live in an era in which anything lower than 60 fps is harshly criticized, to the point of buying another version of that game or simply getting angry because all games don't run at 4K and 60 fps in a specific system.

@Supadav03 The 3rd one would be best if you plan on getting only 1 of the 3. It builds on the other 2 and I've heard the multiplayer is better. Having said that, unless you are familiar with the Naruto series, you may feel lost in the story. Each game in the series pertains to a certain period in Naruto's story. Also, the trilogy is $40 compared to each one, separately costing $20 each! Just beware of the time required to download a 17+gb game. It took me about 5hrs to download the trilogy!

If you have to buy one it's either one or two, one is them as kids but the hub world IMO is tedious, number two is a good start as its when they grow up a little and the story is by the far the best one with a complete arc. Three actually doesn't finish well as it really continues to number four, to be frank!!

I'm really enjoying getting part 3 for only $20. I've played 1 and 2 and find part 3 just as good as those but better (more characters to unlock and most updateded special move list) story has been great and the online fighting/ connection has also been fantastic. Visually great looking game on the switch. For $20 I say just get part 3 unless you want the full series story.

Tempted to just buy 3 as I've heard it's a fair bit better than the other two and I don't know if I'd really end up playing through the whole trilogy anyways. Never finished the manga though so I might be lost. Anyone who's played 3, what would you recommend?

I quite like the Storm games, they've definitely benefited from years of improvement with subsequent sequels though. With that fact, and how late these games are coming to Switch, and at the performance cost, I can only imagine that someone would have to really value portability to make the purchase worthwhile. These are on sale all the time on PS4, including the newer and better 4.

Storm Revolution remains my favorite though. The most balanced mechanics and customizing character outfits with stupid accessories was fun. Ninja World Tournament was also fun for less competitive play. It's a shame it didn't make it to Storm 4 to make use of newer hardware to provide multiplayer in that mode.

@kobashi100 Sorry, "performance" was not the correct word I should have used. What I meant is that other versions of the game have better resolution at the same frame rate, especially compared to the sub HD resolution undocked, in addition to potentially offering better online stability (at least based on this review).

@Fake-E-Lee You will miss out a hefty chunk of the fun by not being into the whole Naruto plot, but for 20 smackers you get three games that span a huge ton of content and will let you play out most of the anime's plot. Go for it, for sure. Might turn you into a fan of the source material while you're at it.

@Fake-E-Lee Darn tootin it is worth every penny And you sure lit a fire under me to scrounge up $15. Probably gonna be a couple weeks though. Money has been very tight lately, due to medical stuff. But man, makes my day to know its on Switch, and that youre loving it. Thanks buddy.

@Fake-E-Lee STOP MAKING MY BROKE A$$ JEALOUS. I cant wait. Watched a vid a bit ago, and just... wow. It looks amazing, and was soooo fast. Unlike those other two games mentioned earlier. I cant even with CoB on Switch anymore. Played the PC version, and just wow. The readability alone, killed the Switch version for me. I could actually get far!!! And IR is so dang ugly. Ugh. Also, THIS IS NOW OUR THREAD.

@Fake-E-Lee No clue why everyone isnt yelling about it. Ive been yelling about it for five dang years (proof: -phil-files-01-games-from-under-your-radar--280573.phtml). Some folks have no taste. It actually had some decent pc coverage on that site, and Rock Paper Shotgun. Sadly the console releases didn't, and now everyone is sleeping on the Switch version. I really hope the dev sees a lot of success here.

@Fake-E-Lee Heads up, Streets of Rogue hits this friday. One of my all time favs. Its basically a 2D Deus Ex with a great sense of humor, tons of characters, and a sandbox to mess around in. Highly recommend.

@Fake-E-Lee lol. In regards to SoR, the port is excellent. Been at it most the morning. Gonna scope out Eagle Island. Not familiar with that one, but if it has your interest, it has mine. Isnt having too many games a great problem? Stressful, but great.

While the Ultimate Ninja Storm series has previously avoided Nintendo hardware, the release of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy on Nintendo Switch marks the blonde ninja's return to Nintendo hardware after the earliest Naruto games appeared on GameCube and Game Boy Advance well over a decade ago. This is a port of the first three Ultimate Ninja Storm games that tell the complete story of the Naruto and Naruto Shippuden anime series. Appearing original on the PS3 and Xbox 360 and then being ported as a trilogy to the PS4 and Xbox One, the Nintendo Switch version is essentially a port of a port. Thankfully, it has arrived virtually unscathed.

The first thing you'll notice upon firing up the game on your switch is that all three games run at a 540p resolution in handheld mode. However, this is nowhere near as bad as you might think. While it does take a bit of getting used to, you'll eventually appreciate how good the trilogy looks and runs on the Switch in both docked and handheld modes. The cel shaded graphics do a fantastic job of replicating the art direction of the anime, and in docked mode the Switch version looks identical to the PS4 and Xbox One versions. All three games run at a solid 30 frames a second with the only dropped frames, weirdly, being in some of the more hectic cutscenes, with no dips at all during gameplay.

The gameplay is virtually the same across all three games, with a few tweaks and improvements as the series goes. These are 3D fighting games that focus on one-on-one battles where you have a full free reign of movement in a 3D space. You have an attack button that you can combine with jumps, dashes, and directional inputs to do basic combos, a chakra button that charges up your mana bar for special attacks and also to augment your basic attack and movement abilities.

Where the Naruto games differ from normal fighting games is that there's a very heavy emphasis on use of items and teammates. The one-button attacking might appear simplistic at first, but when you're also trying to keep track of your mana bar - which you have to fill manually by holding a button - as well as your inventory in the heat of battle, it can get all kinds of hectic. What this does is that it basically completely eliminates the skill threshold, and the skill ceiling is as high as you can take it. The focus is not on memorising combos and patterns, but instead on strategy. It's a fantastic system!

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