As a huge fan of Naruto, I’ve always dreamed of playing the game where they finally let me experience what it was like for him. To get full experience of what it took for Naruto to become what he is today – a legend.
To start from Ninja Academy, try to become Genin, go on missions, explore the world, fight against some of the great enemies of Naruto, go to war, and become Hokage.
Unfortunately there hasn’t been such a game yet. All we get are those fighting games that are the same as a previous one with slightly upgraded graphics.
Don’t get me wrong I’ve enjoyed a few of them but my heart aches for a proper Naruto game and if you’re a fan like me then you know what I’m talking about. I think we all have the same vision when it comes to it.
And if you somehow don’t know what I’m talking about then strap yourself in because I’ll go through everything that I think needs to happen in order to get a great Naruto game that can possibly end up being the game of the decade
Story
When it comes to the main story of the game, I wouldn’t change anything. Obviously, for the sake of interesting gameplay, we can add new stories for the purposes of side quests. They would need to be created so they don’t affect the main story but are still relevant enough to do them.
After all, it’s all part of becoming a great ninja. Whether it’s rescuing a cat, helping an old lady, escorting a client, or whatever else, make it so it’s important enough to do in order to advance to the next chapter of the main story.
Since this dream game would FOLLOW the main story strictly, it can be made into the full on Assassin’s Creed type franchise. Meaning we would get multiple parts.
I’m thinking at least five parts if not more. This way whoever makes it, can make the first installment, take their time with it, see how it gets received, listen to the criticism and work to improve it in the second part. It’s a long and tedious process that would require a significant investment in the beginning but I’m 1000% sure it will pay off in the end. If I had those kinds of resources, I would do it myself for sure. Who knows, maybe I will one day, and if that happens you can expect me to do just that.
Gameplay
Now we can finally talk about the most important part of the game — the gameplay.
First of all we need to determine what kind of game it needs to be — personally, I’d like it if it was an open-world action adventure with stealth elements and, of course, with a sprinkle of RPG.
It’s not too much to ask right? Next thing that needs to be implemented is some sort of restriction that you need to reach before advancing to the next chapter of the story. At the same time, there would need to be some sort of cap to prevent players from getting too strong. For example you gotta rescue 10 cats before you’ll be able to get a more difficult mission which would lead to story progression.
Mastering jutsu shouldn’t be an easy task. Depending on the type of power, or the amount of chakra it requires, it should take more time to master some jutsu’s than others. And while you did master a certain skill, it shouldn’t be the end of it. There should be some sort of a system implemented that tracks the usage of skills and when you reach a certain level, you can try and attempt to make it even stronger.
Stealth has to be a big part of the game. This is another non-negotiable thing. It has to be there. It’s a big part of the ninja world and being stealthy is a major factor in executing most of the missions.
Especially when it comes to highly classified ones. Just like jutsu, there has to be some sort of system that will require you to practice stealth and constantly improve upon it. “Your stealth level is too low, your chances of successful mission are less than 10%”
Graphics
Naruto’s Road to Hokage is a type of the game that needs to stick to original artwork of manga/anime. Making it a realistic 3D whatever is not going to work.
Though if you think you can prove me wrong, be my guest. I would love nothing more. But for now, I can’t imagine it any different than like I said. Maybe with a little bit more carefully polished animations. For the audio part of the game, I would change NOTHING. Soundtracks need to be the same and the voice actors need to be the same. Since we don’t have a limit on our budget, getting them to work on it shouldn’t be an issue.
Questionable Ideas
This is going to be a section for more out of pocket ideas that I’ll need to consider carefully before making a final decision. Call it a safe zone, NO-JUDGMENT ZONE.
Switching between characters
I’m on the fence with this one. Switching between a few main characters could be really fun and would make the story more complete but on other hand it’s a dangerous road to go.
Which character do you find relevant or which you consider useless (Sakura?). I would be personally offended if I could play all the characters and they wouldn’t let me play as Shikamaru or Itachi. I WOULD BE FUMING. But with this being “my game”, I could simply implement those two into the gameplay. Perks of being the creator of the game I guess.
Adding a custom character instead of Naruto
I was thinking that there should be an option to pick if you want to play as a Naruto or maybe you want to create a custom character that would be the main protagonist of the game. It’s just an option that I’m putting out there. Doesn’t mean it’ll end up being implemented into the game so CHILL.
Final thoughts
This is something that I think about from time to time. A big dream of mine that some might even call impossible but if there is one thing that I’ve learned from watching Naruto then it has to be that nothing is really impossible if you set your mind on it.
For now Naruto game just remains the dream and I’m planning on updating this post with more brilliant ideas in the future. And if you have some too, I would love to hear them. Feel free to write in the comments or contact me personally via mail.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.