In the Leaf Village where the trees grow tall and its heroes becomes legends, a young boy with spiky blonde hair and an almost unhealthy appetite for barbeque beef ramen dreams of one day becoming a Hokage (a village chief and head of the Ninja Academy). He is Naruto and to many he comes off as a thickheaded child with a one-track mind but to others he is a talented member of Squad 7 whose skills show great promise. Fans of the Shonen Jump manga, as well as the anime series that has just recently reached 100 episodes on cable’s Cartoon Network, have been waiting for a Naruto game worthy of the series and with Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes for the PSP, we get just that.

Ultimate Ninja Heroes is a fighting game with RPG elements that allow gamers to upgrade your favorite characters’ skills as well as reinforce your defense, stamina and attack abilities. There are a number of modes that include Heroes Mode (the main mode of playing the game), Wireless Mode (the game’s multiplayer mode) and Vs CPU Mode that allows you to play a one-on-one battle against any character you might have unlocked during Heroes Mode. There’s also Promotion Test, a mode that puts you through a series of battles with conditions such as completing a battle when your enemy’s attack skills are down or beat an opponent quickly in order to earn scrolls that will earn your favorite character a new rank. There are also extras such as Parameter Power-Up where you can spend Power-Up Points you gain during Heroes Mode to upgrade your characters and then there’s Naruto’s House where you can view extras such as movies or listen to the game’s score.

Heroes Mode may not have a story but, as a fan of the show, I would pinpoint the mode’s timeline as the Ninja Academy Chunin Exam story arc that takes place before the invasion of the Leaf Village by the villainous Orochimaru. The game allows you to pick from a three-member team that should be familiar to fans. That means you’ll have Team Kakashi that includes Naruto, his talented rival Sasuke and Sakura (who has a major crush on Sasuke) and Team Guy that includes the Rock Lee, Neji and Tenten. If the four teams available aren’t your cup of tea you can always create your own, mixing and matching favorite characters to create your dream team. Imagine a team that includes the powerhouse that is Naruto, the impressively swift Shikamaru Nara and the powerful Ino. You’ll be taking on rival teams to gain a high ranking that will take your team to a new level in the Academy.

The battle setup is left up to you so you can determine who in your team of three will fight first and you can also use a teammate’s Skill Effects to give you an advantage during a match. For example, Ino can poison the members of the rival team while Kiba can lower your opponent’s health by 33 percent. The battles are one-on-one until you manage to knock out all three members of the rival team. Each character has his or her own fighting styles, skills and abilities that are true to the show. That means you can expect Naruto to call on his Clone Jutsu (creating a clone that can help him pull off a throw attack) and you can expect Shino to use his Paralysis Jutsu to paralyze his opponent. Of course, you can’t overuse these special abilities without losing Chakra. Luckily, there a number of power-up items that pop up throughout the bouts that can charge your Chakra as well as your health and projectile weapons.

Control-wise, the game does an amazing job of allowing fighting game fans of all levels to pull off a string of combos and unleashing your characters’ secret technique. Depending on your opponent, the bouts can last surprisingly long … or short if you manage to unlock and go up against the likes of Guy or Gaara (the psychotic young Sand Ninja). The game does get harder the higher you climb so you’ll be glad that you’re able to power-up each character on the team.

Unfortunately, the game contains long and frequent load times that pop up before each fight or to show off a few of the game’s “cut scenes.” Some might even be turned off by the fact that Heroes Mode doesn’t contain a story at all and that character interaction is very minimal. You won’t really get a broader sense of a character’s personality so you won’t get a taste of what makes these characters so charming or interesting. Still, as a fighting game this one has all the right moves and the multiplayer mode - despite the lack of an online game mode - allows Game Sharing so a friend doesn’t even have to own a copy of the game. 

As far as the game’s graphics are concerned, Ultimate Ninja Heroes is really quite impressive and does a magnificent job of bringing the show’s overall look on the PSP widescreen. Even the character models look good during battles - although sometimes they seem to shrink with the background. Speaking of the backgrounds, there is a nice variety of environments that range from the forest to the exterior of Naruto’s favorite ramen stop. The backgrounds look good but nothing really amazing and the special moves and secret techniques just don’t jump off the screen. At least the visual effects are far more effective than the cut scenes that flash character images. I would have been happy with short clips from the show.

The game does have the show’s soundtrack and the music is amazing. From the opening theme song from the show’s first season run to the frantic battle music, the soundtrack is a real highlight. There’s some voice clips from the show’s amazing voice talents but, sadly, the game uses repetitive phrases that will not fail to get on your nerves no matter how cool it is to hear your favorite character. I’m talking annoying to the point that you will either put the game on mute or polite ask your youngster to use earphones.

Oh Naruto, your wildly entertaining antics make the show such a joy to watch and the same can be said about his outing on the PSP. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes is a slick, Chakra-fueled fighting game that will satisfy fans of the anime series as well as anyone who likes a good fighter for their PSP. You don’t have to be a Naruto fan to like this game but if you are there are enough goodies here that will certainly not fail to please. 

Gameplay: 8.0
If you’re a fan of the show, you’ll be happy to see that many of the moves are true to each specific character so expect Naruto to unleash a combo that includes his clone Jutsu and Sasuke uses his familiar fire-styled signature moves. The game modes offer plenty to do and you’ll be unlocking new characters and upgrading their skills as well.

Graphics: 7.5
The game’s visual style is true to the anime’s overall artwork and the character just look amazing despite the fact that sometimes they tend to get too small during battle. The backgrounds are nice but nothing really beautiful but at least each character’s techniques look good in motion.

Sound: 7.0
The show’s music plays over the action and the main menu screen while the sound effects are nicely detailed. Sadly, there isn’t much dialogue in the game but rather some repetitive phrases that get annoying very quickly.

Difficulty: Medium
You can button-mash your way to victory but there are a few combatants that require some skill to finish off like Master Guy who throws a mean punch and is unmerciful when it comes to unleashing some really mean combos. Heroes Mode gets harder the more you play.

Concept: 8.0
Heroes Mode is like re-enacting the entire Exam storyline from the series and there’s even a Promotion Test feature that adds even more to the battles. Naruto fans will love the fact that you can create your own customized team from the long lineup of characters. There’s also a multiplayer mode that allows Game Sharing.

Multiplayer: 7.5
Online multiplayer would have been great but you can play against a friend and your friend doesn’t even have to own a copy of the game. Wireless Mode allows you to use any of the characters you managed to unlock in Heroes mode and you can exchange character profiles with a friend.

Overall: 8.0
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes is not only a great fighting game on the PSP but also the best Naruto game that will certainly make a fan out of you even if you don’t know what a Hokage is or why our favorite threesome is the hope of the Leaf Village. Consider this a Must Have for any fight game fan or loyal viewer of the series.