Gamertell

The DS game Jump Ultimate Stars is quite an elaborate fighting game. After all, 300 characters from 40 different manga series appear in the game either as fighters or support characters. With all of those options, creating a deck can be a daunting feat - especially if you’re a beginner and you don’t speak Japanese.

So today in Important Importables, we are going to offer a few Jump Ultimate Stars theme deck suggestions. Since even that could get a bit long (there are loads of possible creation options and everyone’s fighting style may vary), we’re going to focus on three anime series - Bleach, Naruto and One Piece. 

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Some fresh anime is now available through iTunes, if you enjoy that kind of thing. Viz Media has decided to make 103 episodes of Bleach, Death Note and Naruto available through iTunes for $1.99 an episode. So far only a sampling of two series are available, in the form of Bleach‘s “The Substitute” and “The Entry” arcs (41 episodes) and Naruto‘s (uncut) first season (25 episodes). The complete Death Note anime (37 episodes) is available. I highly recommend Bleach, its probably the best. Naruto has its moments as well. While Death Note is good, I personally preferred the manga.

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Shonen Jump is going to be 40 years old soon, and Shonen Jump magazine is going to be five years old as well. So Viz media is going to use this as an opportunity to celebrate some of the most popular series. There will be a special edition issue of Shonen Jump, a contest to attend Japan’s Jump Festa anime convention and hardcover, collector’s editions of the first volumes of six popular series.

The highlight will be the special, hardcover edition of the August 2008 edition of Shonen Jump. For $24.99, fans will get a hardcover version of the magazine that has all the manga chapters that appeared in the very first and second issues Shonen Jump in December 2002. It will also have interviews with manga authors, a special Yu-Gi-Oh card and a poster to collect character stickers that will be found in volumes of Bleach, Death Note, Naruto and Slam Dunk.

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Title: Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 (aka Shonen Jump: Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress)
Price: $39.99
System(s): PSP
Release Date: June 24, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Namco Bandai Games (CyberConnect2)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for cartoon violence, crude humor, mild suggestive themes and simulated gambling.
Pros: Fast action, good animations, a couple fun minigame, easy to use fight controls make this fairly addictive. Wireless game sharing for multiplayer battles using one UMD.
Cons: Too few minigames that become highly repetitive and limited character building.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one sideways; 80/100; B-; * * * out of five.

Except for the choose-your-own-type rooms, three additional characters (Third Hokage, Shizune, and Kabuto Yakushi) and equipping characters with items before each Battle, this is essentially the same as the first Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes PSP game. While neither a technical masterpiece nor a unique game, Ninja Heroes 2 is surprisingly addictive.

Click through for the full review…

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If you’re psyched about the upcoming Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, which won’t be out for the PS3 until Fall 2008, then there are some ways to get ninja fixes for free.  Namco Bandai is going to be showing off the fighting game at some special events and will be releasing a free demo of the game through the Playstation Network.

People who happen to live in California may be fortunate enough to attend events where Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm will be appearing. The game will be at the July 3-6, 2008 Anime Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center and at the July 23-27 Comic-Con at the San Diego Convention Center. The game will be available for play there, and a tournament will be held where players can face-off for the chance to win stuff.

Click through for information on the free demo…

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Namco Bandai has just issued a press release announcing exclusive Naruto figurines for people who preorder Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress. If you pre-order the game, make a copy of your pre-order slip, register for the Hokage’s Room website (providing your home address during the account creation process) and then sign up for the Hokage’s Room Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 pre-order Mission, you’ll receive one Naruto figure from the six pictured above. No, you don’t get to choose which one.

Click through for more information…

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The success of Naruto has given convinced Tomy and D3 to release another RPG based on the series in September, 2008. Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2 has been formally announced. Like its predecessor, it is a classic turn-based RPG starring characters from the Naruto series, only this time there is a brand new story designed especially for the game.

It seems like Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2 will easily surpass the original game. It will have Wi-Fi multiplayer battles, new battle arrangements involving squad leaders in battles and a tag system and far more potential ninja party members. The press release states that there will be 30 different characters involved, but it doesn’t specify if these characters will just be NPCs or actual party members. (I suspect party members, since screen shots show Choji and Ino as possibilities, and Tenten is mentioned in the press release.) Plus there will be ninja pets that Naruto can summon. I hope that cute little pig in the screen shot is one of them.

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Naruto has sadly succumbed to the same fate as Sailor Moon and Dragonball. It became a worldwide hit. That’s not the bad part though, the bad part is what happens after becoming a worldwide hit - the merchandising.

Companies decide that, since a series is so beloved, the franchise becomes this mystical money-tree. They have to quickly harvest as much fruit as possible before fans get smart/grow up and it all rots away.

Which often results in subpar games. Games so wretched that you wouldn’t buy them even if they were in a $5 discount bin at GameStop.

Every once in a while though, developers and publishers will get things right. A licensed property will produce a good game. Lucky for Naruto fans, this has happened quite a few times and for quite a few systems. So today Important Importables will look at some of the more successful games based on the series.

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First off, I realize this week’s cross stitch is a bit late. (Normally they’re up on Mondays or Tuesdays.) However I ran into a little problem concerning thread color (the two shades of brown were actually identical, imagine that), so I didn’t finish the piece until Wednesday night.

Jump Ultimate Stars is easily one of the best DS titles. It’s just absolutely perfect, and insanely addicting. There also happen to be some amazing sprites in the game. Since I’m something of a closet Naruto fan, I decided to create a cross stitch of a character from that series who happened to appear in that game. Since I also happen to like dogs, I decided a Kakashi cross stitch was in order. I like to call it “Storytime.” Aren’t the puppies precious?

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Another month, another Naruto game. Fortunately, the latest release announcement from Namco Bandai concerns one of the better series of games based on the anime/manga, the Ultimate Ninja Heroes PSP line. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress has already been given a “Teen” rating by the ESRB and should be available sometime before the end of summer 2008.

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