Way back in January, Naruto Online, a PC- and China-only (Currently) online RPG based on the Naruto series, was being developed Chinese Internet giant Tencent Games in collaboration with Namco Bandai, intended to ship by the end of the year.
That date looks to have slipped to 2014 for now, but we do have a trailer. Above, you can check out the latest video which shows off a little bit of what it’ll be like—including picture-perfect versions of greats such as Jiraiya and Tsunade.
The video makes it clear there will be at least two new characters—whose names aren’t revealed. What’s obvious though is that the first lass – who looks like what happens if Sai and Sasuke had a baby – controls fire element jutsu’s while the latter, water/ice jutsus.
The three blacked out silhouettes suggest there could be another three more reveals to go who would, if the video and us are any judge, control each of the other elements.
The game’s website shows off fights between your team—which can consist of at least three characters—and at least some of the summonable big beasties like oyaji Gamabunta. Whether this is turn-based or real-time though isn’t really clear, but what we can see says there’s going to be at least some chain-combo action going on. Interestingly enough, the beta sign-in page has English words (albeit badly written)…
Another thing that isn’t clear is how teams will be formed—whether you’ll need to stick to the pre-defined canon character team sets such as the one above. In the above shot, we’ve got Team Ino-Shiki-Cho facing off against the (Do you even remember these guys?) Sound Ninjas which are their pre-defined teams. Other shots show Gaara, Kankuro and (my personal ship-favorite with Shikimaru) Temari.
The final piece of information we’re unsure of is how far along the online game will play up to. Tsunade’s in the picture and so’s Orochimaru, but with a shot of the Fourth Hokage also as one of the background wallpapers, it’s anyone’s guess where the game falls in the canon universe—if at all.
Naruto Online is scheduled for a 2014 window for the PC in China.
