When something gets as big and popular as the anime Naruto has, it's almost a given that it will eventually have a TCG made out of it. The problem is, as I'm sure any TCGplayer can tell you, is that some TCGs based off of pop phenomena put more thought into the flavor and less into the game play eventually leading to a stale play experience and eventual game death. The
Naruto TCG is not one of those cases and is genuinely enjoyable to play, which on second thought should be obvious considering how long it has stuck around thus far. Overall I would say Naruto is a decent TCG and there was certainly thought put into the play system, so what you really have to decide in the end is “Is the Naruto flavor for me?” and you can figure that out as I run through some of my play experiences.
Starting out in the Naruto card game is simple enough. Players make a 40 card deck, no more no less, that cannot include over 25 Ninja (or shinobi) cards. Ninja cards in Naruto are your basic attacking force, so while this does somewhat shut down dedicated beat down strategies, it does force players to think a bit more about what other cards to include in their deck. Most notable of these are the Jutsu cards (special Ninja techniques) which are played differently from every other card in the game.
There are three main resources in the Naruto TCG, time, cards in hand, and Chakra. Only time and cards in hand are used to play most cards in the game, while Jutsu cards are played with Chakra. To keep track of time, each player uses some sort of turn marker (I recommend a d100 but that's just me and my massive geek showing) to keep track of how many turns they have taken. If a card has a time requirement, a player cannot play it until the requisite numbers of turns have passed. Afterward they can play the Ninja as per normal (only one Ninja per turn kiddies).
If a card has a hand cost then things become a bit trickier. To pay a hand-cost you must discard a number of cards from your hand to your Chakra pool equal to the hand-cost printed on the card. Not only that, but each card discarded has to match the symbol (combat attribute) printed on the card you are playing.
Combat attributes are a lot like elements in Naruto, in that they essentially govern what type of card you are playing. However, whereas other card games may have 3, 4, or 5 symbols (such as mind, body, soul, or earth, air, water, fire, or something else like that) Naruto has 10+ and growing! The rulebook lists down these types as symbols you will see in the game: Weaponry, Flame, TaiJutsu, Mist, NinJutsu, Soul, Shadow, Food, GenJutsu, Fang, Insect, and Ice. It then goes on to say there are many more symbols not listed! This means that people building Naruto TCG decks with cards that have hand-costs will have to try extremely hard to work on their deck synergy or they may find themselves unable to pay any of the hand costs in their deck.
There are two other card types that are played in the same time/hand cost style of Ninja cards, and they are Mission cards and Client cards. Mission cards are quick or permanent effects that help change the way the game is played, from drawing you cards to buffing your Ninja's stats. It's probably a good idea to think about always including some Mission cards in your deck, if only for card draw purposes. You only draw one card a turn, and after paying some hand costs you may find yourself hurting for cards in hand so boosts from Mission cards are helpful in the long run.
Client cards are played very much in the same way Ninja and Mission cards are and they mostly provide static effects. In addition Clients generally have more than one Combat attribute so they are great for playing hand costs or Chakra costs. Odd trivia, for the longest time there were no Client cards in Naruto. In fact the official site still says that Client cards are coming and that there are no Client cards currently in print. Many players didn't know what Client cards were going to do, as the most that was ever shown in the Rulebook was a shadowed out picture of a text-less card. Some Naruto players still don't think Clients exist. If you see them, please show this image to them.
That last card type is Jutsu (quick in battle effects) and this is where Chakra comes in. Whenever a card is discarded to pay a hand cost it is discarded into your Chakra pool not your discard pile. In addition, you may also discard any number of cards to your Chakra pool a turn, just to fill the pool. When a card is in your Chakra pool, it provides Chakra or energy for your Jutsu. All Jutsu have a Chakra cost, printed as a variety of symbols that match other card's combat attributes. To play a Jutsu you must discard cards from your Chakra pool to your discard pile that match the symbols printed on the Jutsu card.
Battle in Naruto is simple. During the combat phase players arrange their Ninja into teams. Each team can have up to one leader and 2 (or 3 depending on what rules you are playing) supporting Ninja. Players add up the strength stat of their leader and the support stat of all their supporting Ninja to create the team's power. You can form as many teams as you like, so if you have 3 Ninja in play you can either have one three man team or 3 one man teams. The active player can then attack with as many teams as they want, and the defender can choose to block them. When an attacking team is blocked, their power is compared. The team with the higher power wins, and injures the opponent's leader. When a card is injured, it is turned sideways and its injured stats are used instead. In addition special effects of the card no longer operate. When an injured card is injured again it is killed and discarded. Unblocked Ninja score you 1 victory point, and games of Naruto generally go on until they end at an agreed amount of victory points, most often 11.
Strength comes before the slash. Support comes after.
An interesting thing about battle in Naruto is that you can win by overwhelming standards. If your power is a certain amount greater than your opponents (once again varying depending on what version of the rules you are playing) then instead of simply injuring their team leader, you outright kill their team leader and injure each of their supporting Ninja. If an unblocked Ninja team has a certain amount of power, they score you 2 victory points instead of 1. Of course, when battle is order the whole turn repeats itself with the opponent as the active player.
That's basically how the Naruto card game goes. It's your standard attack, block, and get damage through battle system. The interesting thing about the card game is that it is one of the few card games out there that doesn't use turning a card sideways as a cost or sign that you have “used” a card, but instead uses it as a sign of a card's health. Naruto in fact foregoes “using” cards all together, and all card effects can either be used multiple times, or have limiters written right into the card text.
Another interesting thing about Naruto is that there are just so many types of decks to build. The vast amount of combat attributes and amazing amount of card interaction simply opens up an immense amount of options in deck building. Add to this the fact that the game is really very simple to play and you will find that if you are a Naruto fan you will jump right into this game and be a Pro in no time.
Finally, it's time to talk about the flavor, and boy does this game have flavor. Everything and I mean EVERYTHING from the Naruto anime is represented in the cards. From main heroes and villains to random ramen noodle stands, it's all here. Every single thing. The cards are absolutely saturated in Naruto's unique Ninja flair. The art is all made of absolutely beautiful cut scenes from the anime, or hand drawn art by the animators specifically for this game. Heck even the cards themselves look very Ninja-ish with their Japanese kanji and scroll like appearance. If you are a Naruto fan, this game won't disappoint you. In fact on the contrary, it will please you. It will please you like only a Ninja can.
However, for as good as the game is for Naruto fans, I do have some gripes about it, considering how it relates to non-Naruto fans. First and foremost, the game has a LOT of terms to learn. Chakra, Jutsu, Shinobi, TaiJutsu, NinJutsu, GenJutsu, Sharingan, Bakugan, Genin, Chunin, and Jounin, are only a few examples of Japanese words that play an important part in the game's mechanics. While these are all no-brainers for Naruto fans, non-fans may find them a bit hard to remember in their first few games. In addition, the absurd about of combat attributes sometimes makes certain cards hard to use. You can get around this with good deck building, but it does sometimes make otherwise powerful cards somewhat disappointing.
Don't let any of these drawbacks get you down though, Naruto is a great game. It's solidly build, and it appeals phenominally to Naruto fans. Non-fans probably will enjoy it too but they will just have a bit of a learning process ahead of them. Honestly, this is one of the few games that actually probably would have appealed to more people if the Naruto flavor was absent, but then we would have to be without the awesomeness that is Naruto and his Ninja pals, and who wants that? Overall, as I said before it is a decent solid enjoyable game. It's not the next big thing in TCG playing but it will be sure to stick around for some time to come.
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Presentation Rating = 7.5
It's all ninja baby! I could have done without the Kanji as its hard to read and sometimes difficult to tell one symbol from another, but other than that this game absolutely is bathed in Ninja flavor. Yum!
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Gameplay Rating = 7.0
Overall, the game is fun. It's pretty basic and easy to learn, which is more often than not a good thing. There is nothing that will make you go “WOW” about the game play but it's fun in the end so who cares.
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Support Rating = 7.5
The Naruto community has always been big, and it will always get bigger. Go to an anime con and you will find at least 50-100 people playing this game. I wish there were more tournaments and events held for the game, but the fan support really makes up for it.
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Innovation Rating = 7.0
Naruto scores points for using sideways cards in a different way, but otherwise the game is essentially the same attack, block, and play quick effects battle system that most TCGs have. What can I say though if it isn't broke don't fix it.
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