Narutois an incredibly popular shounen manga and anime that includes a large cast and versatile and imaginative powers and abilities.Narutolends itself well to video games, and there have been many successfulNarutovideo game entries, with the most lucrative being theNaruto Ultimate Ninja Stormseries. However,Narutoended eight years ago, with the sequel series,Boruto, taking its place. DespiteBoruto’s eight-year run and two series,BorutoandTwo Blue Vortex, the series has barely any video game adaptations.
What video game adaptationsBorutodoes have are mostly attached toNarutoproperties. As an independent series,Borutohas enough characters and a diverse range of powers and character forms to stand on its own as a video game adaptation. Even excluding any big console releases for aBorutovideo game adaptation, smaller mobile game adaptations would be a natural fit for the series and characters.
The State of Boruto Games Compared to Naruto
Narutoran as a manga series for 15 years. In that period,over a dozenNarutogames were released, with even more releases after the manga and anime series concluded their respective runs.Borutoneeds to stand on its own merits and have video game adaptations of its own, without relying onNarutocharacters or theNarutoname to sell it. With an entire manga series, and a time skip behind it, it has more than enough characters and story content to create a video game like theNinja Stormseries.
Borutohas a large roster of characters, all with different forms, power scaling, and abilities that a video game adaptation could take advantage of. This potential adaptation could follow the manga’s storyline, or it could simply be a PvP fighting game. Another niche thatBorutohasn’t entered is mobile gaming, which is not only a massive industry in Japan, but also lends itself well to simple fighting games that a series likeBorutocould excel in.
Boruto’s anime hasn’t adaptedTwo Blue Vortex, which may be why it hasn’t received a video game adaptation of its own. But a video game series that begins with part one of the arc, with room to include Two Blue Vortex or adapt it later as a sequel should be an option.
Boruto Needs Original Games
Borutohas been running for a long time, and still has yet to have its own standalone video game. Instead of receiving its own adaptations, it piggybacks onNarutogames, such asUltimate Ninja Stormseries withNaruto x Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm ConnectionsandNaruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker. Eight years is plenty of time for a fighting shonen series to accumulate enough material to adapt a standalone video game, especiallyBorutowhich has many characters and a different power scaling system toNaruto.
One of the issues that arises withBorutocharacters and content piggybacking onNarutogames is that it introduces the problem of balancing, asBorutocharacters are far more powerfulthan even the strongestNarutocharacters. This is especially problematic in the new part of theBorutomanga,Two Blue Vortex.
Thetrue abilities and powers ofBoruto’s characters simply cannot be depicted inNarutogamesbecause of the imbalance of power levels.Borutoneeds to establish itself as an independent series, apart fromNaruto, as it’ll keep drawing comparisons between the two series in terms of story and characters, and creating video games that are independent ofNarutois one way to do so.
