#shueisha — Public Fediverse posts

Naruto Path of the Ninja with Merrilee O’neil (Fear Coded)

By the mid-2000s, Naruto had pulled off something most manga-to-anime properties never manage: it wasn’t just popular, it was everywhere, spinning off a small army of video games across nearly every system with a screen, like Naruto himself used Shadow Clone Jutsu on the entire games industry and nobody thought to stop him. Somewhere in that flood of Ninja Councils and Clash of Ninjas sits Naruto: Path of the Ninja, the entry that decided the best way to honor Kishimoto’s story wasn’t just punching (though there’s plenty of that too) but actually letting you live through the Land of Waves and the Chūnin Exams one turn-based battle at a time.

Path of the Ninja debuted on the Game Boy Advance in Japan back in 2004, then took a leisurely three years to reach American shelves in 2007, arriving on the Nintendo DS instead, because by the time they got around to localizing it, the GBA already felt like last decade’s news. You pick from six familiar faces, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, Neji, and Rock Lee, pair them into formations for bonus combo attacks, and work through more than 90 jutsu, some of which you cast on the DS touchscreen by frantically scribbling a shape with the stylus, which is either a clever nod to hand seals or just a fun way to give yourself a cramp. The story runs all the way to the Chunin Exam invasion and a face-off with Shukaku, and if you’re wondering whether you can also fight Itachi as a secret bonus boss, the answer is: only if you own the Japanese version. The English release quietly deleted that fight but somehow forgot to scrub his name from the end credits, which is the video game equivalent of hiding a body and leaving the shovel leaning against the wall.

Making another through the Play Comics dojo is Merrilee O’Neil of Fear Coded, last seen on the show trying to keep pace with the Flash. This time she’s trading super speed for shadow clones, hand seals, and a Konoha headband, so at least the running is a little more sustainable.

So form your hand seals, grab your kunai pouch, and let’s find out if Path of the Ninja earned its headband as a worthy trip through early Naruto, or if it should’ve stayed back at the Academy with the rest of the genin.

Learn such things as:

• Isn’t the world today better, with games coming out worldwide at basically the same time?
• How can you use a console’s gimmick to really lean into the gameplay?
• Can a game stick to the established story a bit too well?
• And so much more!

You can find Merrilee being the main driver of the Fear Coded account on BlueSky @fearcodedpod.bsky.social on her podcast Fear Coded.

If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.

If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.

Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.

Play Comics is also part of Art Comedy Pop-Culture Network, which is a long-standing creative organization spawning from a love of Adult Swim. Be sure to check them out for all sorts of entertainment news, commentary, and just plain fun stuff.

You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky, @playcomicspodcast on Threads, @playcomics on YouTube, or the Play Comics website.

If you want to hear Chris talk with Karrington Martin about the lessons we learned from children’s media and how crazy it is that we’re supposed to just forget about that now that we’re adults, then Sugar, Spite, and Everything is Fine is probably something you should check out.

A big thanks to Kaiju Comicast and Anime Field Guide for the promos today.

Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, who probably has a pretty sick collection of headbands.

Ultimate Muscle The Kinnikuman Legacy The Path of the Superhero & Legends vs New Generation with SerpyMatt

Strap on your meat-based wrestling tights and oil up those biceps because Play Comics is about to suplex you straight into the absurdly wonderful world of Kinnikuman! This week we’re tag-teaming not one, but TWO Ultimate Muscle games—The Path of the Superhero for GameCube and Legends vs New Generation for Game Boy Advance. That’s right, we’re going double or nothing like a Choujin who forgot leg day exists and decided to compensate with twice the spandex.

These games, spawned from the legendary Kinnikuman manga and anime, brought us a universe where wrestling isn’t just a sport—it’s the entire basis of intergalactic civilization, which honestly makes about as much sense as any other comic book logic we’ve tackled on this show. Whether you’re commanding Kid Muscle through his heroic quest to not embarrass his legendary father or settling the age-old debate of who would win between old-school wrestlers and the new generation (spoiler: everyone’s finishing move is magnificently ridiculous), we’ve got you covered.

Joining us for this muscle-bound mayhem is none other than SerpyMatt, who hasn’t quite gotten around to launching his own podcast yet—but he’s told me the concept and folks, when it finally drops, you’re going to absolutely love it. Assuming he ever stops procrastinating long enough to record episode one, that is.

So crack your knuckles, practice your most intimidating wrestler growl, and prepare for an episode that’s guaranteed to have more body slams than a physics textbook thrown at a trampoline factory. It’s time to find out if these games captured the magnificent weirdness of their source material or if they just left us feeling like we got hit with the Kinniku Buster of disappointment.

Learn such things as:

• What happens when you give character designers unlimited freedom and a fever dream?
• What’s the exchange rate between friendship power and actual wrestling skill?
• Should we be concerned that intergalactic peace depends entirely on entertainment wrestling?
• And so much more!

You can find SerpyMatt on BlueSky @serpymatt.bsky.social.

If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.

If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.

Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.

You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky, @playcomicscaston Twitter and in the Play Comics Podcast Fan Groupon Facebook.

A big thanks to the Byrds Eye View Comics and The Last Comic Shop for the promos today.

Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, whose wrestling gimmick here would probably be something based around weaponizing VHS tapes.

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