How many polygons does it take to make Naruto look so good?

by Andrew Yoon { Nov 10th 2008 at 4:04PM }

Chances are, if you're an anime fan, you've picked up the PS3-exclusive Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm. The most recent game by Namco Bandai has rightly deserved its fair share of attention due to the fantastic graphics crafted by the CyberConnect 2 team. The secret behind the new graphics is surprisingly simple: add more polygons.

Take for example the Naruto character model. In the PS2 Naruto games, the rascally ninja contained 3,723 polygons. However, for the PS3 iteration, he's made up of 16,927. His face alone takes 4,013 polygons, making his face more complex than the entirety of the PS2 model.

As hardware gets more powerful and tech gets better, we wouldn't be surprised if animation studios just used game engines to render episodes. Heck, we wouldn't mind watching real-time generated episodes of Naruto using this game engine.

Tags: namco-bandai, naruto, naruto-ultimate-ninja-storm

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

bvhj @ Nov 10th 2008 4:11PM

0, it is impossible to make Naruto look good, he will always be an ugly, obnoxious anime scribble.

Devil240Z @ Nov 10th 2008 4:20PM

thank you for being sane.

Devil240Z @ Nov 10th 2008 4:19PM

narutos popularity confounds me. Its like pokemon or something. incredibly stupid but incredibly popular.

Ethan @ Nov 10th 2008 6:11PM

Wish fulfilment.

motorer @ Nov 10th 2008 4:20PM

I downloaded the demo, and the black "line-drawing" around the characters was aliased all to hell. if they could clean that up, it could possibly look better than the actual show.

muir666 @ Nov 10th 2008 4:21PM

he definetly looks smoother in the ps3 shot but is it just me who lyks the retroness of the ps2 version?

Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Nov 11th 2008 12:10AM

You need to see the game in motion to really see the difference.

ZiReX @ Nov 10th 2008 4:28PM

@2

You see, Pokemon didn't even have a manga... it was just a game ported to a series and NEVERENDING (like the games). Naruto has at least a storyline and, by the way it seems, it's arriving to an end in the manga.

@On-topic:
I admit that the graphics are really getting interesting but still it doesn't convince me. Surely an anime based on these game engines wouldn't hurt, but it has to be: or a better game engine identical to the anime one (in the next-gen hope) or a new series with the engine

RasenganFury @ Nov 10th 2008 4:44PM

I picked up the game and the graphics are excellent. I'd say they look even better than the demo with more vibrant colors and smoother animations. I definitely like Naruto's hair on the ps3 as it looks much more like the anime and not a bunch of spikes on his head.

The Infimis @ Nov 10th 2008 4:45PM

damn gamers are never happy now. what does it take?

DETH-DEFIANCE @ Nov 10th 2008 4:56PM

Really? That many polygons? I could have swore it was made up of 3...or maybe that's the amount of braincells the producers of the..cartoon or whatever it is has...

Loonknight @ Nov 10th 2008 5:12PM

Having the Japanese voices available was a key to my purchase. The game looks really good, and I am quite happy with my purchase.

iamkid @ Nov 10th 2008 5:58PM

thats pretty cool, actually. reminds me of the fact that solid snakes moustache has the same number of polygons as an enemy in mgs3

Sindetta @ Nov 10th 2008 6:59PM

Naruto isn't that bad. It just seems like the episodes cant make up their minds about what they want to happen. Like an average fight goes like this.

Jutsu>dodge>punch>FLASHBACK>FLASHBACK>jutsu>exchange blows>FLASHBACK> Big Jutsu or special move> Fight over.

Thats what I cant friggin' stand.

Nugent @ Nov 10th 2008 10:27PM

This is why the anime bites while the manga is quite good. The anime producers need to fill in that half hour, so they pad it with all kinds of crap. Naruto the anime is basically DBZ with ninjas; Naruto the manga is actually pretty well written. The manga does have flashbacks and some convoluted backstory, but it at least doesn't mix them all together like the anime does.

If this game came out a week earlier I would have bought it on the first day, but now I have to get through LBP and R2 first.

Lord_von_Punx @ Nov 10th 2008 7:08PM

you know its funny i was at the amp your game demo

and i played this game for 360 2 months ago ..

how is this a ps3 exclusive? ??

stargateheaven @ Nov 10th 2008 7:18PM

That's a different naruto game.

Lord_von_Punx @ Nov 10th 2008 7:21PM

ok thanks

Game_playa @ Nov 10th 2008 9:37PM

Naruto is awesome, Except for some fillers (Which have been really awesome lately), the story line is really interesting IMO.

Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Nov 11th 2008 12:09AM

Agreed and this game is so epic in scope. I am not even a Naruto fan but this game and the story is INCREDIBLE.

Josh (VICTOLY! WELL DONE AMERICA) @ Nov 10th 2008 10:16PM

I prefer 2D animation over 3D animation for anime. High frame rate 3D animation just doesn't look pleasing to me, for anime.

Though in this game, the graphics are really beautiful, especially in motion. But unless they got the animations not so "game-y", I prefer traditional 2D animation when I want to watch anime.