The Hit Anime Naruto Comes to the TCG World

Japan has offered us many things over the years. Innovations in technology, the arts and of course cartoons. About half of the current cartoons now airing were originally based in Japan. Such shows include Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and many more. And all these shows had another thing going for them, trading card game deals. We all know how big a craze Pokemon created and that same success is being matched with another Anime show known as Naruto.

Recently the company, Bandai, and the manga magazine Shonen Jump have teamed up to bring the Naruto trading card game (TCG) here to America. I'll be the first to admit that these sorts of games don't interest me all too much, I collected baseball cards as a kid, but the Naruto TCG is a well thought out strategy game. I was hooked form the first time I played the great game.

The games mechanics are based around having a team of Ninja that attack or defend against your opponent's ninja. Each character in the game has a value at the bottom of the card symbolizing its power and support. Your team of ninjas are organized with a leader, and up to two support ninja. Then during combat you can use Jutsu's to affect the outcome of the fight. It's simple, yet very effective, making the game easy to understand from the get go.

Aside from the play of the game, all the cards have scenes taken right from the show printed on them, as well as character quotes. This makes the game even better for those die hard fans of the television series who want to collect cards pertaining to a character they love, and trust me, every character you can think of is here. Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Gaara, Rock Lee, The Hokage's and more all make an appearance in this game.

Of course a good chunk of the TCG market belongs to collectors. Those who only are playing the game for the sake of having every rare and valuable card. Well there are some amazingly rare and valuable cards in this game. The classification of a cards rarity works like most other TCG's on the market. You have commons. Uncommon, rares, and of course the most valuable, Super Rares. Some of these Super rares have great game play potential, like The Forth Hokage for example, but are hard to find and sell for a pretty penny. Some Super Rare cards have sold on E-bay for over 40$. Also to make things more interesting every card has a foiled printing. So aside from having the plain looking card, you could have it printed with a diamond or wavy foil pattern.

Now unlike TCG's like Yu-Gi-Oh, the man with the most rare and valuable cards will not always monopolize and win. Each card in the game has a use. True, some are better then others but you don't have to have a deck packed with 300+ dollars worth of cards to beat an opponent. I bought a starter deck, and five booster packs and I was able to hold my own with guys that have played since the game started. With a good strategy and quick wit, just about anyone can play and win this game.

Bandai and Shonen Jump have put a lot of thought and time into this game. There are tournaments being held almost in every state and the prize support is amazing. You can win plenty of cash and product just by placing in the top sixteen at a regional even. The players are for the most part nice and easy going so asking questions at a tournament is never a big deal, everyone is eager to help beginners in any way possible. So if you like Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh I would advise you to at least give this game a try. You can demo the game on the official website, and check out all the cool extras they have there as well Believe it!