What Are the Naruto Ninja Council Games?

Alongside the GameCube fighters, Tomy built a second Naruto line for handhelds: side-scrolling action games developed by Aspect, called Naruto: Saikyo Ninja Daikesshu in Japan, the Great Council of the Strongest Ninja, and shortened to Naruto: Ninja Council in the West. The first game reached the Game Boy Advance in Japan on May 1, 2003 and in North America on March 22, 2006, making it, with Clash of Ninja, one of the two first Naruto games sold outside Japan.

The GBA pair covers Part I in brisk, sprite-based form, and then the series moved to the DS, where the numbering falls apart between regions. Japan's third game, Daikesshu 3 for DS (2005), was released in Europe only, under the baffling title Ninja Council 2 European Version, and never in North America at all. Japan's fourth game became the West's Ninja Council 3, and the mismatch continues through the Shippuden entries, including Ninja Council 4 and Naruto vs. Sasuke.

Seven main entries later, the series closed on the DS and 3DS era. Ninja Council is the humble sibling of the Naruto game family, but for handheld collectors it is the most complete physical line: small boxes, sprite art, and a regional catalog as tangled as the fighters'.