It's just not very practical to walk around, see someone you don't like, and then challenge them to a fight. Frankly, it's just not very civilized, and one day you'll pick on the wrong person and wind up face down in a gutter, black eye and everything. Perhaps it's a good thing then that Sony created the PSP and developers created Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes, because now you'll be able to challenge other PSP owners on the go, and you won't have to get bloody at all. During a recent conference call, we talked with Andrew Davis – the localization specialist at Namco Bandai Games – to see what we can expect from the PSP Naruto fighter.

First up, no, there isn't a story mode in the game, and we're surprised anyone would complain about such a lack of one in a fighting game. What true fighter has ever had a real story, which didn't consist solely of a thrown together, run-of-the-mill cutscene that waited for you at the end? Besides, Naruto fans picking up the game can probably make their own stories, based on things they've read before or seen in the anime. So yes, there is no story. And no, it doesn't sound as if it is going to hamper the final game at all.

A fighting game is only as solid as its characters, and for Naruto fans all the standbys are in place: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Rock Lee, Neji, Tenten, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata. You'll also be unable to unlock through the Heroes mode Kikashi, Gai, Gaara, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Orochimaru, Hitachi, and Kisame. So obviously, if you want to unlock all the characters possible, and earn the chance to play with the strongest of the bunch, you'll have to contend with the Hero mode. Andrew helped clarify what the Heroes mode in question details, when he told us, "In Heroes mode, when you start a battle, it will give you this list of achievement, and if you accomplish this list of achievement during the battle, and it might be something like do a substitution jutsu instead of a dodge five times, or break something like five different breakable objects during the stage, and if you do complete them, at the end of each fight you gain these points. If you've been, saying, going through the game with only one player instead of three, then you'll actually get a point multiplier, and once you do that you can spend those points to upgrade your characters. But each character has their own special points, so to upgrade Sakura you have to play as Sakura." Yes, you heard that correct – character upgrades. Perhaps now a super upgraded Sakura will now be able to stand a chance against the likes of Orochimaru.

The biggest draw for the game is the fact that this was made exclusively for American audiences, and that you'll be able to use Wi-Fi to play local players, and in a smart move, both players won't have to have a copy of the game in order to play each other. In a different twist, you'll be able to create teams to battle against your friends, and you won't always have to have an exactly even 3-on-3 battle. "The way this one is setup is that you have teams of up to three characters, and after one loses, the next one comes into play. You can choose up to three: you can have one character, two characters, or three characters. If you create a team that has a special affinity – either from the anime series or some hidden affinity between the characters – you can unlock special team skills you can unlock before the fight for a team advantage." The affinity is mostly going to come from the selection of teams as seen in the series itself – Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura for example would be one likely scenario – but others are also supposed to take place, which might not be so obvious. The team affinity will grant players either starting advantages, like a poison against the opposition, or special items during the actual fights to use.