Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2
(ナルト- ナルティメットヒーロー2, Naruto: Narutimetto Hīrō 2)
Video game info
Playable on	PlayStation 2
Series	Naruto: Ultimate Ninja
Previous	Naruto: Ultimate Ninja
Next	Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3
Release Date
Japanese	September 30, 2004
English	June 12, 2007
Debut
Jutsu 1000 Metre Punch 16 Hit Combo Adamantine Prison Wall Adamantine Technique: Cranium Crusher Amaterasu Arhat Fist Barrage of Gentle Fists Black Dream Body Pathway Derangement Calamity Flame Chakra Enhanced Strength Chakra Scalpel Chaos Fan Dance Clone Great Explosion Cold Needles Dance of the Sword Dead Demon Consuming Seal Dynamic Marking Explosion: Ice Mountain Destruction Fan Wind Roaring Wall Fang Beheading Fang Fangs of the Monkey King Fantasy Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet Fire Release: Flame Bullet Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet Flowing Blade Forbidden Technique: Gedō Seal Front Lotus Guy Version Gedō Seal: Release Great Dance Slash Great Sickle Weasel Technique Green Impact Heavenly Foot of Pain Heavenly Kick Wild Dance Heavenly Palm Wild Dance Hog Release: Tonton Human Shadow Simulation Technique Ice Prison Technique Ice Release: Black Dragon Blizzard Ice Release: One Horned White Whale Ice Release: Swallow Snow Storm Ice Release: Tearing Dragon Fierce Tiger Ice Release: Twin Dragon Blizzard Incursion of Clarity Infinite Wild Dance Insect Clone Technique Insect Pillar Technique Kagura Shuriken Last Resort: Eight Gates Crumbling Attack Leaf Broadminded Leaf Drop Leaf Strong Whirlwind Lightning Cutter Two Sequential Crashes Manipulated Tools: Deadly Spheres Strike Manipulated Tools: One Thousand Blades Attack Mind Body Disturbance Technique Needle Jizō Ninja Art: Profusion of Flowers Ninja Art: Shuriken Giant Body Technique Ninja Wolfsbane Oneself's Rule Palm Wave Parasitic Destruction Insects: Arrowhead Swarm Parasitic Destruction Insects: Whirl Peerless Hurricane Formation Poison Mist Prepared Needle Shot Puppet: Degeneration Puppet: Inexhaustible Explosive Blades Puppet: Revolving Blade Heavenly Drill Puppet: Spewing Bullet Rasengan Rising Sun Roaring Run: Great Strength Ice Strike Slug Great Division Soft Neck Throw Soft Physique Modification Spider Sticking Spit Spiked Human Bullet Tank Spirit Foot Strength of a Hundred Seal Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind Super Multi-Size Technique Super Pressure Toad Oil Bullet Tongue Tooth Sticky Acid Transformation: Adamantine Staff True Sand Waterfall Funeral Tsukuyomi Ultimate Reverse Lotus Unsealing Technique Water Release: Water Fang Bullet Water Release: Water Shark Breakthrough Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Technique Wind Demon Special Attack Bullet Wind Release: Great Breakthrough
Tools Chakra Armour Chakra-Suppressing Seal Explosive Tag First Hokage's Necklace Makibishi Poison Retractable Cable Arm Shinobi Battle Armour Snowboard Wrist-Mounted Senbon Launcher

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2, known in Japan as Naruto: Narutimate Hero 2 (ＮＡＲＵＴＯ-ナルト- ナルティメットヒーロー2, Naruto: Narutimetto Hīrō 2), is the second instalment of the fighting game series Naruto: Ultimate Ninja released for the PlayStation 2.

Gameplay

It features a similar gameplay experience to Naruto: Ultimate Ninja, featuring many of the same gameplay elements and geography. And a notable number of changes have occurred:

• The match start now involves the characters sliding back from each other via the clash effect with no damage received, unlike the prior game where they leap back instead.
• All characters now have basic combo finishers in all four directions (forward, upward, downward and backward), with one of the four for some characters being guard break attacks apart from the downward single-direction combo. Meanwhile, the jutsu/chakra techniques that were performed as combo finishers are now done with upx2 + attack instead.
• Upwards ground-to-air attacks that produce enough airtime for the user can now be acted out of with air actions during the falling period, whereas the previous game did not allow for any other air actions other than slight drifting adjustment.
• Knockback/knockdown effects have been re-tuned somewhat.
• All characters can now air throw, which is simply done the same way (back + attack within a certain distance of the opponent) only now done in the air.
• More characters now have access to special states after their connected Secret Skills/Techniques, while others instead have an instant special state done from merely performing their Secret Skill without any starting blow and/or cinematic (such as Kabuto, Shizune, and Taijutsu Naruto). Secret Skills during these states are all disabled until they wear off.
• Some Jutsu/Chakra Techniques (done from either upx2 + attack or downx2 + attack) can now be charged up for slightly increased damage and/or increased effect, as well as other forms of interaction.
• Ninja tools fly more in a straight path directly from the thrower, as opposed to flying forward from the side of the thrower.
• On-field items are re-tweaked somewhat.

The game also features an RPG-esque story mode, the first half from the series, the second being an added story arc that takes place between the Search for Tsunade and the Sasuke Recovery Mission. In this arc, Orochimaru has Kabuto use a technique called the Forbidden Technique: Gedō Seal to seal Kakashi's Sharingan. Orochimaru then starts his second invasion on Konoha and uses Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation to revive Zabuza Momochi, Haku, and the Third Hokage. It features 31 playable characters in the Japanese version.

Playable Characters

Parenthesis indicate a character's Awakening Mode.

• Naruto Uzumaki (Nine-Tails Mode), also playable in a Nine Tailed Fox form, also playable with a taijutsu outfit) ^{(Ultimate Mode)}
• Sasuke Uchiha (Sharingan Mode, also playable with a Curse Mark Mode)
• Sakura Haruno (Ultimate Mode)
• Shikamaru Nara (Ultimate Mode)
• Ino Yamanaka (Ultimate Mode)
• Chōji Akimichi (Expansion Mode)
• Kiba Inuzuka (Ultimate Mode)
• Shino Aburame (Ultimate Mode)
• Hinata Hyūga (Byakugan Mode), also playable in an "awakened" form)
• Gaara (Ultimate Mode)
• Temari (Ultimate Mode)
• Kankurō (Ultimate Mode)
• Rock Lee (Eight Gates Mode)
• Neji Hyūga (Byakugan Mode)
• Tenten (Ultimate Mode)
• Kakashi Hatake (Sharingan Mode), also playable with an Anbu outfit) ^{(Ultimate Mode)}
• Might Guy (Eight Gates Mode)
• Shizune (Ultimate Mode)
• Third Hokage (Ultimate Mode)
• Jiraiya (Ultimate Mode)
• Orochimaru (also playable with Sealed Arms)
• Tsunade (Regeneration Mode)
• Itachi Uchiha (Tsukuyomi Mode)
• Kisame Hoshigaki (Shark Skin Mode)
• Kabuto Yakushi (Ultimate Mode)
• Zabuza Momochi (Ultimate Mode)
• Haku (Ultimate Mode)
• Dotō Kazahana ^{(Japan only)}

Support-Only Characters

• Asuma Sarutobi
• Iruka Umino
• Sakon and Ukon
• Tayuya
• Kidōmaru
• Jirōbō
• Nadare Rōga ^{(Japan only)}
• Mizore Fuyukuma ^{(Japan only)}
• Fubuki Kakuyoku ^{(Japan only)}

Trivia

• Should one begin a new game using a memory card that has a Naruto: Ultimate Ninja save file, the player will receive 340 Ninja Info Cards and 50,000 ryō as bonus.
• The European version of the game includes the option to switch to Japanese voices, while the USA version does not.
• Naruto encounters the inner version of himself in the game, similar to Dark Naruto, shown nearly eight years later in the series.
• Depending on who they fight, characters have special intro and win phrases against certain opponents, such as Naruto vs. Sasuke. This was not featured in the first game.
• Many reviews had criticised the massive difficulty level of harder CPU levels in the game and that some of the controls, such as timing substitution jutsus, were nearly impossible, as compared to its prequel.
• Nine-Tailed Naruto in this game reuses assets from Naruto's moveset in the prior instalment, such as his combos and his moves' input schemes (as normal Naruto uses a revamped moveset with new animations).
  • Also in this game, Nine-Tailed Naruto is able to perform the Food Cart Destroyer Technique.
• Dotō Kazahana and the stages related to him are not available in the localised versions due to the first Naruto movie not being dubbed in English at that time, though the theme song used for the said stages is still kept in both versions as Haku's battle theme in the story mode.

External Links

• Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 official website
• Naruto: Narutimate Hero 2 official website (Japanese)