Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 is an Action-Adventure and Fighting Game sequel for Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and based on the Naruto Shippuden anime, developed by CyberConnect2. If you want to know what the story is about you should really head over to the manga's page, but the gist of it is that the main character (Naruto) is a ninja aspiring to earn the Hokage ("fire shadow") title, or in other words, become the leader of his village. And then it turns out there's an malevolent Beast of Mass Destruction inside of him, friends betray him, shadowy organizations start hunting him — and all of this before the part of the plot this game deals with.
The game storyline spans the events from the first episode of Shippuden (the sequel to the original Naruto anime) to episode 175, though omissions and additions can be found here and there. The player mainly takes the role of Naruto (though at times, you get to play as other characters of the series). The story begins as Naruto and Jiraiya, Naruto's perverted teacher, return to their home village after two-and-a-half years of training. From that point on, Naruto matures and becomes stronger as the story progresses.
The gameplay is somewhat the same as the original, with the ability to run free within the battlefield as well as the use of battle items and "Ultimate Jutsu" (such as Futon: Rasenshuriken, Chou Odama Rasengan, Amaterasu and Kirin). Out of battles, you can collect all sorts of items—including materials to create items, "Memory Crystals" which show key moments of part one, "battle records" which let you face past battles and "story records" to watch the cutscenes of the game's main storyline. You are able to explore the Hidden Leaf, Sand, and Rain Villages and speak with game characters and civilians.
This game is followed up by Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations, which addresses the Substitution problem in Storm 2 and expands the cast of characters from the beginning of the series up to a bit after where Storm 2 leaves off. It also doesn't have the cinematic boss fights that this game had for the fact that CyberConnect2 wanted to make Generations a more traditional fighter, and the fact that the team that made the cinematic boss fights became the main team for Capcom-published game Asura's Wrath. And Now You Know. (The boss fights are back for Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, on the other hand.)
In 2017, the game with 1 and 3 were rereleased for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. One year later, it was rereleased for the Switch as well.
Tropes exhibited by this game:
- Action Girl: Unlike the main series, the entire female cast gets a fight — sans Shizune, Anko, and Temari.
- Adaptation Distillation: Concentrating over 175 episodes into a game, this was bound to happen. All mentions of Danzo's name itself have been cut from the game; the Raikage doesn't make an appearance even though some events past his introduction in the manga do happen.
- Adaptation Expansion: A staple of the game, for example the Sasuke and Sai arc and Immortals arc.
- What was a quick punch from Naruto to Sasuke after they meet in Orochimaru's lair turns into a full-on boss fight with flashbacks to when they last fought each other.
- Adaptation Explanation Extrication: In the game, Suigetsu already has Zabuza's sword with no explanation as to when or how he got it, though it's Hand Waved by how the first game skipped over the "Bridge Of Heroes" arc so technically, it's not Zabuza's sword he's using, but his own.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: Hokage Naruto is basically just a re-skin of Sage Mode Naruto.
- Battle Couple: Naruto and Hinata are named one in Free Battle ('Secret Lovers', to be exact) after the main storyline is finished.
- Beam-O-War: A weird example happens at the beginning of the Itachi boss fight with Sasuke and Itachi throwing shuriken at each other, with every shuriken clashing against another one. A more conventional one happens later involving streams of fire.
- Big Bad: Pain is the final boss and the leader of the Akatsuki.
- Bleak Level: The destroyed Hidden Leaf Village. Also serves as the final area for the story mode.
- Bloodless Carnage: The game has virtually no bloodshed except for one minor scene where Itachi's eye bleeds following his final use of Amaterasu.
- He's also surprisingly bloody after the boss fight with him. Still not as much as the original from the manga/anime, but givin the otherwise bloodlessness of the game, it comes as a bit of a shock.
- Call-Forward: Tenten's letters to Naruto express her curiosity in running a shop after her ninja career is over. This is what she goes on to do after retiring.
- The Cameo:
- Lars Alexandersson makes an appearance.
- Princess Kasumi from Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2, Aoi and her mom, Tsubaki from Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 4, and Tsukino from Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 all write letters to Naruto in the post-game.
- Combo Breaker: Substitution, which can be done while the opponent is attacking and teleports the player somewhere else, though the new location isn't necessarily safe. Players can also summon an Assist Character while they're being attacked, forcing the attacking player to immediately turn attention to the assist.
- Comeback Mechanic: The Awakenings can only be used if the character has less than half of his or her total HP, or in the case of particularly strong Awakenings, less than a quarter or even one-sixth.
- Controllable Helplessness:
- After the Boss Fight against Itachi, all Sasuke can do is back away in terror. He can also try to gather chakra (which doesn't work as he's all out) and attack with his sword (which also does nothing, as Itachi has the all but unstoppable Susanoo in effect).
- This happens again after Jiraiya has fought off Pain. He can run around and attack, but Pain has infinite HP and will eventually wear him down.
- Death of a Thousand Cuts: Chiyo and Hinata have regular Jutsu that do very little damage per hit but do a lot of them. Hinata's has so many rapid hits that the combo meter, unable to keep up, keeps counting over a second after it ends.
- Difficult, but Awesome:
- Shikamaru. Proper use of him turns any opponent into a figurative ping-pong ball, exploded across the stage and back with little chance of escape. When Shikamaru is mastered, he can easily beat game breakers like Sage Mode Naruto, Mangekyo Sharingan Sasuke, and Itachi.
- Also the puppet masters. Much more difficult, and not quite as awesome, but a good puppet master player is a pain in the behind to deal with...
- Easter Egg: Using Karin's Ultimate Jutsu on Sasuke results in a different animation.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Madara Uchiha.
- Guest Fighter: Lars Alexandersson, brought about when Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto designed a costume for the character to use in the console ports of Tekken 6.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: The final part of Jiraiya's fight with Pain winds up becoming this.
- Which makes the first part of that fight a case of Heads I Win, Tails You Lose.
- Interface Spoiler: "Hidden Leaf Village (Destroyed)" is a selectable stage right from the start. The actual event doesn't occur until the Final Chapter.
- Lampshade Hanging: One of Konohamaru's friends mentions how he's too easy to find in hide-and-seek. This was a sidequest/minigame in the first game that was not at all easy to do, and was toned down for the sequel.
- Lethal Joke Character: Tobi. His attacks are weak...but he can spam bomb balls, phase through attacks, teleport, run real fast, and so on. Then when his health is low, he becomes a Fireball spamming Madara/Obito. Also, Karin and Ino are both lethal joke characters with surprisingly powerful attacks.
- Multiplatform: Notable for being the first game in the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja series to be released on a non-Sony console, as it also made the jump to the Xbox 360.
- Numbered Sequel: The second installment in the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm series.
- Repeat Cut: Used when 4-Tailed Form Naruto fires his Bijuudama at Orochimaru.
- Say My Name: You know this is coming when Naruto and Sasuke fight each other.Sasuke: Narutoooooooo!!!!!!!!
Naruto: Sasukeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! - Sequential Boss: The game has these for all their boss fights. In order:
- Kakashi vs. Naruto and Sakura: A battle in the training field in standard play, followed up by a lake area where he shoots Water Dragons. If you avoid them or have Sakura knock him off his high point, he shoots fireballs and guns you down with Lightning Blades.
- Deidara vs. Gaara: A battle on top of the Kazekage's Mansion, dodging his explosive birds and spiders, waiting for opportunities to knock him off his bird and open a gourd of sandy whoopass. When you take a healthy chunk of his HP, an aerial chase ensues, where you have to again avoid his fire and pelt him with Sand Shuriken.
- Orochimaru vs. Naruto: Again, fairly normal until Naruto goes into his 4-Tailed Form on Snaky. Beam Spam ensues.
- Naruto vs. Sasuke almost averts this, but still applies because the second phase shifts between their current battle and their battle at The Valley of the End.
- Naruto vs. Kakuzu: The second phase of the fight involves Kakuzu expanding his entire being into...some kind of monster and engulf two trees as pillars, forcing Naruto to pull his body off his monstrous form once he exhausts himself.
- Sasuke vs. Itachi: First phase is the standard fight. Sasuke destroys the compound with Kirin after escaping from Itachi's Amaterasu. Itachi reveals his Susano'o, segueing into the second phase, where Sasuke must maneuver around the Susano'o's movements while attacking Itachi.
- Jiraiya vs. Pain had two phases and a Controllable Helplessness sequence at the end. Phase one has Jiraiya fight Pain atop his summoned giant lobster. Phase two has Sage Mode Jiraiya fight against three Paths of Pain. The last sequence (following a cutscene) has Jiraiya try to fight off all six, but is unable to do so, until he belts out one last Rasengan (and boy is it humongous!).
- Naruto vs. Pain had three phases. Much like most of the boss fights, phase one was fairly standard, with Sage Mode Naruto against base Pain. Phase two starts when Naruto goes into his 6-Tailed Form and must stave off Pain's boulder throws, which are huge. Following a cutscene afterwards, phase three pits base Naruto against an Awakened Pain.
- Ship Tease: Naruto and Hinata have the infamous 'Secret Lovers' title, which became a Running Gag in the game series. Their letters in the mail Side Quest are a big one too.
- There are also a couple hints to Sai and Ino.
- Superboss: Sage Naruto pumped up to SNK Boss levels... whose attacks can poison you.) and Jiraiya supported by Pain and Naruto at the end of Grandpa Gen's Trials. (Who's of a higher AI level than the final boss.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: Happens with a lot of boss fights' second modes—and that's not counting the ones that simply change up their pattern and attacks in ways that the normal version of the character cannot do. We have for your consideration: a rail shooter (Gaara vs. Deidara), a stationary shooter (Naruto vs. Orochimaru), a beat 'em up with shooter moves (Jiraiya vs. Pain), and that middle portion of the final fight with Pain. It's still the fighting genre, but both players are changed up so much as to make the gameplay veeery different.
- Updated Re-release: This and the other 2 of the first 3 main titles in the series got rereleased in 2017 for Xbox One and PS4 and PC while the Switch got it a year later.
