Video Game: Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3
Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 is the sequel to Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations and is part of the Naruto franchise's Naruto: Ultimate Ninja: Storm subseries developed by Cyber Connect 2. The game was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the United States on March 5, 2013, in Europe on March 8, 2013. Japan received it on April 18, 2013. It has been reported to be the last game of the Storm series of the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Games.The storyline begins where Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 left off, right after the Pain arc and the destruction (and rebuild) of the Leaf Hidden Village. After the battle against Pain, the 5 Kages decide to meet in a summit to decide how to deal with the threat of Akatsuki. Meanwhile, Naruto learns about Sasuke's dark deeds, and must decide whether he insists in his goal of rescuing his rogue old friend or, on the other hand, trying to take him down to stop his madness. During this adventure, Naruto will discover the remaining mysteries of his birth while the whole ninja world is immersed in the biggest war ever known. Just like its predecessors, the narrative includes omissions and additions.Gameplay enhancements include an updated Story Mode with in-game cutscenes like Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, with more emphasis on cinematics in the storyline than before, a Mass Effect-styled decision system called "The Ultimate Decision" (which lets players alter the outcome of certain storylines as well as the difficulty level), and Hack And Slash-styled gameplay from the PlayStation Portable game Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact, which are now main storyline forms of gameplay.General gameplay enhancements include updated Super attacks for the characters, plus a new Lag Cancel called "Awakening Cancel" — when attacking, a quick usage of Awakening during a combo (which can now be used anytime instead of needing to lose a specific amount of health using the right stick unless in a particular story mode fight) will cancel the current combo and the character will use a main combo exclusive to their Awakening move, and can be swapped back to the normal mode at any time with the flick of the right stick. Awakenings now have different actions and techniques as opposed to just one, and now don't just rely on the Chakra meter.Also, the cinematic boss fights, one of the most celebrated features in the series, are back once again after their absence in Generations.You can find the current official site here. The first trailer can be found here.
Tropes the game provides include:
AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle: The way the game pronounces the name Kurama. It's proper pronunciation is "Koo-rah-mah", the dub pronounces it "Koo-roo-mah".
This happens other time, like with the Rinnegan. The pronunciation is "Ren-Ay-Gan", the dub pronounces it "Ren-E-Gan", like one would pronounce "Renegade" in English.
"Tsuki no Me" is likewise pronunced like "Tsuki no MI".
They also pronounce "Son Goku" like "Su-hn Guh-ku". This is particularly egregious considering America and other English countries have had English dubs of Dragon Ball, and, well....you get the point.
Adaptation Induced Plot Hole: Several details skipped in Storm 2 are now vital to the plot. The game does its best to avert this by providing flashbacks where appropriate.
American Kirby Is Hardcore: The western version includes blood, the Japanese version doesn't. It can be turned off though.
Strangely enough flashbacks don't seem to check for having blood turned off, so still display it anyway. As well as a certain scene with Zabuza and Haku, but that scene wouldn't make sense without it.
And Now for Someone Completely Different: You actually spend quite a lot of the story mode controling characters other than Naruto, to the point where listing them all would take far too long. The one that most stands out is controlling pregnant Kushina during a flashback. She even gets to kickstart a Sidequest Sidestory that her future son will eventually follow through!
And Your Reward Is Clothes: Many characters have alternate "war" outfits. This is purely a cosmetic change, they still play exactly the same. For the ones that don't (Gaara and Choji), their 'war' version are listed as separate characters.
Kakashi's war outfit is particularly ridiculous, as it changes the kanji on his headband (something you'd probably never notice in a real match), and the only difference in play is that he now has an awakening ability.
Lee's is even more ridiculous for his flak jacket covers his headband.
Art Evolution: The overall graphics are much more cinematic then they were in previous Storm titles, and in-game models look somewhat sketchier akin to the manga as a result.
It's fairly common at times to think you're watching the anime until something shows you that, yes, it's just game graphics.
Back from the Dead: Kabuto's Edo Tensei brought back a large number of previously killed off characters. Though you don't actually have to wait until you unlock their Reanimated forms to use them: their living skins are unlocked by default. Heck, even quite a few dead characters who aren't revived, like Pain's Yahiko body, are still playable to maintain a complete roster.
Barehanded Blade Block: Naruto somehow does this with Sasuke's *lightning-enhanced* sword.
Battle Couple: Naruto and Hinata are (again) listed as "Secret Lovers" when placed on a team.
Bloodless Carnage: In the Japanese version, and any other version if one chooses to "turn off" the more graphic natures of battle. Otherwise, see American Kirby Is Hardcore above
Blood from the Mouth: Karin after getting Impaled with Extreme Prejudice by Sasuke's Chidori Spear, and both Kushina and Minato when they're impaled with the Ninte Tails' claw. Not seen if you have blood off, obviously.
Boring, but Practical: Shurikens and Fuma Shurikens in Bijuu battle. The former causes the Bijuu to flinch and the latter slowly chips away their health.
Boss Banter: Storyline battles, even non-boss ones. will have combantants talking to eachother during battle. The lines change to reflect how the fight is going too, and even Assist characters get a few if used.
Butt Monkey: Yamato gets beaten up by Naruto while attempting a You Shall Not Pass... twice in the space of two chapters. Even he says he feels like crying after that.
Cerebus Syndrome: This game in particular goes from lighthearted to dark very quickly. Notice how everything listed on Funny Moments is either before the war or in the postgame? Yeah, there's a good reason for that.
Colon Cancer: Again, like a few of its predecessors, the title manifests as Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja: Storm 3.
Degraded Boss: Kakuzu was a major boss in Storm 2. Here his revived form is reduced to a Miniboss for Darui on his way to the Gold and Silver Brothers.
Demoted to Extra: Hinata, Neji, Temari, Shino and Tenten don't even get a line of dialogue in the main story line.
Which kind of sucks since Hinata, Kiba, and Shino were part of the Second Division's battle which was completely glossed over. You don't even get a CHANCE to fight on that battlefield. Probably because there were no Edo Tensei on it, just White Zetsu.
Sai's fight with his reanimated brother Shin (probably the most significant thing he did in the war) being cut also makes him this.
Die, Chair! Die!: For the first time in the Storm series, you can break items in the overworld for collectables.
First, for pre-ordering the game from Game Stop, you get Naruto in Goku's outfit. His move animations now resemble that of Goku's and his Rasengan is now performed like the Father-Son Kamehameha.
Second, if you are a Neon Alley subscriber, you get Samurai Naruto, Kimono Sasuke, School Uniform Sakura, Swimsuit Tsubade, and ANBU Itachi.
Third, recently released on Xbox Live and Playstation Network, is a School Uniform pack for Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Ino, and Hinata. Designs taken directly from how they appeared in the 2nd anime ending.
Two new packs were also added to Xbox Live and Playstation Network. An Akatsuki pack that gives Deidara, Itachi, and Kisame the straw hats and Pain his torn cloak, and one that gives various costumes to Naruto, including pirate, matador, and leiderhosen.
Four more packs were also added. A swimsuit pack for Sakura, Ino, Hinata and Temari, a pack that gives kage hats to the kage present at the summit, one that gives Sasuke and Hinata their Road to Ninja outfits, Jiraya, Tsunade and Orochimaru their sanin war uniforms, Kakashi and Yamato ANBU uniforms, and Madara a living form, and one that gives Sakura a Hello Kitty themed outfit.
Dual Boss: Kinkaku and Ginkaku. The Swordsmen of the Mist are optionally Sextuple Boss (you can also choose to split them up and fight them as a Sequential Boss, but that gets you less points)
Evil Overlooker: The Western boxart features three, with Tobi, Sasuke, and Kabuto''s heads watching Naruto from behind.
Speaking of which, a simple sparring session with Might Guy can end up with Naruto using his Rasenshuriken which, as a reminder, when pushed into the opponent, can cause cellular damage to Naruto as well as instakill the opponent. Both end up fine afterward.
Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: Being an anime adaptation, a few of these were inevitable. Notably, upon arriving at the Land of Iron in Chapter 1 you're hit with two boss fights in a row that both fall under this trope: the Raikage and Tobi.
Konan's is still just a cruel as it was in the original canon.
I Thought It Was Forbidden: I'm just going to keep this short and simple and say every other Awakening and Ultimate Ninjutsu. Special mention goes to Tsunade for averting this trope.
Kick the Dog: In the sidequest where you have to make Naruto pick whether he likes girls like Hinata or girls like Ino and Sakura, should the first option be picked, Ino and Sakura will start to talk about how someone shy like Hinata would get beat before defeating an enemy and how being shy can get you into trouble and boldness is the way to go...when Hinata is right there with them. That's...surprisingly insensitive for both of them.
The two are later joined by Tenten. Ino and Tenten invite Naruto to join them who wanted to ask Sakura out for lunch. Then they openly make fun of him.
Made of Iron: Tobi was already this in the series, but the final battle takes it Up to Eleven. He tanks about a thousand Rasengan and shrugs it off, then takes a Megaton Punch that puts anything Tsunade has ever done to shame, and comes out of it with nothing to show for it but a broken mask.
Megaton Punch: There's plenty but special mention goes to Naruto giving one to Tobi.... which wound up taking an overly long set-up which a different colouring scream that bled awesome, shattering the man's mask...and cracking the ground until it split. Since when was Naruto Captain Falcon?
Mythology Gag: When the Jinchuuriki are telling their names to Naruto, Utakata asks if he remembers him. This is a reference to a filler arc where they've met prior to this event.
Even though this is translation only, this is not in the japanese audio.
They manage to sneak "Believe it!" into one of Naruto's rap-off letters to Killer Bee.
Nerf: Awakenings received their own form of this, as they no longer prevent Ultimate Jutsu and grab attacks from making contact. Better yet, Ultimate Jutsu now cancels the opponent's Awakening. Makes sense, in case one uses it against someone like B.
Support characters were also nerfed, as they now possess a Life Gauge, and thus, anytime they block an Ultimate Jutsu for you, they take the damage. When they take too much, they die, and remain lifeless on the field.
Non Indicative Name: The game's title has "3" in the name, yet it's the fourth game in the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja: Storm subseries.
No Export for You: Not the game itself, but some DLC with goes with it are only available in Japan and Europe. Fans were not pleased.
Numbered Sequel: The game is titled Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, despite technically being the fourth game in the Naruto Ultimate Ninja: Storm series. The actual third game in the series is the game's predecessor, Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations.
Off Model: There's something a little... off about Naruto's facial expression on the boxart.
Once More With Clarity: The prologue shows some of the events of the Nine Tails' attack on the Leaf Village, but you don't get the full story until a flashback in Chapter 4.
The Prologue ends with Kushina narrating that "This is the story of a hero [...] a hero I love." At the time, you're led to believe she's talking about Minato, but the ending shows it actually refers to Naruto. Every line of her speech manages to take on a whole new meaning too.
One Steve Limit: Averted. The roster includes Fu, Chomei's jinchuriki, and Fu, one of Danzo's bodyguards (spelled "Foo" in the English text presumably to avoid confusion). While the latter is assist-only, you can still play as Fu, the jinchuriki, assisted by Fu, the bodyguard.
Our Zombies Are Different: Fundamentally different from the series in gameplay only: a Reanimated character, acts as they would if alive, making the "reanimation" purely aesthetic and nothing more. The exceptions are Itachi, Madara, Hanzo and Nagato - the former has a completely new moveset, while Madara has a living form via DLC and the latter two don't have "living" versions to function as a new skin for.
This is particularly strange with the former Jinchuriki whose reaminated forms have a Sharingan and Rinnegan, which should make them much more powerful than they were while they were alive. But no, they still play identically.
Power-Up Letdown: Ironically, considering he has a much more prominant role in the story than before, Killer Bee's 8-Tails form falls into this now. Its massive size makes it ridiculously easy to hit (and thus cancel) with Ultimate Jutsu. And being a transformation-type Awakening, it can't be used with the game's new instant-Awakening system.
Pragmatic Adaptation: To keep from spoiling the manga and to allow for the aftergame to exist, the game's ending sees the fourth ninja war end after Naruto breaks Tobi's mask, and instead of the reveal of Tobi being Obito, he just retreats, ending the story on a completely happy note as opposed to the manga and anime, where the war is still ongoing.
Gecko Ending: Basically the result of said pragmatic adapting.
Sequel Hook: On the other hand, it's made pretty clear that the real battle is not over yet, and that Tobi and Madara will return someday. Madara even uses the phrase "to be continued" during his Villain Exit Stage Left. There has been talk of DLC to add aditional story chapters once the manga gets further, but nothing confirmed.
Press X to Not Die: This feature has returned from Storm 3 (it was missing in Generations), and it keeps you geared for more.
Several of them are now optional to push, known as Bonus Inputs. similarly to Asuras Wraths "Synchronic Impact" They don't have to be pressed, but doing so makes it much easier to obtain secret factors in this game compared to Storm 1 and 2.
Promoted Fanboy: In-game, in the post-game, Naruto can actually convince Kakashi (via letter) to continue Jiraiya's Make-Out series. Yes, Naruto can convince Kakashi to write porn novels.
Point of No Return: Enjoy running around the Leaf Village and buying stuff while you still can, cos' after leaving in Chapter 3 you won't be coming back until the postgame!
Posthumous Narration: Like Generations and Storm 2, the narrator is Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, who died fairly early on in the series. Kushina also narrates the prologue, the events of which directly led up to her death.
Post Victory Collapse: After the final boss, Naruto falls asleep on his feet halfway through trying to fist-bump Bee.
Promoted To Playable: Darui went from a support character in Generations to a playable character in this game.
Purposely Overpowered: Several of the non-playable boss characters, but the Second Mizukage really stands out. See the YMMV tab.
Recycled Set: The majority of the combat arenas (roughly 2/3) are recycled from previous games. The adventure mode also reuses some of the 2D environments from Storm 2, like the Sand Hidden Village.
Remember the New Guy: After being expunged from the previous Storm games, Zetsu finally shows up in this one, and is treated like he's always been around.
The Ultimate Decision whether Naruto likes girls like Hinata or girls like Sakura and Ino.
Just like in Storms 2, the mail Side Quest has plenty of Ship Tease for good measure.
Shout Out: Naruto's Goku costume, and with it on, he uses the Rasengan with two hands like the Kamehameha.
The whole sequence with Dark Naruto in Chapter 3 evokes Persona.
Mifune's combos resemble Hakumen's specials while Hanzo's appear similar to Axl Low's specials, while Han's (the 5 Tails Jinchuriki) attacks resemble Iron Tager's.
Naruto's Final punch done in the last boss fight against Tobi is similar to the last punch done by Asura to Chakravartin in Asuras Wrath. The Bonus Input QTE's Also act similarly to the synchronic impact system from the same game.
Shotacon: The Mizukage, as always. Her behaviour to Naruto in the post-game sells it.
"Looks like I've found quite a good ninja. He's still quite young, but in a few years, I'd say it's very possible."
Slap-on-the-Wrist Nuke: The vast majority of the Ultimate Ninjutsu are this either Downplayed or Played Straight. Most would realistically either shred or disintegrate the target's body with one hit. The biggest would also take the battlefield with them. None can kill in any less than 3 hits.
Spared By Adaptation: Neji Hyuuga, Inoichi Yamanaka, Shikaku Nara, Mabui and Ao, if you consider the game's storyline to end at the Gecko Ending. Orochimaru technically inverts this.
Foo and Torune are a strange example. In the manga, they're explicitly shown being killed as a sacrifice required for Kabuto's reanimation. In the game, you simply never see or hear from them again after Sasuke's fight with Danzo, effectively downgrading them to What Happened to the Mouse?. (It's still possible they met the same fates the did in the manga offscreen though)
Another somewhat-amusing example: the Raikage's arm. The game cuts the scene where he cuts off his left arm to prevent damage from Sasuke's Amaterasu. Though the game does include an alternate form of the Raikage, with a different Ultimate, for the later stages of the story, he still seems to have both arms. Strangely enough, his team name when paired with Darui is still "Two Right Arms".
Teleport Spam: Pretty Much Minato's entire fighting style revolves around this. A really good player can make it Confusion Fu. The Masked Man also works like this.
There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Using the Tailed Beast Bomb ultimate often feels like this. The attack is powerful enough to desimate an entire village, and you go and use it to knock out PTS Sakura.
Many, many characters have Ultimates like this. Naruto's "Massive Rasengan Mega Barrage" stands out in particular. In-story he uses it to damage the Nine Tails itself.
A few of the Finishing Moves on minibosses in the Beat 'em Up segments feel like this too. Since they also deal heavy damage to allMooks in close proximity, they're surprisingly practical.
Took a Level in Badass: Choji. And how! Even more amazing seeing as he was pretty much a complete Joke Character in Storm 2, but now he not only proves himself massively in story mode, but gets a new form with a whole new Awakening.
Too Long; Didn't Dub: In addition to several attack names, a few story terms like "Tsuki no Me" (Moon's Eye) are left in Japanese.
Troll: Right from his first appearence, Tobi shows he loves to mess with people For the Evulz.
Villain Ball: Tobi seems to have swallowed it sometime during the last battle. Outright saying that even Kurama should have trouble fighting all the biju, you'd expect him to make you fight them all at once. Instead, they come at you one at a time. Though honestly, this makes it less frustrating.
Violation of Common Sense: Many of the "Legend" choices in battles require you to do something incredibly rash or irrational, such as refusing aid from an ally, or going the Leeroy Jenkins route as opposed to being strategic. The choice for the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist battle Lampshades this, though it's justified in that you're playing as Guy.
Wham Shot: The final shot of Chapter 5 shows Tobi with the Rinnegan.
Wrestler in All of Us: Reaches absurd levels here; Naruto ends up pulling off a suplex on The Nine Tailed Fox during his fight with it!.
Pretty much the Raikake's entire fighting style, just like in the previous game.
Writer on Board: Much like Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, the writers of the game have a heavy preference for the Naruto/Hinata pairing. One of the side quests, called the Ultimate Decision, has Sakura, Ino, and Hinata debating whether guys like brash girls or shy girls. The player is given a "choice": the shy girl choice is described as what Naruto really likes while the brash girl is given the description of being an out so Sakura and Ino won't be mad.
There's also Sarutobi's Ultimate, the Reaper Death Seal.
You Shouldn't Know This Already: Despite Instant-Awakenings being a new feature of this game, the story mode won't let you use it until Naruto masters the Nine Tails' Chakra. Nevermind the fact you play as several other characters before then who should definately know how to control their powers...
Inverted with Juugo and to an extent Konan. Juugo still doesn't have his level 2 cursed seal form and Konan doesn't have the billion of explosive tags as her ultimate.
Zerg Rush: The basic function of White Zetsus in Mob Battles.
. The first trailer can be found here
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