Naruto: Ninja Storm

Anyone else a fan of this game.

Me? I'm not a fan of the series. At all. But I do enjoy this game. As far as I can tell, it's the best anime-based fighting game I've ever played, better than the Dragon Ball Z Budokai series, and better by far than Yu Yu Hakusho Dark Tournament.

A few friends of mine brought it around one game night, and despite everyone else present having more experience with the game and the anime I quickly arose as one of the best players present, mainly because, bereft of actual association with the series, I approached it with a more "fighting game" outlook, and... well...

Known Unknown's Tips For Excelling At Ninja Storm 2

• Accept that the Rasengan is broken, with a wide hitbox far outside the characters' sprites, a quick startup and, for several characters, with very little reaction time afterwards. Also accept that five characters have a variation of it. But also realize that it is, if you know it's coming, easy to block and only mildly difficult to dodge.
• Block. The block-break is nigh-useless in this game unless you're facing a super form, as blocking will last through most combos, all moves, and there are no unblockable ultimates (unlike the first game). When learning to play the game I got pretty far by blocking and counterattacking.
  • Learn to Substitute: this beats blocking by far. If you know how to substitute effectively you essentially break things. In fact, the easiest way to pull off and ultimate is to simply substitute out of a combo and attack.
    • Block/Substitute -> Counter Rush -> Combo/Throw: Is extraordinarily effective. However, don't just rush out of nowhere - interrupting is slightly more important than pressure in this game, and constant attacks is an easy way to get countered yourself.
• Learn When To Assist: Assists are important for A) putting in that extra damage in combos, B) doing damage to some super forms, and C) BREAKING COMBOS (<- Important!).
  • Assists Disappear Whenever Something Causes A Cinematic: This includes throws - when you're doing a combo and your opponent pulls out an assist to get you off of them, merely do a throw to remove them.
  • Some assists are more effective than others - the ones that cause shields tend to be very effective, and many projectiles are good for all around interrupting/attacking. Shino's, in particular, is my favorite, with it's loooong tracking range, ability to put pressure on opponents mid to far away, and it's usefulness in prolonging combos. One of my friends prefers... I think it's Sakura's (pop-up ground pound that causes a crater), as you can use it to chain into Ultimates or Team Attacks.
• Most Super Forms Are Useless: The ones that don't involve a drastic physical transformation can still be hurt, and most still flinch. Don't run in fear if your opponent gets that Awakening off, just keep wailing on them. Just remember, they cannot be effected by anything that causes a cinematic. Most that cause a drastic change is fighting style will wail on you, as they likely won't flinch. The best way to fight these super forms is to run->use assists/special moves. Assists/Special Moves are actually extremely effective against Super Forms, so don't forget about them.
  • Some Super Forms Are Decidedly Not Useless: By way of being absolutely broken. Like Naruto's.
    • With both of those duly noted, running like a ninny is actually a very effective way to run out an opponent's gauge, depending on the character you're fighting against.
      • Some Super Forms have teleportations, meaning ninny-running is out. All the ones that do also have block-breaking capabilities. The easiest way to stop these is to work on your substitute->counter combos.
    • Your opponent will be very transparent on attaining Super Form once they are able to use it: your aim should be, again, to interrupt their attempts to do so. You'd be surprised how effective a quick attack while they're focused on getting that ultimate power, and then a merciless counter while they try to get you away, can be at ending the match.

I rambled. I dunno, I just felt like writing this... It's a decent game, which I found very surprising, and, gasp upon gasps, it's pretty much the only thing Naruto related I enjoy.

I recommend it as a good casual fighting games, especially if you have a crapload of friends to actually do enjoy Naruto.

edited 3rd Jan '11 3:18:01 PM by KnownUnknown

Man, wish I'd seen this sooner.

But anyway I a big Narutard and I squeed when I got my copy of UNS 2.

And here are the things that bug me:

Rasenspammers. Lagging

And there being no punishment for people who purposefully drop the connection/turn off their ps3.

SO ANNOYING and CHEAP!!!!

your advice is spot on!

I love this game, though I can't stand the lag in Online play, so playability is low for me.

Also, combos seem to be too easy to counter with substitutions, so using throw is almost always a better choice.

and yeah and Shikamaru's "fast break" thing (can't think of actual turn is the most broken thing ever.

jeez, Mr. Fanfavorite gets a broken ability... just like Hinata being "better" than Neji.

I had to look up those 3 symbols online to tell what they do which was irritating. Knowing what they do is critical to the best team.

^^^ Yeah. Also throws, due to the fact that they cause cinematics, make assists disappear, so they're an easy way to make your opponent waste an assist when they try to break your combo. A dash in, two or three punches, and a throw tends to be a good idea.

So anyways, anyone actually play this?

I just watched a fifteen minute long video of all the characters and my interest in this game is reinvigorated. Maybe I ought to buy it - I'm still pretty shocked at how good it is for a anime fighting game. Barring the relative brokenness of one or two characters (one of which is actually given three iterations), it's actually kind of balanced, with a nice gameplay style done well.

Any mains here? A lot of people who I played it with didn't think of it as a fighting game, but there was a bit of mainage there anyways. One person used mainly Suigetsu, another mainly Gaara (whose Awakening is, as fate would have it, a real bitch to substitute against). Another used Tenten alot, which apparently for reasons I'm not privy to was an enormous joke, etc.

Me, my one main constant was Shino was present, usually as an assist. My favorite team was TEAM BEES! (plus that guy who's a doctor): Kabuto (point), Shino and Killer Bee.

But my general ownage teams were:

• Kabuto/Asuma (sometimes Jugo or Tobi) on point.
• Shino (1st Assist)
• Usually Rush/Combo assist (Bee/Jiraya/Kabuto/etc) or occasionally another projectile (Itachi/Asuma) on 2nd.

But one of the other things I liked about the game was the characters distinctive but I could still find a wide berth of characters I liked.

I played a lot last semester but now the ps3 is outta town.

My favorite character is Neji but he doesn't do well against projectile spammers.

Sasuke/Kirin is good. Deidara is a good spammer. Sasori/Chiyo are annoying as all fuck to play against.

Rasenspam is a popular team.

Shikamaru's rush is broken as hell.

Sasori and Chiyo's rancid asses can burn in hell. Seriously, eff that.

I perform spectacularly with Ino, Sakura, and Laars. However this may not have anything to do with combos or playstyle familiarity and more to do with me spamming the shit out of substitutions.

Me and my friends have a long standing history of fierce competition with these games. Let's just say that after a while, no one will ever finish a full physical combo and all special and ultimate jutsus will be delivered up da butt as soon as someone so much as throws a casual punch XD

edited 1st Jun '11 9:21:14 PM by KSPAM

Itachi's and Sage Mode Naruto's Awakening are real bitches to fight against.

4-tails and 6-tails can be ninny-run from, but are generally looked down on in my circle of friends. Itachi is right out.

One of my favorite moments was beating Susano'o with Neji, nonawakened. I rotated like a mofo but I did it!

Yeah Nar's soooooo cheap. Super chakra machine gun. Srsly?

On the other hand, Laars has a minigun that fires shuriken. And it is bitchin' awesome.

In terms of single player, I would say that it has the absolute best single player experience of any fighting game, bar none, even Blaz Blue. There are some great scenes, most of which are too spoilery to say, but they really put a lot of work into parts of the game.

^^^^^ - I'd say the hardest Awakenings to fight are the ones like Guy, who can break guard in a couple punches and can't be run away from because they FREAKING TELEPORT. With no way of actually defending yourself, your only recourse is to rely on heavy offense and the hope that your substitution skills are better than your opponent's. In the hands of a very good player, those guys are just plain massacring machines. And one of those characters also has the brokengan. Ay...

Ironically, two of my favorite characters to use (Kabuto, Shino), have absolutely shitty Awakenings. Shino's is only good because you can spam the bee ball (yes, I know they're beetles. It's funnier if they're bees) without fear of running out of power, and I still have no freaking idea what Kabuto's is supposed to do (using his regular moves and ultimate are far more effective anyway).

Funnily enough, Shino with his combos of utter crap is actually a huge game breaker against Awakenings that flinch but don't fall, since he actually starts his two-hit combo again before the opponent recovers from the flinch. Getting ridiculous combos on Suigetsu's Awakening is oh so satisfying.

edited 2nd Jun '11 10:23:00 AM by KnownUnknown

Awakenings that teleport? Pffft. Child's play. Substitute the shit out of it (or ninny run if you aren't a boss )

But yeah, the ovrwhelming majority of Awakenings suck. I liked it better in the first game, when Itachi's awakening wasn't as broken and Kabuto actually regen'd health. Awakenings are pretty much the one thing 2 didn't improve on.

I do like how almost no characters have explosive tags for chakra shuriken anymore. A common tactic in 1 for me and my friends was to just wait until someone made a move, backpedal and chakra-blast them to hell. Annoying as shit.

Shikamaru has exploding shuriken. He's so broken. And when I face Guy/Lee, I use Neji. It's very satisfying to beat them with Neji.

^^ Harder to fight than the rest of them, though, you must admit. Even Naruto's broken ass one can be run from.

When they run, you chakra blast. When they fight, you run at them at Mach 3 and guard break their asses. Pretty hard to fight against.

I didn't say you couldn't fight them. I didn't even say they were game breakers. I said they were harder than all the others. As in, you would be more inclined to be careful against them than the others.

And, plus, the sort that's particularly deadly in the right hands.

edited 2nd Jun '11 2:02:38 PM by KnownUnknown

own number 2, and I absolutely love Pein and Deidara.

I have never truely had a problem with broken characters, mainly because most of their breaking moves can be easily halted if timed right

I love Deidara's awakening, I renamed it Clucky.

^^ Plus, pretty much everything can be blocked with, if I remember correctly, very little chip damage. Rasengan, for example, is only broken in that it's got a large invisible hitbox and fast startup, making it harder than most other moves to substitute, but is blocked just as easily as anything else.

edited 2nd Jun '11 2:17:09 PM by KnownUnknown

I call him thumper, based of the stomp move he does

The game is balanced in that sense, unless its something rediculous like ranged users spamming the crap out of a gaming breaking move <.< Deidara can be spammed, i try to avoid it

An easy Deidara counter is a team of support-type assists and a fighter with a decent long-range game or a very good close-range one.