There is ONE thing in Ultimate Ninja 2 but it's more of a regional difference that I had no clue about till this year. I actually never had the english version of Ultimate Ninja 2 and the japanese version has one extra character from the movie, Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow, Doto Kazahana along with a related stage (supposedly he's accessible via a gameshark/action replay in the north american version). Supposedly they removed him because the movie wasn't even close to out yet in the west, but, I find it silly that they couldn't have still hinted that. I got the japanese version from a store that sold imports because I was so excited about Naruto back then, and then eventually got the 3rd and 4th games after (along with the 3rd ninja taisen/clash of ninja game.) I've only ever owned Ultimate Ninja 3 in English when it came out later realizing that if I wanted to replay it, it'd be easier to do so in english. I also never owned the any version of the first game, but I had a friend who owned it and I swear Nine-tails Naruto and Cursed Sasuke were forms they'd turn into for a small time after their ultimate attacks and were not separate playable characters.
@@Coyoda I actually saw this when I was working on the video! They separated Naruto and Sasuke's form changes in the English release. Really weird choice, as they could've easily just included those characters. I doubt anyone would have been upset or anything.
@@Niosai Yeah these were definitely some odd choices over all. Actually, I don't think anything beats their weirdest choice with Naruto Ultimate Impact. I had the japanese version of that and by that point, Rasengan was a thing. But in the west since they released it way ahead of when that move was ever shown in the anime and my friend was playing it at their house when I stopped by, it was called "power strike." Which once again, why not just promote it by calling it what it was rather than confusing people? XD lol
Gotta love how they kept Minato as "the yellow flash". I mean by the time these games came out all we had was a few passing mentions, obscured photos and a filler episode (I was told).
As a US fan who didn't really grasp how big the release gap was between the original Japanese version and when it got localized, seeing characters like Minato years before they were revealed in the show was surreal.
Minato at that point always just seemed like the Gigachad memes nowdays, it was so fucking funny. "Who's this guy? Why's he in my game?" Minato "..." And then he just turns out to be Naruto's goofy dad years later lol
My first time seeing a full body view of Minato was in some parody filler episode where he's waiting in a long time for the restroom. It didn't spoil anything, but it was a funny Easter egg
@@marcof1804 they really did misrepresent minato. At first he seemed really heartless and cold. No personality just a pure killer. Id have rather him be that way it would have been a good contrast.
Recently rewatched the entire series (OG-Shippiden) and I really never realized how OBVIOUS it was that minato was his father , idk why but I kind of remembered it being a “secret” and being revealed only when he fought pain but they literally been telling us the 4th was his father since the OG series, I think one episode was even titled “The 4th’s Legacy” or something like that
One little Easter egg in Ultimate Ninja 3 (and 4 I believe) is if you press the “Select” button on the ps2 controller when you hover over a character, you can automatically start the match in their awakened. Some examples are characters like nine tails naruto, curse mark level 2 sasuke, curse mark sound ninja, etc.
It wasnt mentioned so fun fact: there was actually an OVA that came with the Japanese version of UN3 that took place during the Ultimate Contest mode that if you watch it, it gives you hints on some of the hidden crystals around the village, because it shows some characters either deliberately putting them there or accidently dropping them
From these games, I love the manga esthetic from 1 & 2 and I wish they kept this going forward but 3 greatly improved the gameplay. Most people definitely wanna see a remaster of these games, including me. I really miss playing these games.
Yeah, I still have all of them but can't play any because all of my PS2s are broken. I wouldn't exactly care about graphics since the games already looked great on ps2 but being able to play them on more reliable hardware would be nice.
These games have been utterly eclipsed in the public eye by the Storm games to the degree that most people probably don't know they exist, but they're really wonderful, UN2/3 especially. While they don't have as heavy of a story presentation as the Storm games I think that for the time they came out they were leading the anime game market in that way, Budokai 1 is the only other game I can think of that put that much effort prior to anime really exploding in the west
Im boutta buy a PS2 rn and the first games im getting are Budokai, Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and NUNS 3 & 4. The nostalgia will be crazy If i cant get BT3 for a good price i might just play it on a rom tho (bc it goes for like $200 lol)
Fun fact: Ultimate Ninja 2 in Japan had an extra character that was from the first Naruto movie. I don't think the movie came out in the US yet so they got rid of the character, assist characters and stage and that character never showed back up in future Ultimate Ninjas
The amount of content that was removed from Naruto games because the West was 3 years behind Japan was crazy. And I never understood why. I mean surely having Rasengan, Itachi and early Shippuden content before the dub is just giving fans a sneak peak at what's to come?
These were my childhood but the poor balancing of characters led to some "arguments" with my brother back in the day. Fighting Itachi with his slow down ability and the broken substitution jutsu. At some point we even decided to limit it's use ourself like the later storm titled would eventually do.
@@no_nameyouknow Sometimes we did that as well. Our biggest problems was still substitution, though. Basically, who substituted first would run out of chakra first and therefore eat an entire combo at least. Then the other could just keep the pressure up to keep their opponent from recovering some and that was usually game at that point.😅
Well I still play those games with some of my friend and exept a few charaters that are a bit too weak, we dont have any balancing problems, at least in 4 and 5.
Oh, no wonder me or my brother kept winning as Itachi, as he should for how cool he was (but as it's own arcade boss mode would be cool). Green Beast Naruto or Rock Lee were always my favourites as these dorky Taijutsu specialists.
@@ralfsstuff Yeah that was a big issue for the earlier games. I played against a few friends back in the day on 3 and it was ridiculously easy to no-diff them with certain characters. Hanabi was surprisingly OP, yes her moveset was slow but she had the biggest knock effect of most characters because she hit hard af.
4:15 the switch plan was one of my favorite aspects of the game. Because we could use it to win by being strategic. For example, if you had paper bombs you could switch plane, leave the paper bomb, and when your opponent switched to reach you switch back and he gets caught up with the explosion. That strategy was even better with Shikamaru Because his move allowed him to set traps, so he could cover the entire battlefield, and switching meant moving in a dangerous ground.
I don't know if you noticed, but for the ultimate ninja 4 and 5, you can press R1 on the character select screen and it'll show the transformed version of that character. And also, on both games when you're at 50% hp or less in battle, your ultimate changes to a stronger version of it, or straight up transforms you if your character can transform. And on Ultimate Ninja 3, there's a cheat code that you can do in the main menu and it'll unlock most of the characters on the vs duel mode (excluding fourth hokage and taijutsu Naruto) Honestly I'm glad someone is making a video about these old games cause these things are what I spent most of my childhood with. I have hundreds of hours playing these games (especially 3,4 and 5) and I was so sad when I searched on youtube about these Naruto games and finds nothing. Watching this video just fills me with nostalgia and I'm happy about that.
I love that since Ultimate Ninja 2, making characters fight each other either 3 or 5 times will unlock them as a support character to be used between them and was available for all characters to do.
Wow looking back, I can't believe that I've played every single game in this video. Never realized how much PS2 Ultimate Ninja games I've played without noticing it, but definitely 3 & especially 5 the one that I spend a lot of time with. Ohhh childhood, why you have to leave us?
The very first original Ultimate Ninja game was actually the first Naruto _anything_ i ever consumed and i LOVED so much that i immediately went out and started buying the manga as they released here. It was so sick. I miss those days. It was crazy, by the time toonami announced they were going to start airing Naruto i already owned like 5 or so volumes of the manga and i was fucking STOKED. Hahaha i was like 7-8 or MAYBE 9 at the oldest. Im 26 now 😭 Good ass times.
Ultimate ninja 5 was the first game i ever platinum'd (100%).Still hold the memories of me trying and failing some missions because i didnt knew english at time, Man i love this game
Please just even a HD digital remaster bundle with UN1 - UN5 with an added online battle feature would sell crazy. They did it with Kingdom Hearts and UN has a niche following even now, a lot of Brazillian players still play this series regularly.
Ultimate Ninja 2 was how I got into Naruto. Wish they continued the series. It would have been amazing to see an Ultimate Ninja 6 covering everything, instead of Storm Connections.
My brother blessed me with the first 2 games after I bought the 3rd on a whim and fell in love with the series. The original 2 have so much love and flare inside of them, I truly believe they are the best in terms of emulating the style of the show. The 4th and 5th focused more on Master modes and so all the fan service was completely removed
My highlights are UN3 and UN5. UN3 was the most fun and wacky. You did explore Konoha to navigate the story, but also you were given the entire city to roam around. Search the streets for secrets, run on walls, break things up, tons of fun. It was pretty much a Spiderman game, if not better. As for wackiness, the RPG mechanics allowed you to do crazy alterations to the characters by equipping Jutsus they would never have in later games. Like, Naruto could equip Chidori, Sasuke could perform Rasengan and so on. Also only in this game the Sharingan mode gave you the entire enemy move set which could lead to quite funny situations at times. UN5 feels like the most complete game in the series. UN4 had slightly better story mode done as a Prince of Persia knock off (against UN5's Zelda 64 knock off), but it lacked the most expected star, timeskip Sasuke. As a fighting game UN5 had the most characters, the most mechanics and the coolest victory screens which changed depending the mode you've finished the match in.
The first 3 UN games gave Sasuke (and Kakashi) the ability to copy your opponent's moveset. It was just harder for Sasuke to do in 2 (and JP 1) because you actually had to fail in specific parts of his level 2 and 3 ultimates to activate it.
Legend of Dragoon is definitely perfect training for fast button inputs. Me and my younger brother would compete to see who could do the most damage with a magic item. Loving these videos, please never stop.
These games, along with dragon ball games were my entire childhood. Thank you for helping me remember my childhood in these difficult times. Very Happy to see you blow up as much as you have, and hoping you grow even more!
Ultimate Ninja 3 was what I grew up playing so it was veeery nostalgic seeing it in this video. Ironically, it was also the last game I ever played on a console I owned, cuz while playing the PvP mode with my cousin, he got too into the game and pulled the controller, resulting in the PS2 falling and breaking into pieces. Never owned any console after that, was only playing games on the PC.
This series was the best overall the ULTIMATE ATTACKS and unsettling music and atmosphere really showed these characters meant business especially ITACHI
Something you didn't mention is that in UN3 you actually can unlock the ability to exchange jutsus between characters. It's hilarious to see everyone using a rasengan or chidori.
Awesome content, Nio, really brought me back to my childhood like more than 10 years ago Greetings from Brazil, btw; dunno how many Brazilian subscribers you have, but I've been following you for some time now and really appreciate the effort you put into these videos :)
I was waiting for this video for quite a long time and I'm so glad you released it. As expected you covered pretty much everything. But you missed some details.. it's not a big deal since it took me years to discover some hidden things in those games back then. 1_ when you use rasengan and chidori at the same time or any other similar technique (even itachi's fire ball or choji's fist in butterfly mode) you get te equivalent of beam struggles in dbz and you have to smash a button as quickly as possible to win and it's so sad you didn't mention it because I was waiting for it. 2_ In Naruto shippuden ultimate ninja 5 the story doesn't end after they meet sasuke. In fact when you finish the story mode and all of the side quests , you go to the place where you met sasuke the first time and if I remember you can see an aura in front of the snake where you find the key to open the door to the darkness place in orochimaru's hideout then you pursue the story mode with Sasuke. I don't know if you missed this or just didn't mention it in the video but I had to say it. Anyway great video buddy as always keep up the good work and I hope you don't forget naruto ultimate ninja impact on psp because it's really slept on.
These games were so fun to play with friends, as long as you ban ultimate tech it can be quite competitive. A bit unbalanced still, but not to the point where a skilled player couldn't beat a top tier character with a low tier. Also, so many characters as the games went on, which you love to see. The games are simple in their way but still a ton of fun.
To this day, I still play a few rounds of 5 every once in a while with my friends. No oujis, no substitution jutsu, no assists (only because of fucking Kabuto). Genuinely a great fighting game with just enough jank to make it charming and unique. P.S. If you don't main Lee you're a psycho, he's objectively the most fun character.
Storm 2, me and my buddies at the time limited the game to no ultimates and it was pretty damn fun. We also had conditions like certain OP moves were limited, like one Rasengan per game, some awakenings being banned for being too OP, things like that. ... the big thing was banning the use of Pain's up combo which was completely unsubbable.
I don't remember if it was Ultimate Ninja 3 or 5, but I distinctly remember that there were two VERY cool things not mentioned in this video: the Jutsu Clashes (basically Naruto's version of a Beam Struggle, where you can do Chidori vs Rasengan or Fireball vs Fireball if you and your opponent throw your attacks at the same time) and the ability to give any specific jutsu to pretty much any character. This would let you use Chidori as Jiraiya, or Fireball Jutsu as Naruto, or Rasengan as Sasuke! I remember that being one of the most novel ideas in the game series. Overall, I really loved these games, they were made with a lot of passion and care for detail and I have very comfy memories of me and my friends playing particularly UN4 and 5 in PVP.
Jutsu clashes were in 3 and the ability to give jutsu's to anyone were in Ultimate Ninja 2 but it was improved upon in Ultimate Ninja 3 and got better as the series went on.
I remember doing the customization in UN2 and the jutsu clashes in UN3. I don't think you could as freely customize characters in 3 as I remember that being something that disappointed me when I got it.
About giving jutsus to others, If I remember that correctly, they even went further to say it out loud. So for example if you gave rasengan to sasuke, sasuke would say it with his own voice. Very cool touch.
Probably the main reason that UN4 story is so short is due the fact that the anime did 4 seasons of filler before the shipudden timeskip. So i think they made the story have that training filler, as well not actually ending the first season of shipudden. Which was addressed in UN5. The neat thing about UN5 is that after finishing the season 2 arc of the story mode, you play as sasuke instead, doing what i guess is his training with orochimaru. This is all filler, but its a nice change after playing just as Naruto, even the beat em up segments you play as Sasuke with his own moveset. And can be also unlocked permanently for these parts after completing. And having spend my childhood playing all these game in original japanese, this video is really nostalgic. Ah... the nights of digging guide on GameFAQs because the whole game was in japanese and you had no fucking idea what you was doing to progress the story, lol
When UNS4 was released, the anime had only just ended production of the first 20 episodes of Shippuden, so due to the fact that they were trying to have the games coincide with the anime from that point on, they didn't want to go further. It had been in production since about episode 185 of the filler arcs since that's when first looks at the game had been released in magazines, with Shippuden getting its first look about 4 episodes prior. Might be off by a few episodes here or there, but yeah.
@@marksmania42 I tried it but he also used substitute justsu perfectly I had to rely on rng to finnaly hit him it was such a random difficulty spike too
@@roxasdeviluke317 you can try moving to the other plain and then hit him with your ultimate once he follows you. They're defenseless when they move from one plain to another but only for a split second
Never watched Naruto but played alot of the games since my older brother always kept bringing them in, those earlier ps2 games give me alot of nostalgia
Youre about to re-re-introduce my nostalgia to this. I played these games as a 10-12 year old, then I later re-bought a PS2 at age 16-17 and found it so satisfying. Now I have a PS4 and have no ides whats offered on this console but I cant wait to watch this series!!!
I suppose not many people know this, since not even this guy noticed it: when you "change planes", during the transition you can press the attack button (i hold either left or right in the dpad too, but I'm not sure if its necessary) to teleport directly into the opponent and attack them immediately
I really love the adventure mode in UN3 and UN4, because it has separate story that doesn't tied too much on canon UN3 have a tons of side missions that somewhat gave life to each character, dates, mini game, random ass akatsuki just hanging around konoha, not too mention it's the first open world naruto game that just blown away my mind UN4 has its own story (at least before naruto went back to konoha), the open world is a bit bigger but camera work are downgraded it's a shame that in storm series, only the first one that has freedom to move camera around, after that, they literally just cut the open world into section and have a loading screen
This really reminded me how much I loved the look of the OG Ultimate Ninja games. I kinda wish we could get a remaster or even a remake, it'd be nice to get a new manga style looking game just to give the current clean cell shading style a break.
Not gonna lie. I liked the original Ultimate Ninja's 1-6(In Japan, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 was considered the 6th entry exclusive for the PSP. Then renamed here in the US.) over the Storm titles. I one day wish Cyber Connect 2 would go back and revive the side scrolling, platform games.. And to this day, still disappointed that Ultimate Ninja 5 never had a US release..
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Series from PS2 Era will always have a special place in my heart and soul, these are the most unique Naruto games for me, only Storm 1 was coming close to these Masterpiece Naruto games, especially from gameplay features perspective, I don't know exactly why, but for me, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Series from PS2 Era are so nostalgic, unique and divine at the same time, I have so many memories during my childhood by playing these Unique Naruto games, Naruto games from PS2 Era was always very close to the anime itself because of the unique vibe and charm☯️
I think that UN2 implemented a customizable moveset for the characters. Taijutsu naruto was fun to use because you could knock up an enemy and apply the true hidden lotus mid air during a combo. As I remember, they removed this function in the next game (probably because it was too broken). Something I thought was cool was that you could use cursed mark stage 2 Sasuke and fly in the air then use his chidori while in the air. Something you forgot to include was that you could choose the different available versions of characters from the character selection menu (I think they included this up at UN3)
Storm may be the clear king of the franchise but i will always hold a special spot in my heart for the PS2 vanilla ultimate games. My brother and i spent SO FREAKING LONG grinding out 2 to 100%
I remember playing the hell out of 1-3 on my uncle's PS2 when I was young. I did NOT know how to play for SHEET but still did anyway because…it’s freaking Naruto.
Loved these games as a kid. Every time my siblings or I run across the phrase 'I can see' we flash back to a line in one of Sasuke's ultimates when he ups his sharingan. The really serious line delivery of a kind of silly comment made us giggle.
As a kid, the story mode game from Ultimate Ninja 4 blew my fucking mind. I had always wondered until then, what exactly DID happen during those three years of training with Jiraiya?? And being able to answer that question myself through gameplay was quite exciting. I knew what the gist of it was. Naruto had to learn to control Nine Tails and hone its power, but to actually see what that training and time spent alone with Jiraiya looked like, was awesome.
This was a great video, I'm definitely subscribing for more!! Although it seems you missed quite a big thing when it came to Ultimate Ninja 5 Master Mode, at one point you'll finish Naruto's campaign and you instead start playing as Sasuke in a different campaign, with some different gameplay mechanics and whatnot, it's definitely quite a cool addition
One thing I absolutely love about the ultimate ninja series (aside from the action) is the soundtracks. Specially the ones from 3 & 4, those two really nailed both the emotions and the epicness in their tracks.
At long last my wish is granted. I still remember when my friend showed up UN 1 back in high school and i followed all of em I cannot stress how much i love Ultimate Ninja 5. I would pick it over storm any day
These games were my childhood. I remember Naruto aired for the first time in 2007 in my country, that's when I became a fan and shortly after I got my hands in UN1. I remember there was a time when they would air only until episode 52 or smth like it and then they would start again from the beginning, cause the show aired daily here, so we were stuck before the third phase of the chunnin exams. I managed to get UN3 in 2008 and basically spoiled myself, but it was honestly worth it. I had no internet back then and had to wait a full year to the new batch of episodes to air. In fact I bet a bunch of people experienced the story of Naruto first hand through these games. I played UN4 before I watched even a single episode of Shippuden. It was simpler times when people didn't care for spoilers.
I really loved 3 because of how Master Mode let you climb up the walls of buildings on Konoha. Having the village just be one area that you could explore vertically just felt a lot more fulfilling than how the other games present it as a set of small rooms to navigate between. I can see though how 4's master mode is really well done though, just wish the platforming kept that feature so it would feel like a full on advancement.
Another big reason there was such a big jump from 2 to 3 was because that's where they introduced the bounce mechanic, letting you start going crazy with your combos. Was obsessed with the first four games as a kid but never got to play 5 until a few years ago. Unfortunately it's locked at 50FPS since you needed to use the PAL BIOS and it felt really weird to me so I didn't play much of it
I know this vid's a year old and if someone already said sorry for repeating it but Ultimate Contest in UN3 also is how you get some Ultimate Jutsu as well as some characters like Hanabi. It's actually how you get Sasuke and Naruto's final UJs that transform them in the CS2 and One-Tailed Mode respectfully. Also characters 1st and 2nd Jutsu in UN3 were changeable too but had to be unlocked like Naruto's regular Rasengan and Sasuke's regular Chidori, that kind of thing. Those kinds of regular jutsu could also clash if they collided where you'd have to mash faster than the opponent for yours to go through
This is a great video! I mean, i love the storm series, but the ultimate series is such a good game and have (a lot) that storm didn't have. And i'm glad that you bring this series up again! What i personally love about ultimate series : The fighting : - i love that the jutsus are done with a combo of more than just 2 buttons. - i love that the 'ultimate' jutsu can be cancelled and actually be made into another 'battle' with combo. Makes the battle a bit longer and interesting. The stories : -the collectibles. I remember i love going all over the country hunting dummies and frogs, lol. The world is a bit bigger and hunting characters and frogs really is considered hunting and their place is not that obvious than the storm game. - the 'minion' fight. Fighting bandits in between roads makes the story mode a bit bearable. - i dunno but the shuriken throwing is way more satisfying. Buying items in stories didn't feel useless either. I love buying dango and ointment and such. - the map. It feels bigger, not that linear, and you can actually do stuff im the map. Storm is not like that.
In Ultimate 5 the master mode is pretty big, there is a variety of missions to play even after you finish the story and there's even a chapter to play as Sasuke
10:00 Not true, there was a friendship list which you could build up to make some characters work together, I remember everyone being able to play with Itachi on my game because I built the friendships up.
I was the biggest fanboy of this game series when I was younger. They sold 3 games in one bundle so that was pretty awesome. I would play with the CPU's all day long and sometimes with my friends but I would whoop all of them. I also had ultimate ninja 5 on my PSP. Ah the good old days.
Sadly, unless someone else gets the rights to use the Naruto/Boruto IP we'll never see this series come back, which is a shame but that's ok. Storm 4's budget of (almost) still image Custscenes and murky 3D cutscenes ( they look like they have a filter over them, you'll see when you get to it) really weighed it down in terms of story mode and was a poor final showing for the company while the actual fight mechanics themselves are pretty neat, if a bit unbalanced. Plus the Boruto story, I don't like it as much, I loved it to a certain point but like AOT I'm hearin' things I don't like happening far off in the manga that makes me almost want to give up on it.
As an update, apparently a source that leaked the Demon Slayer DLC items has leaked Naruto Storm 5 has been in the works for the past year. Probably Boruto Storm or something like that.
See thank you man. You actually gave each game a very good and fair review. Ultimate Ninja 1 is favorite of them all mainly because of the music it’s addicting
I LOVE the Ultimate Ninja series! 🥷🏾🖤 (Heroes & Storm included, ofc!) Btw, the Plain Switch has an ability where you can teleport automatically to your opponent and attack them. Countering opponents who keep Plain Shifting. That beats the old way of Plain Shifting and tryna run over to them slowly, lol.
I'm so glad someone decided to cover the ps2 Ultimate Ninja games, they hold a big place in my heart being a fun yet simple to pick up fighting game series where each game still feels worth going back to thanks to the changes in the story/modes/gameplay My order from fav to least fav 2 3 4 1 5 (haven't played unfortunately)
@@Niosai I think it's the perfect blend of the series to me and to sum it up Graphics- I think it had the best balance of manga mixed with anime aesthetics and unlike the other games, just thinking about this one gives off the color vibes of dark oranges and sunsets Gameplay- I prefer the ultimate Justsu in parts, and like I mentioned I think they pop fantastically with the updated graphics Story- I like how it starts, it throws you right into the leaf invasion and the world is easy to navigate and fun to explore with hidden mini games and collectibles, and the small bonus campaign with Kakashi at the end genuinely feels like something you would see in the anime and wraps up the story in a satisfying way Overall I still think 3 and 4 have better gameplay with the little changes they added to combat but I don't think they quite matched the feeling 2 had in presentation
a few quick notes, 3's minigames were all taken from 2 iirc (in the campaign and 2 also retained a few 3 didn't have), also 3's original story mode had a tie-in OVA which is probably why it was the most popular. 4 only ended up having about 30 eps worth of content to adapt hence the reason they added the largely expansive original story. big fan of how they made a full fledged action jrpg out of that one, you can tell cyberconnect2 really wanted an excuse to make one in basically every game since .hack was their wheelhouse at the time. 5 let you gain a "postgame" item of sorts to replace your player character in the battles with sasuke (who is super satisfying to play as) and they did quite a bit to really refine the level systems there too. having said that even with the postgame sasuke-exclusive (iirc?) content i think it still ended up with a much smaller area to explore which was a bit of a shame. yeah 4's world was pretty sparse, but the sense of scale honestly blew me away (especially for an optional rpg side mode in an unpopular naruto series on ps2 at the time (pretty sure storm 1 alone outsold the entire ps2 series, as did other series like clash of ninja and uzumaki chronicles, and possibly ninja council and rise of a ninja too?)) personally considered 4 an overall step back from 3 thanks to its additions being pretty hit or miss (especially the giant transformation supers which were not only unbalanced but not nearly as fun as regular ones in multiplayer tbh, also just more balance issues in general shoutout to defensive units who could just reflect projectiles...), but 5's reintroduction of supports more than made up for that and it's probably my favourite overall. also since it wasn't really mentioned, i *think* all of the games had it as a feature iirc, it was at least in few of them, but i really liked the plane switching system not only specifically because of the literal extra layer of gamified immersion being able to just go into the background, but also because of the mechanics it had making it actually *harder* to stall opponents, since pressing attacks while switching teleports you directly to your opponent (i totally didn't just abuse this to start chains regularly). on a related note, i'm also super hype about there being a new fatal fury game announced recently because it was where the whole multi-plane fighting system came from and it did it about as well as these games imo side note ultimate ninja 6 (heroes 3) garbage, heroes 2 super underrated tho
if you loved this series, chances are you’re gonna ADORE the storm series. it’s considered one of the best, if not the best anime game series of all time and it shows with many of the features and changes it introduces, coming off of the ultimate ninja ps2 series very glad you’re doing this series! keep up the good work GOAT 🤞💜
I remember playing Heros when it came out. Itachi was broken and kids would come find me in the lunchroom to challenge me to fights on their PSPs, because word spread around about how good I was. I also used to to naruto run in between classes cuz I was about that life.
I don't know if you are going to cover PSP games or not, but I remember one of those games having a tower-climmbing-dungeon-crawling story mod I found awesome Not sure if it was exclusive to the PSP version or not The same game had a tree running minigame as well, if I remember correctly
Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2, which in Japan it was the first Ultimate Ninja PSP game, the American first Ultimate Ninja Heroes was based on Ultimate Ninja 2 because they didn't want to spoil one tailed Kyuubi chakra mode Naruto and Cursed Mark Sasuke level 2, so they made a quick new game with less characters and regular Kyuubi chakra mode Naruto and Chunnin Exam Sasuke. Then they released the FIRST PSP game to America as the second game, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2.
I don't know if it was mentioned directly before or I missed it out, but I remember that in UN5, you can also choose to start in an "awakened state" (4 tails for example) by holding R1 I think, while other characters enters into a State by holding UP (and it can be broken like for Sakura to heal herself, Itachi making everything slow down, Gaara straight up fly like Sasori) and that you can unlock Supers from characters in the Story mode or however it was called, by unlocking them I mean that other characters can use them in the customization prior battle. So yeah, for the first time you can put Chidori on Naruto and Rasengan on Sasuke or any other character like Lee, Sakura... it was so broken to use Gai's move and Yellow Flash' tp rasengan (except if ya' know how to instant Block like in the Storm 2 that let's you teleport behing if you about to be attacked)
i’m taking full credit for convincing you to do this video (i know others ask but i have to believe my tweet @ you was the determining factor) IVE BEEN WANTING THIS VIDEO! thank you for making it ❤️ i love these games
I played Lee in Ultimate Ninja 1. His special increases his physical damage in exchange for taking damage over time. My friends figured out they could hard counter it by rapidly switching between the background and foreground until I died of old age
Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 for the PS2, I remember playing that for HOURS on end once upon a time, and as I’ve grown older I always remembered it but I could never remember the name of the game, so THANK YOU for reminding me of it. This was such a great nostalgia trip.
I remember I was in like 4th grade when I was playing Naruto ultimate ninja 2 on ps2 and I couldn’t beat itachi, he kept doing that annoying sub an countering everything I did. There was some older kids who lived across the street from me that went hard on Naruto games so I gave them my disc and memory card. They beat itachi for me. Life was fun back then
Did I miss anything? What's your favorite Ultimate Ninja game?
There is ONE thing in Ultimate Ninja 2 but it's more of a regional difference that I had no clue about till this year. I actually never had the english version of Ultimate Ninja 2 and the japanese version has one extra character from the movie, Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow, Doto Kazahana along with a related stage (supposedly he's accessible via a gameshark/action replay in the north american version). Supposedly they removed him because the movie wasn't even close to out yet in the west, but, I find it silly that they couldn't have still hinted that. I got the japanese version from a store that sold imports because I was so excited about Naruto back then, and then eventually got the 3rd and 4th games after (along with the 3rd ninja taisen/clash of ninja game.)
I've only ever owned Ultimate Ninja 3 in English when it came out later realizing that if I wanted to replay it, it'd be easier to do so in english. I also never owned the any version of the first game, but I had a friend who owned it and I swear Nine-tails Naruto and Cursed Sasuke were forms they'd turn into for a small time after their ultimate attacks and were not separate playable characters.
@@Coyoda I actually saw this when I was working on the video! They separated Naruto and Sasuke's form changes in the English release. Really weird choice, as they could've easily just included those characters. I doubt anyone would have been upset or anything.
@@Niosai Yeah these were definitely some odd choices over all. Actually, I don't think anything beats their weirdest choice with Naruto Ultimate Impact. I had the japanese version of that and by that point, Rasengan was a thing. But in the west since they released it way ahead of when that move was ever shown in the anime and my friend was playing it at their house when I stopped by, it was called "power strike."
Which once again, why not just promote it by calling it what it was rather than confusing people? XD lol
The PSP Games were my introduction to ultimate ninja.
U forgot abt the psp ultimate ninja games ( ultimate ninja heroes series)
Gotta love how they kept Minato as "the yellow flash". I mean by the time these games came out all we had was a few passing mentions, obscured photos and a filler episode (I was told).
As a US fan who didn't really grasp how big the release gap was between the original Japanese version and when it got localized, seeing characters like Minato years before they were revealed in the show was surreal.
Minato at that point always just seemed like the Gigachad memes nowdays, it was so fucking funny.
"Who's this guy? Why's he in my game?"
Minato "..."
And then he just turns out to be Naruto's goofy dad years later lol
My first time seeing a full body view of Minato was in some parody filler episode where he's waiting in a long time for the restroom. It didn't spoil anything, but it was a funny Easter egg
@@marcof1804 they really did misrepresent minato. At first he seemed really heartless and cold. No personality just a pure killer.
Id have rather him be that way it would have been a good contrast.
Recently rewatched the entire series (OG-Shippiden) and I really never realized how OBVIOUS it was that minato was his father , idk why but I kind of remembered it being a “secret” and being revealed only when he fought pain but they literally been telling us the 4th was his father since the OG series, I think one episode was even titled “The 4th’s Legacy” or something like that
If they release a ultimate ninja HD collection I’d buy it in an instant
No question they did have a db Budokai hd collection but unfortunately that only had the first and third games
Oh for sure me too, I loved this series as a kid.
@@AriesManiac @Karma Because Second Game Syndrome.
Even if it was just a remaster of 3, 4 or 5 I’d still buy instantly
With todays gaming landscape they’ll add some bs micro transactions😕
One little Easter egg in Ultimate Ninja 3 (and 4 I believe) is if you press the “Select” button on the ps2 controller when you hover over a character, you can automatically start the match in their awakened. Some examples are characters like nine tails naruto, curse mark level 2 sasuke, curse mark sound ninja, etc.
I'll have to go back and check this out :)
In 4 and 5 is one of the shoulder buttons but I don't remember which one lmao
In 3 you can only do that once you unlock every character.
3,4, and 5 all have this feature. But you have to unlock all the characters first.
That's not an Easter egg
It wasnt mentioned so fun fact: there was actually an OVA that came with the Japanese version of UN3 that took place during the Ultimate Contest mode that if you watch it, it gives you hints on some of the hidden crystals around the village, because it shows some characters either deliberately putting them there or accidently dropping them
From these games, I love the manga esthetic from 1 & 2 and I wish they kept this going forward but 3 greatly improved the gameplay. Most people definitely wanna see a remaster of these games, including me. I really miss playing these games.
Yeah, I still have all of them but can't play any because all of my PS2s are broken.
I wouldn't exactly care about graphics since the games already looked great on ps2 but being able to play them on more reliable hardware would be nice.
@@ralfsstuff My PS2 is like 20 or 21 years old and still works just fine. I have no idea what you guys are doing lol
These games have been utterly eclipsed in the public eye by the Storm games to the degree that most people probably don't know they exist, but they're really wonderful, UN2/3 especially. While they don't have as heavy of a story presentation as the Storm games I think that for the time they came out they were leading the anime game market in that way, Budokai 1 is the only other game I can think of that put that much effort prior to anime really exploding in the west
The dbz Budokai Tenkaichi series what started in 2005 is great
For me utimate ninja series is better than storm better gameplay better music and all
@@dassandavis5507 I agree and it’s sad storm is all most people know.
@@reddboytv1332 true it's sad they don't know what a real good fun game is
@@dassandavis5507 storm is such a watered down version gameplay wise atleast if you ask me
I love this game series almost as much as Budokai Tenkaichi, when I rebought my PS2 a few years ago I made sure to get these essentials.
Same loved these games
Same here
this series is better than bodukai tbh
Im boutta buy a PS2 rn and the first games im getting are Budokai, Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and NUNS 3 & 4. The nostalgia will be crazy
If i cant get BT3 for a good price i might just play it on a rom tho (bc it goes for like $200 lol)
Fun fact: Ultimate Ninja 2 in Japan had an extra character that was from the first Naruto movie. I don't think the movie came out in the US yet so they got rid of the character, assist characters and stage
and that character never showed back up in future Ultimate Ninjas
Yeah the main villain
So nothing of value was missed.
The amount of content that was removed from Naruto games because the West was 3 years behind Japan was crazy. And I never understood why. I mean surely having Rasengan, Itachi and early Shippuden content before the dub is just giving fans a sneak peak at what's to come?
@@AxelWedstar411 I think Uzumaki Chronicles revealed the Rasengan in the west early. I was like "WTF is that" when I first pulled it off.
@@5nesta Didn't they call it Power Strike?
These were my childhood but the poor balancing of characters led to some "arguments" with my brother back in the day. Fighting Itachi with his slow down ability and the broken substitution jutsu.
At some point we even decided to limit it's use ourself like the later storm titled would eventually do.
I mean, we just banned ults if we were fighting for real. Itachi was still pretty broken though, ngl.
@@no_nameyouknow Sometimes we did that as well. Our biggest problems was still substitution, though.
Basically, who substituted first would run out of chakra first and therefore eat an entire combo at least. Then the other could just keep the pressure up to keep their opponent from recovering some and that was usually game at that point.😅
Well I still play those games with some of my friend and exept a few charaters that are a bit too weak, we dont have any balancing problems, at least in 4 and 5.
Oh, no wonder me or my brother kept winning as Itachi, as he should for how cool he was (but as it's own arcade boss mode would be cool).
Green Beast Naruto or Rock Lee were always my favourites as these dorky Taijutsu specialists.
@@ralfsstuff Yeah that was a big issue for the earlier games. I played against a few friends back in the day on 3 and it was ridiculously easy to no-diff them with certain characters. Hanabi was surprisingly OP, yes her moveset was slow but she had the biggest knock effect of most characters because she hit hard af.
4:15 the switch plan was one of my favorite aspects of the game. Because we could use it to win by being strategic. For example, if you had paper bombs you could switch plane, leave the paper bomb, and when your opponent switched to reach you switch back and he gets caught up with the explosion. That strategy was even better with Shikamaru Because his move allowed him to set traps, so he could cover the entire battlefield, and switching meant moving in a dangerous ground.
I don't know if you noticed, but for the ultimate ninja 4 and 5, you can press R1 on the character select screen and it'll show the transformed version of that character. And also, on both games when you're at 50% hp or less in battle, your ultimate changes to a stronger version of it, or straight up transforms you if your character can transform.
And on Ultimate Ninja 3, there's a cheat code that you can do in the main menu and it'll unlock most of the characters on the vs duel mode (excluding fourth hokage and taijutsu Naruto)
Honestly I'm glad someone is making a video about these old games cause these things are what I spent most of my childhood with. I have hundreds of hours playing these games (especially 3,4 and 5) and I was so sad when I searched on youtube about these Naruto games and finds nothing. Watching this video just fills me with nostalgia and I'm happy about that.
I love that since Ultimate Ninja 2, making characters fight each other either 3 or 5 times will unlock them as a support character to be used between them and was available for all characters to do.
wow riveting advice
Wow looking back, I can't believe that I've played every single game in this video.
Never realized how much PS2 Ultimate Ninja games I've played without noticing it, but definitely 3 & especially 5 the one that I spend a lot of time with.
Ohhh childhood, why you have to leave us?
Saaaammmeeeeeeee omg
The graphics we’re probably the best of any ps2 games tbh
The very first original Ultimate Ninja game was actually the first Naruto _anything_ i ever consumed and i LOVED so much that i immediately went out and started buying the manga as they released here. It was so sick. I miss those days. It was crazy, by the time toonami announced they were going to start airing Naruto i already owned like 5 or so volumes of the manga and i was fucking STOKED. Hahaha i was like 7-8 or MAYBE 9 at the oldest. Im 26 now 😭 Good ass times.
Ultimate ninja 5 was the first game i ever platinum'd (100%).Still hold the memories of me trying and failing some missions because i didnt knew english at time, Man i love this game
The gameplay style of these were so much more fun compared to the arena fighters like later games imo
Thats True 👌🏻
Please just even a HD digital remaster bundle with UN1 - UN5 with an added online battle feature would sell crazy. They did it with Kingdom Hearts and UN has a niche following even now, a lot of Brazillian players still play this series regularly.
Ultimate Ninja 2 was how I got into Naruto. Wish they continued the series. It would have been amazing to see an Ultimate Ninja 6 covering everything, instead of Storm Connections.
My brother blessed me with the first 2 games after I bought the 3rd on a whim and fell in love with the series. The original 2 have so much love and flare inside of them, I truly believe they are the best in terms of emulating the style of the show. The 4th and 5th focused more on Master modes and so all the fan service was completely removed
My highlights are UN3 and UN5.
UN3 was the most fun and wacky. You did explore Konoha to navigate the story, but also you were given the entire city to roam around. Search the streets for secrets, run on walls, break things up, tons of fun. It was pretty much a Spiderman game, if not better. As for wackiness, the RPG mechanics allowed you to do crazy alterations to the characters by equipping Jutsus they would never have in later games. Like, Naruto could equip Chidori, Sasuke could perform Rasengan and so on. Also only in this game the Sharingan mode gave you the entire enemy move set which could lead to quite funny situations at times.
UN5 feels like the most complete game in the series. UN4 had slightly better story mode done as a Prince of Persia knock off (against UN5's Zelda 64 knock off), but it lacked the most expected star, timeskip Sasuke. As a fighting game UN5 had the most characters, the most mechanics and the coolest victory screens which changed depending the mode you've finished the match in.
True Ultimate Ninja 3 and 5 are the Best ones 👍🏻😉😁
The first 3 UN games gave Sasuke (and Kakashi) the ability to copy your opponent's moveset. It was just harder for Sasuke to do in 2 (and JP 1) because you actually had to fail in specific parts of his level 2 and 3 ultimates to activate it.
Legend of Dragoon is definitely perfect training for fast button inputs. Me and my younger brother would compete to see who could do the most damage with a magic item.
Loving these videos, please never stop.
I appreciate that! I also respect a fellow Legend of Dragoon lover. :) (I don't plan on stopping, either!)
@@Niosai A video on LoD would be _highly_ appreciated
These games, along with dragon ball games were my entire childhood. Thank you for helping me remember my childhood in these difficult times. Very Happy to see you blow up as much as you have, and hoping you grow even more!
Glad I could help bring back those memories :) thanks a lot!
22:53 That “juggling” system was in every PS2 game since the first.
Ultimate Ninja 3 was what I grew up playing so it was veeery nostalgic seeing it in this video.
Ironically, it was also the last game I ever played on a console I owned, cuz while playing the PvP mode with my cousin, he got too into the game and pulled the controller, resulting in the PS2 falling and breaking into pieces. Never owned any console after that, was only playing games on the PC.
This series was the best overall the ULTIMATE ATTACKS and unsettling music and atmosphere really showed these characters meant business especially ITACHI
Something you didn't mention is that in UN3 you actually can unlock the ability to exchange jutsus between characters. It's hilarious to see everyone using a rasengan or chidori.
I gave Kiba a chidori and Itachi 😂
Ultimate Ninja 4 has hands down the best intro soundtrack. That guitar riff is just good.
This my whole childhood right here especially Ultimate ninja 3 😩😩
Awesome content, Nio, really brought me back to my childhood like more than 10 years ago
Greetings from Brazil, btw; dunno how many Brazilian subscribers you have, but I've been following you for some time now and really appreciate the effort you put into these videos :)
Hi to Brazil! Thanks a lot, that means a lot to me :)
Bruxao Brasileiro
I was waiting for this video for quite a long time and I'm so glad you released it. As expected you covered pretty much everything. But you missed some details.. it's not a big deal since it took me years to discover some hidden things in those games back then.
1_ when you use rasengan and chidori at the same time or any other similar technique (even itachi's fire ball or choji's fist in butterfly mode) you get te equivalent of beam struggles in dbz and you have to smash a button as quickly as possible to win and it's so sad you didn't mention it because I was waiting for it.
2_ In Naruto shippuden ultimate ninja 5 the story doesn't end after they meet sasuke. In fact when you finish the story mode and all of the side quests , you go to the place where you met sasuke the first time and if I remember you can see an aura in front of the snake where you find the key to open the door to the darkness place in orochimaru's hideout then you pursue the story mode with Sasuke. I don't know if you missed this or just didn't mention it in the video but I had to say it.
Anyway great video buddy as always keep up the good work and I hope you don't forget naruto ultimate ninja impact on psp because it's really slept on.
These games were so fun to play with friends, as long as you ban ultimate tech it can be quite competitive. A bit unbalanced still, but not to the point where a skilled player couldn't beat a top tier character with a low tier. Also, so many characters as the games went on, which you love to see. The games are simple in their way but still a ton of fun.
To this day, I still play a few rounds of 5 every once in a while with my friends. No oujis, no substitution jutsu, no assists (only because of fucking Kabuto). Genuinely a great fighting game with just enough jank to make it charming and unique.
P.S. If you don't main Lee you're a psycho, he's objectively the most fun character.
Storm 2, me and my buddies at the time limited the game to no ultimates and it was pretty damn fun. We also had conditions like certain OP moves were limited, like one Rasengan per game, some awakenings being banned for being too OP, things like that.
... the big thing was banning the use of Pain's up combo which was completely unsubbable.
@@bojackhorseman4176 shippuden lee and butterfly choji, my friends wouldn't let me play with these 2
I don't remember if it was Ultimate Ninja 3 or 5, but I distinctly remember that there were two VERY cool things not mentioned in this video: the Jutsu Clashes (basically Naruto's version of a Beam Struggle, where you can do Chidori vs Rasengan or Fireball vs Fireball if you and your opponent throw your attacks at the same time) and the ability to give any specific jutsu to pretty much any character. This would let you use Chidori as Jiraiya, or Fireball Jutsu as Naruto, or Rasengan as Sasuke! I remember that being one of the most novel ideas in the game series.
Overall, I really loved these games, they were made with a lot of passion and care for detail and I have very comfy memories of me and my friends playing particularly UN4 and 5 in PVP.
Omg yes I just said the same thing I really enjoyed Jutsu clashes I used to clash rasengan with choji's butterfly fist 👊
Jutsu clashes were in 3 and the ability to give jutsu's to anyone were in Ultimate Ninja 2 but it was improved upon in Ultimate Ninja 3 and got better as the series went on.
I remember doing the customization in UN2 and the jutsu clashes in UN3. I don't think you could as freely customize characters in 3 as I remember that being something that disappointed me when I got it.
@@JadenOmega Ultimate Ninja 5 has both things
About giving jutsus to others, If I remember that correctly, they even went further to say it out loud. So for example if you gave rasengan to sasuke, sasuke would say it with his own voice. Very cool touch.
Probably the main reason that UN4 story is so short is due the fact that the anime did 4 seasons of filler before the shipudden timeskip. So i think they made the story have that training filler, as well not actually ending the first season of shipudden. Which was addressed in UN5.
The neat thing about UN5 is that after finishing the season 2 arc of the story mode, you play as sasuke instead, doing what i guess is his training with orochimaru. This is all filler, but its a nice change after playing just as Naruto, even the beat em up segments you play as Sasuke with his own moveset. And can be also unlocked permanently for these parts after completing.
And having spend my childhood playing all these game in original japanese, this video is really nostalgic. Ah... the nights of digging guide on GameFAQs because the whole game was in japanese and you had no fucking idea what you was doing to progress the story, lol
When UNS4 was released, the anime had only just ended production of the first 20 episodes of Shippuden, so due to the fact that they were trying to have the games coincide with the anime from that point on, they didn't want to go further. It had been in production since about episode 185 of the filler arcs since that's when first looks at the game had been released in magazines, with Shippuden getting its first look about 4 episodes prior. Might be off by a few episodes here or there, but yeah.
I remember struggling against kabuto in ultimate ninja 2 cause he kept dodging my ultimate jutsu and I couldn't finish the mission unless I did
Maybe you can link your ultimate jutsu with a combo or maybe it's in the later games
@@marksmania42 I tried it but he also used substitute justsu perfectly I had to rely on rng to finnaly hit him it was such a random difficulty spike too
@@roxasdeviluke317 you can try moving to the other plain and then hit him with your ultimate once he follows you. They're defenseless when they move from one plain to another but only for a split second
The first Ultimate Ninja introduced me into the anime/manga, it was really a great way to discover Naruto fr.
Never watched Naruto but played alot of the games since my older brother always kept bringing them in, those earlier ps2 games give me alot of nostalgia
Youre about to re-re-introduce my nostalgia to this. I played these games as a 10-12 year old, then I later re-bought a PS2 at age 16-17 and found it so satisfying. Now I have a PS4 and have no ides whats offered on this console but I cant wait to watch this series!!!
I suppose not many people know this, since not even this guy noticed it: when you "change planes", during the transition you can press the attack button (i hold either left or right in the dpad too, but I'm not sure if its necessary) to teleport directly into the opponent and attack them immediately
I wish I had known this 😭
I remember playing Ultimate Ninja 3 like crazy growing up, I didn't even know Ninja 4 existed till years later lol.
Been playing these on my ps2 and really happy to see someone giving them love 😄 Great review, instant sub!
I really love the adventure mode in UN3 and UN4, because it has separate story that doesn't tied too much on canon
UN3 have a tons of side missions that somewhat gave life to each character, dates, mini game, random ass akatsuki just hanging around konoha, not too mention it's the first open world naruto game that just blown away my mind
UN4 has its own story (at least before naruto went back to konoha), the open world is a bit bigger but camera work are downgraded
it's a shame that in storm series, only the first one that has freedom to move camera around, after that, they literally just cut the open world into section and have a loading screen
3 is forever one of my faves cause you could add different attacks to different characters and have naruto do chidori
This really reminded me how much I loved the look of the OG Ultimate Ninja games. I kinda wish we could get a remaster or even a remake, it'd be nice to get a new manga style looking game just to give the current clean cell shading style a break.
Not gonna lie. I liked the original Ultimate Ninja's 1-6(In Japan, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 was considered the 6th entry exclusive for the PSP. Then renamed here in the US.) over the Storm titles. I one day wish Cyber Connect 2 would go back and revive the side scrolling, platform games..
And to this day, still disappointed that Ultimate Ninja 5 never had a US release..
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Series from PS2 Era will always have a special place in my heart and soul, these are the most unique Naruto games for me, only Storm 1 was coming close to these Masterpiece Naruto games, especially from gameplay features perspective, I don't know exactly why, but for me, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Series from PS2 Era are so nostalgic, unique and divine at the same time, I have so many memories during my childhood by playing these Unique Naruto games, Naruto games from PS2 Era was always very close to the anime itself because of the unique vibe and charm☯️
The Ultimates in these games were so great man! Still playing it to this day and doing them never gets boring because they're epic!
For anyone interested in playing ultimate ninja 5 online, there's a discord channel from Brasil where you can find people for a match usin emulation
I think that UN2 implemented a customizable moveset for the characters. Taijutsu naruto was fun to use because you could knock up an enemy and apply the true hidden lotus mid air during a combo. As I remember, they removed this function in the next game (probably because it was too broken). Something I thought was cool was that you could use cursed mark stage 2 Sasuke and fly in the air then use his chidori while in the air.
Something you forgot to include was that you could choose the different available versions of characters from the character selection menu (I think they included this up at UN3)
Storm may be the clear king of the franchise but i will always hold a special spot in my heart for the PS2 vanilla ultimate games. My brother and i spent SO FREAKING LONG grinding out 2 to 100%
The amount of detail in this video is crazy. I really loved the amount of effort. Great video
Thank you :)
1:42 That was actually the 2nd opening for the anime
I remember playing the hell out of 1-3 on my uncle's PS2 when I was young.
I did NOT know how to play for SHEET but still did anyway because…it’s freaking Naruto.
Man, this video gave me the desire to go back and play these games again. They were so great, especially numbers 2 and 3.
Loved these games as a kid. Every time my siblings or I run across the phrase 'I can see' we flash back to a line in one of Sasuke's ultimates when he ups his sharingan. The really serious line delivery of a kind of silly comment made us giggle.
As a kid, the story mode game from Ultimate Ninja 4 blew my fucking mind. I had always wondered until then, what exactly DID happen during those three years of training with Jiraiya?? And being able to answer that question myself through gameplay was quite exciting. I knew what the gist of it was. Naruto had to learn to control Nine Tails and hone its power, but to actually see what that training and time spent alone with Jiraiya looked like, was awesome.
This was a great video, I'm definitely subscribing for more!!
Although it seems you missed quite a big thing when it came to Ultimate Ninja 5 Master Mode, at one point you'll finish Naruto's campaign and you instead start playing as Sasuke in a different campaign, with some different gameplay mechanics and whatnot, it's definitely quite a cool addition
I'll definitely have to go back and check that out! Thanks for letting me know :)
And thanks for the sub!
One thing I absolutely love about the ultimate ninja series (aside from the action) is the soundtracks.
Specially the ones from 3 & 4, those two really nailed both the emotions and the epicness in their tracks.
I love your videos and the style u showcase the characters thats so cool! Keep it up
At long last my wish is granted. I still remember when my friend showed up UN 1 back in high school and i followed all of em
I cannot stress how much i love Ultimate Ninja 5. I would pick it over storm any day
Where do I get 5, I’m strugglin man lol
These games were my childhood. I remember Naruto aired for the first time in 2007 in my country, that's when I became a fan and shortly after I got my hands in UN1. I remember there was a time when they would air only until episode 52 or smth like it and then they would start again from the beginning, cause the show aired daily here, so we were stuck before the third phase of the chunnin exams. I managed to get UN3 in 2008 and basically spoiled myself, but it was honestly worth it. I had no internet back then and had to wait a full year to the new batch of episodes to air. In fact I bet a bunch of people experienced the story of Naruto first hand through these games. I played UN4 before I watched even a single episode of Shippuden. It was simpler times when people didn't care for spoilers.
I really loved 3 because of how Master Mode let you climb up the walls of buildings on Konoha. Having the village just be one area that you could explore vertically just felt a lot more fulfilling than how the other games present it as a set of small rooms to navigate between. I can see though how 4's master mode is really well done though, just wish the platforming kept that feature so it would feel like a full on advancement.
Another big reason there was such a big jump from 2 to 3 was because that's where they introduced the bounce mechanic, letting you start going crazy with your combos.
Was obsessed with the first four games as a kid but never got to play 5 until a few years ago. Unfortunately it's locked at 50FPS since you needed to use the PAL BIOS and it felt really weird to me so I didn't play much of it
I loved the ultimate ninja games. Never really got into the ultimate ninja storm games though. I wish they kept the 2D fighting style
You are the first person I've EVER encountered that knows about The Legend of Dragoon honestly
Legend of Dragoon is a huge part of my childhood! :)
The legend himself once again released a smash hit , cant wait to see the next vid 👍
I know this vid's a year old and if someone already said sorry for repeating it but Ultimate Contest in UN3 also is how you get some Ultimate Jutsu as well as some characters like Hanabi. It's actually how you get Sasuke and Naruto's final UJs that transform them in the CS2 and One-Tailed Mode respectfully. Also characters 1st and 2nd Jutsu in UN3 were changeable too but had to be unlocked like Naruto's regular Rasengan and Sasuke's regular Chidori, that kind of thing. Those kinds of regular jutsu could also clash if they collided where you'd have to mash faster than the opponent for yours to go through
This is a great video! I mean, i love the storm series, but the ultimate series is such a good game and have (a lot) that storm didn't have. And i'm glad that you bring this series up again!
What i personally love about ultimate series :
The fighting :
- i love that the jutsus are done with a combo of more than just 2 buttons.
- i love that the 'ultimate' jutsu can be cancelled and actually be made into another 'battle' with combo. Makes the battle a bit longer and interesting.
The stories :
-the collectibles. I remember i love going all over the country hunting dummies and frogs, lol. The world is a bit bigger and hunting characters and frogs really is considered hunting and their place is not that obvious than the storm game.
- the 'minion' fight. Fighting bandits in between roads makes the story mode a bit bearable.
- i dunno but the shuriken throwing is way more satisfying. Buying items in stories didn't feel useless either. I love buying dango and ointment and such.
- the map. It feels bigger, not that linear, and you can actually do stuff im the map. Storm is not like that.
In Ultimate 5 the master mode is pretty big, there is a variety of missions to play even after you finish the story and there's even a chapter to play as Sasuke
10:00
Not true, there was a friendship list which you could build up to make some characters work together, I remember everyone being able to play with Itachi on my game because I built the friendships up.
My best memories is with UN5 when I realised that there was another story mode using Sasuke. Sasuke's abilities were so much fun and OP
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT
Better than the storm in my opinion: 3 ultimate per character + better moveset. It had better balance than the storm but was less forgiving.
I was the biggest fanboy of this game series when I was younger. They sold 3 games in one bundle so that was pretty awesome. I would play with the CPU's all day long and sometimes with my friends but I would whoop all of them. I also had ultimate ninja 5 on my PSP. Ah the good old days.
Niosai, you are an absolute legend, keep up the great stuff buddy 👍👍
I think the voice audio problem might be only on the western releases
my copy from when I was a kid still works fine
If they made a 6th game that tells the entirety of the Naruto and Shippuden story without rushing it... that would be amazing.
That would be really awesome! Something like the Master Mode but more fleshed out with multiple time periods would be really cool.
Sadly, unless someone else gets the rights to use the Naruto/Boruto IP we'll never see this series come back, which is a shame but that's ok. Storm 4's budget of (almost) still image Custscenes and murky 3D cutscenes ( they look like they have a filter over them, you'll see when you get to it) really weighed it down in terms of story mode and was a poor final showing for the company while the actual fight mechanics themselves are pretty neat, if a bit unbalanced.
Plus the Boruto story, I don't like it as much, I loved it to a certain point but like AOT I'm hearin' things I don't like happening far off in the manga that makes me almost want to give up on it.
As an update, apparently a source that leaked the Demon Slayer DLC items has leaked Naruto Storm 5 has been in the works for the past year. Probably Boruto Storm or something like that.
Stopped watching your vids for a bit trevor. works been hella crazy lately. loved these games and love your videos! keep up the the good work!!
See thank you man. You actually gave each game a very good and fair review. Ultimate Ninja 1 is favorite of them all mainly because of the music it’s addicting
I LOVE the Ultimate Ninja series! 🥷🏾🖤
(Heroes & Storm included, ofc!)
Btw, the Plain Switch has an ability where you can teleport automatically to your opponent and attack them.
Countering opponents who keep Plain Shifting.
That beats the old way of Plain Shifting and tryna run over to them slowly, lol.
for me naruto ultimate ninja 3 was the best to me
I'm so glad someone decided to cover the ps2 Ultimate Ninja games, they hold a big place in my heart being a fun yet simple to pick up fighting game series where each game still feels worth going back to thanks to the changes in the story/modes/gameplay
My order from fav to least fav
2
3
4
1
5 (haven't played unfortunately)
Out of curiosity, why is 2 your favorite?
@@Niosai I think it's the perfect blend of the series to me and to sum it up
Graphics- I think it had the best balance of manga mixed with anime aesthetics and unlike the other games, just thinking about this one gives off the color vibes of dark oranges and sunsets
Gameplay- I prefer the ultimate Justsu in parts, and like I mentioned I think they pop fantastically with the updated graphics
Story- I like how it starts, it throws you right into the leaf invasion and the world is easy to navigate and fun to explore with hidden mini games and collectibles, and the small bonus campaign with Kakashi at the end genuinely feels like something you would see in the anime and wraps up the story in a satisfying way
Overall I still think 3 and 4 have better gameplay with the little changes they added to combat but I don't think they quite matched the feeling 2 had in presentation
The only ultimate ninja game i played was on the psp and my brother finished it
a few quick notes, 3's minigames were all taken from 2 iirc (in the campaign and 2 also retained a few 3 didn't have), also 3's original story mode had a tie-in OVA which is probably why it was the most popular. 4 only ended up having about 30 eps worth of content to adapt hence the reason they added the largely expansive original story. big fan of how they made a full fledged action jrpg out of that one, you can tell cyberconnect2 really wanted an excuse to make one in basically every game since .hack was their wheelhouse at the time. 5 let you gain a "postgame" item of sorts to replace your player character in the battles with sasuke (who is super satisfying to play as) and they did quite a bit to really refine the level systems there too. having said that even with the postgame sasuke-exclusive (iirc?) content i think it still ended up with a much smaller area to explore which was a bit of a shame. yeah 4's world was pretty sparse, but the sense of scale honestly blew me away (especially for an optional rpg side mode in an unpopular naruto series on ps2 at the time (pretty sure storm 1 alone outsold the entire ps2 series, as did other series like clash of ninja and uzumaki chronicles, and possibly ninja council and rise of a ninja too?))
personally considered 4 an overall step back from 3 thanks to its additions being pretty hit or miss (especially the giant transformation supers which were not only unbalanced but not nearly as fun as regular ones in multiplayer tbh, also just more balance issues in general shoutout to defensive units who could just reflect projectiles...), but 5's reintroduction of supports more than made up for that and it's probably my favourite overall. also since it wasn't really mentioned, i *think* all of the games had it as a feature iirc, it was at least in few of them, but i really liked the plane switching system not only specifically because of the literal extra layer of gamified immersion being able to just go into the background, but also because of the mechanics it had making it actually *harder* to stall opponents, since pressing attacks while switching teleports you directly to your opponent (i totally didn't just abuse this to start chains regularly). on a related note, i'm also super hype about there being a new fatal fury game announced recently because it was where the whole multi-plane fighting system came from and it did it about as well as these games imo
side note ultimate ninja 6 (heroes 3) garbage, heroes 2 super underrated tho
if you loved this series, chances are you’re gonna ADORE the storm series. it’s considered one of the best, if not the best anime game series of all time and it shows with many of the features and changes it introduces, coming off of the ultimate ninja ps2 series
very glad you’re doing this series! keep up the good work GOAT 🤞💜
I remember playing Heros when it came out. Itachi was broken and kids would come find me in the lunchroom to challenge me to fights on their PSPs, because word spread around about how good I was. I also used to to naruto run in between classes cuz I was about that life.
I don't know if you are going to cover PSP games or not, but I remember one of those games having a tower-climmbing-dungeon-crawling story mod I found awesome
Not sure if it was exclusive to the PSP version or not
The same game had a tree running minigame as well, if I remember correctly
Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2, which in Japan it was the first Ultimate Ninja PSP game, the American first Ultimate Ninja Heroes was based on Ultimate Ninja 2 because they didn't want to spoil one tailed Kyuubi chakra mode Naruto and Cursed Mark Sasuke level 2, so they made a quick new game with less characters and regular Kyuubi chakra mode Naruto and Chunnin Exam Sasuke.
Then they released the FIRST PSP game to America as the second game, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2.
As someone who played Ultimate Ninja 1-3 on a CRT back in the day, they ABSOLUTELY looked amazing on said CRT.
30:08 what the
It's a cool scene, I'll give it that
Battle gameplay of this series is so much better than Storm's. Wish there was a game that combines Storm's graphics and UN's gameplay
Used to love these games on the PS2. So many memories playing the 2 player mode with my brother.
I don't know if it was mentioned directly before or I missed it out, but I remember that in UN5, you can also choose to start in an "awakened state" (4 tails for example) by holding R1 I think, while other characters enters into a State by holding UP (and it can be broken like for Sakura to heal herself, Itachi making everything slow down, Gaara straight up fly like Sasori)
and that you can unlock Supers from characters in the Story mode or however it was called, by unlocking them I mean that other characters can use them in the customization prior battle. So yeah, for the first time you can put Chidori on Naruto and Rasengan on Sasuke or any other character like Lee, Sakura... it was so broken to use Gai's move and Yellow Flash' tp rasengan (except if ya' know how to instant Block like in the Storm 2 that let's you teleport behing if you about to be attacked)
There were a couple of games where you could start in Nine-Tailed mode as Naruto, for example, but I don't remember which ones 😅
@@Niosai yeah, I bet. Too bad those functions didn't come back for the Storm series or even alt characters and Sasori in the puppet
didnt even ask for this series, i just knew it was comming. thanks
i’m taking full credit for convincing you to do this video (i know others ask but i have to believe my tweet @ you was the determining factor) IVE BEEN WANTING THIS VIDEO! thank you for making it ❤️ i love these games
I played Lee in Ultimate Ninja 1. His special increases his physical damage in exchange for taking damage over time. My friends figured out they could hard counter it by rapidly switching between the background and foreground until I died of old age
I’ve seen only the first 20 episodes of naruto so I think my knowledge is enough to watch this video
Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 for the PS2, I remember playing that for HOURS on end once upon a time, and as I’ve grown older I always remembered it but I could never remember the name of the game, so THANK YOU for reminding me of it. This was such a great nostalgia trip.
Glad I could help! :) It's easy to get these mixed up, too, because there's a whole other series called Clash of Ninja.
bro ur explination is spot on great content my friend keep it up
I remember reading a magazine about the first game... The characters were said to appear to have repeated bouts of asthma.
I remember I was in like 4th grade when I was playing Naruto ultimate ninja 2 on ps2 and I couldn’t beat itachi, he kept doing that annoying sub an countering everything I did. There was some older kids who lived across the street from me that went hard on Naruto games so I gave them my disc and memory card. They beat itachi for me. Life was fun back then
Something about getting the first game as a kid was so much fun. and its cover art is perfect.