New Year means new sequel, Namco Bandai Games sends word that NARUTO will have a sequel:
Leading video games publisher and developer NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. announced today that “NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja 2,” the sequel to the critically acclaimed and best-selling “NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja,” will be available Summer 2007 exclusively for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system. Based on the international anime sensation and hit TV series NARUTO, from VIZ Media, airing on Cartoon Network, this action fighter features over 30 playable characters, as well as 16 unique stages and the intense head-to-head anime-style fighting fans of the series know and love. Gamers can play through pivotal storylines as well as unlock an original plot in this follow up to last year’s immensely popular Ultimate Ninja.
“‘NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja 2’ delivers exactly what fans are craving, intense head-to-head ninjutsu battles and story driven gameplay” said Naruo Uchida, NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.’s Vice President of Bandai Localization. “The first title was a monstrous success and the bar has been raised even higher for the second game. More playable characters, game play modes, unlockable items and environments come together for a NARUTO experience that transcends what the first ‘Ultimate Ninja’ had to offer.”
In “NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja 2” gamers can play through monumental events in the NARUTO storyline all while earning points toward upgrading their character’s strength, defense, agility, chakra and special abilities. Players can walk the path of NARUTO in the new all-new mode, Ultimate Road that will allow them to play through all of the pivotal events in the storyline, as well as unlock an original story, as more and more pieces of the NARUTO saga unfold. More than 60 exciting missions and seven challenging mini games will push potential ninja to their limit. Players can take the role of Naruto, Sasake, Kakashi, Rock Lee, Gara, Kiba and other favorites while taking on daunting tasks like battling the sand ninja and working their way through the Chunin exam, the test to move up in the ninja ranks. Ninja in training can perfect their skills in Practice mode then put their training to the test against a friend in the VS mode. With a vast amount of unlockable features such as playable characters, movies, music, collectible cards and more NARUTO fans will be busy for ages to come.
First introduced into the Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine in Japan in 1999, NARUTO – by revered creator Masashi Kishimoto – quickly became Japan’s most popular ninja manga. In 2000, NARUTO was expanded into a series of graphic novels with more than 66 million copies sold in total in Japan. NARUTO consistently ranks as one of the most popular titles serialized in VIZ Media’s SHONEN JUMP monthly manga anthology and one of the top graphic novel titles (also published by VIZ Media) in the United States. VIZ Media was named the Master Licensor in February 2005, obtaining the television, home video and merchandising rights to NARUTO for North America and Latin America.
