Naruto: Ninja Council 2
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 Better than the first but it isn't safe from being a failure.
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Naruto: Ninja Council 2, known as Naruto: Saikyō Ninja Daikesshu 2 in Japan, is the second instalment in the Ninja Council series.
Note: This only focus on the GBA game, for the DS game, click here.
Gameplay and Plot
This game loosely follows the Chunin Exams arc, but with some minor differences, such as repeated fights against Dosu Kinuta, Zaku Abumi, Kabuto Yakushi, and Orochimaru, as well as a story line that did not appear in the series. It also features a two-player co-op mode using the link cable, and a four-player battle mode. However, it should be noted that while the first game had voice samples from the cast (carried over from Clash of Ninja), this game does not. The sprites in this game, while not only different from the first Ninja Council, would become mainstays for this series.
Bad Qualities
- The game is way too easy, since the enemies barely attack you, the projectiles are just plain weak since they doesn't do that much damages and there's a lot of healths items in the game, while the first game was really easy despite some hard bosses, it wasn't to this extend, although that can be good for peoples who don't want a game too hard, and after Uzumaki Chronicles, it is a bit new air of fresh due to how hard that game was.
- The controls are somehow worse than the first game, being incredibly stiff, clunky and unresponsive and because of that, the game platforming is extremely awful and these are the hardest sections of the game due to how bad it is, the game may be designed with those poor controls but here it is just so bad that you will had a hard time to like playing this game, not helping is that everything is so clunky in this game.
- The gameplay is repetitive and somewhat worse than the first game because instead of being fast paced like the first one, this game is way more slower and feel sluggish to play, especially the jumping and the combat style, it is so sluggish and boring that the game doesn't even worth to be replayed at all, not helping BQ#7.
- Downright awful soundtrack that is on par with the first Ninja Council, although there's some great tunes here and there.
- The soundtrack is terrible but it's mostly because of being ear bleeding to the point of feeling like it's unfinished or even that some 5 years old kid did mess up their composition, it so bad that it feel like it didn't get tested before release, and that it is almost on par with Bubsy 2 music on Game Boy.
- The sound effects range from decent to really bad since some of them are also pretty ear bleeding and sound repetitive, much like the sound effects in the GBA version of Nicktoons Unite! sound effects, though they are fine and way better than most of the first game sound effects.
- The game is far too short, despite draging for longer than it should, the game can be finished in only 1h30m, and except some fighting and multiplayer modes, there's not any replay values at all, which is quite dissapointing, especially if you compare with games such as Sonic Advance 3 and Mario vs. Donkey Kong.
- Poor enemies AL that is quite dumb, even when compared to the first game.
- The combat, while a bit fun, had some flaws, since it is somewhat sluggish and unresponsive, and some of the attacks had poor hit-detection despite that the latter is decent overall.
- It is pretty repetitive and clunky, since you only get a 3-hit combo and nothing else, there's no upgrades, no longer combos although you get jutsu later in the game.
- Bad and uninspired level design, the levels are mostly repetitive and it had sections where ypu need to kill enemies, but the problem is that they are sometime in the worst place possible, although the level design is an improvement over the first game.
- The enemies placements are also problematic, since they are placed in place where you can't really hit them, and sometime, they are placed right to a platform you need to get on, although despite that, they aren't so annoying considering how easy this game is.
- The platforms placements, while it doesn't create artificial difficulty, is sometime poorly placed, especially because of the poor controls, though this doesn't make the game harder for no reasons thankfully.
- The boss fights range from decent to downright easy, since the bosses are just as easy as the rest of the game, especially when playing as Naruto because he is the strongest one and do the most damages, the bosses also had attacks that are very easy to dodge, although most of them remain decent despite that.
- The pacing is way too slow, especially in comparison to the first game, and it is the reason of why this game is longer, not helping the sluggish controls.
- Barely any replay value. All you unlock is Rock Lee and that's it.
Good Qualities
- The game can be fun at times, at least if you ignore all of the problems about the game, and when you get used to the controls, the game actually become somewhat decent.
- Some of the soundtrack actually sound really good, such as:
- The title theme is quite badass, since it sound pretty impressive despite being a bit ear bleeding and also sound catchy, it also feel like it came from a Naruto media so at least it is somewhat faithful to the source material, and is arguably even better than the first game title screen theme.
- Neji theme is arguably the best music of the entire game, as it is epic sounding, sound fitting for a fight, and also sound catchy, in fact it is so good that it is one of the few music of the game that isn't repetitive at all, along with the title screen theme.
- The Exams music (when you fight Rock Lee for exemple) is also pretty catchy, as it go for a fast paced song and is one of the best track of the game overall.
- The graphics are really good, and are even better than the first game graphics while looked more like an SNES game despite being decent looking, here the graphics look detailled and the sprites themself are fantastic and look more like the characters than the sprites from the previous games, also the graphics are colorful, and the color palette is even better than in the first game.
- The game isn't actually bad, the game had potential to be great but the controls and some of the levels design killed the chances from the game being decent, although it still better than some of the next Ninja Council games such as the fourth game and especially the infamous Naruto Shippūden 3D: The New Era.
- The story is a lot better as it actually follows the anime this time around (with a bonus side story in the middle), unlike the first game where the story is a random mess filled with errors.
- Decent hit-detection that is way better than the first game, especially because of the combat being less harder, not to mention that the combat is sometime very fun despite it's flaws.
- Decent boss fights, despite what was said in BQ#9.
- Naruto fans may enjoy it.
- It is far from the worst platformer on GBA, as there are many others that are a thousand times worse (such as Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis, Curious George and That's So Raven)
- The DS version is way better and an improvement over this game, including better controls, better combats and a even more fun gameplay than this.
Reception
Naruto: Ninja Council 2 received mixed reviews by critics, the game had a score of 55/100 on Metacritic, although it is lower than the first game, this game is still considered to be an improvement over it and some peoples also like this game, and it got a cult following over the years, despite it's flaws.
Trivia
- If the player is in the level where the player looks for Gaara, and if Sakura and Sasuke are both defeated (Lee as well if he is unlocked). Continue as normal with Naruto. When beating Gaara in his sand shell, the player can play a Gamabunta vs. Shukaku mini game.
- Naruto can use the Naruto Uzumaki Combo and the Summoning Technique and Sasuke can use the Lion Combo and the Chidori in the Forest of Death, even though they didn't learn them yet.
- This game is one of the few instances of Naruto media where chakra is analogous with health (where it effectively costs health to perform jutsu).
- This is the only Ninja Council game with no voice clips.
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