Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns
Encyclopedia
Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns, released in Japan as , is a roguelike
dungeon crawler video game developed by Ninja Studio
and published in Japan by Success
and in North America by Atlus
for the Nintendo DS
handheld game console
. It is the sequel to Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja
and was released in Japan on November 29, 2007 and in North America on July 22, 2008.
Like the first game, Izuna 2 focuses on the adventures of Izuna and her friends. Shino, Izuna's friend, disappears in the midst of a wedding, so Izuna goes on a quest to find her. Izuna finds her, only to discover that Shino was looking for her sister, Shizune, so Izuna and her group decide to help search for Shizune. But by looking for Shizune, Izuna angers a group of foreign gods, who attempt to prevent her from reuniting with Shizune.
Upon release, Izuna 2 received mixed reviews. Aggregate review sites Metacritic
and GameRankings gave the game a 65% and 63.56% respectively. Critics focused on its nature as a roguelike as both a positive and a negative, and as the definitive aspect of the game. Most critics praised the storyline and criticized the gameplay, concluding that Izuna 2 will only appeal to roguelike or dungeon crawler fans.
Izuna 2, like the original Izuna game, is a roguelike dungeon crawler. The player controls Izuna or various other characters and explores randomly generated dungeons
. Each dungeon has multiple floors that need to be cleared, and many of these dungeons have bosses
that must be defeated. The player manages a health bar
; if the health bar is depleted, the player dies and is forced to return to town. Dying, a common occurrence in the game, will cause the player to lose all money and items being carried, though the player will not lose experience or levels. The health bar refills continuously every turn. To prevent players from remaining in place to restore health excessively, an "SP bar" was added. It constantly depletes per turn and a depleted SP bar decreases the player's attack power. The game is turn-based; the player can perform an action, such as moving, using an item, or attacking, and every other enemy in the dungeon will perform an action as well. The game includes many RPG
elements, such as equippable items, stats
, and experience points to level up
.
Equipment, items, and talismans can be found in dungeons. Their location and effects are randomly generated. Equipment comes in several classes: melee equipment such as sword
s, claws, arms, doll
s, and boot
s, or ranged weapons such as boomerang
s and bows
. Items come in several types including pills, shuriken
, kunai knives
, bomb
s, caltrop
s, and restorative items that heal health or SP. Talismans can "stick," or be attached, to equipment to add abilities or stats. A weapon can only have a limited number of talismans stuck to it. Talismans can also be used to cast magic, which uses SP.
Izuna 2 also includes a "tag
" system not found in the previous game. The player enters dungeons with two characters, allowing the player to continue exploring the dungeon even after the first character has died. The player can switch characters in game during a fight through this system. Additionally, the player can use the secondary character in conjunction with the primary character to launch a powerful dual attack.
process for Izuna 2 was "surprisingly uncomplicated" and the original run through took less than a month. Success, the Japanese developer, provided Atlus, the North American developers, with well-organized files, which helped make the translation and editing quick and easy. However, the quality assurance
and debugging
process was a "nightmare" due to the nature of the game and the randomized spawning of creatures. Additionally, the team looked closely at the bugs found by Japanese players and attempted to replicate every reported bug. This effort was marred by the lack of a debug menu
, though debuggers were able to use both a one-hit kill option and a floor-skipping option. Unfortunately, the one-hit kill option did not apply to the bosses
, so debuggers still had to grind
to gain enough levels to defeat the bosses. In total, six official testers found 104 system-type bugs and 259 text bugs.
. Cosplayers could compete for prizes by dressing up as either Izuna or Shino. Additionally, actors and members of the design staff attended to field questions and sign autographs. The game was also made available at Comiket 73
between December 21 and December 23, 2007.
In North America, Atlus initially announced plans to release an English version on April 17, 2008. Atlus released a trailer of the game in April 2008, and in May 2008, Izuna 2 appeared at the 2008 Run to the Sun convention in California. A competition was also held in the U.S. to help promote the release. Fans were asked to add text to a series of images involving interactions between different characters and could win a free copy of Izuna 2 and all of the posters given away as promotional items with the game.
, a Japanese retailer, released a collector's box
depicting Izuna and Shino bathing in an onsen
, mirroring the design of many eroge
games. Each American release contained one of two pinup-styled mini-posters of Izuna. Copies of the game purchased through either GameStop
or Amazon
each included an additional, retailer-exclusive mini-poster.
and GameRankings gave the game a 65% and 63.56% respectively. Many critics pointed to the game's "quintessential Roguelike RPG" nature as a drawback because it required a great deal of grinding to progress in the game, though some critics enjoyed the difficulty of the game. Reviewers were also split with their impressions of the "tag" system. GameShark
found it to be a "nice twist" while RPGFan found it to be "irrelevant and not good."
Nintendo World Report
commented that Izuna 2 "is a respectable and fun dungeon-crawler" marred mostly by its gameplay mechanics and disappointing graphics. They also pointed out that the game is targeted at "very specific gamer crowd". Likewise, GamePro
commented that the game "might prove too challenging to casual DS gamers who are just looking for a quick round of fun" and would most likely fit best for "DS owners looking for a hardcore dungeon crawling experience." In spite of this, they found that the game had several notable positive aspects, including a "solid" control scheme and "well done" Japanese voice acting and English subtitling.
X-Play
pointed to the game's "original visual style and a quirky sense of humor" as characteristics that distinguished the game from most other roguelikes. They greatly enjoyed the dialogue and voice acting and felt that the game "shouldn't get lost" among the other roguelikes released to the DS. However, 1UP.com
found that the "amusingly slapstick storyline" was the only point that stood out against other roguelikes, though the game was "a considerable improvement" over the original. In general, 1UP.com thought the game was "a challenge meant for hardcore RPG fanatics but amusing enough that newcomers might find it worthwhile, too."
Likewise, IGN
commented that the game would take "a very specific gamer to cuddle up to this cute, comedic experience" and pointed out that the game was "most unlikely of sequels." In contrast to 1UP.com, IGN found the game to be "undoubtedly more of the same," leading to the same benefits and drawbacks.
Roguelike
The roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by randomization for replayability, permanent death, and turn-based movement. Most roguelikes feature ASCII graphics, with newer ones increasingly offering tile-based graphics. Games are typically dungeon crawls, with many...
dungeon crawler video game developed by Ninja Studio
Ninja Studio
Ninja Studio is a Japanese video game developer mostly known for its Izuna the Unemployed Ninja series.Izuna appears to be a mascot for Ninja Studio and made a cameo appearance in Success' Rondo of Swords along with Shino .Ninja Studio's games:*A Ninja's Tale *Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja...
and published in Japan by Success
Success (company)
Success Corporation is a Japanese game developer and publisher, based in Tokyo, and founded in: June 1976. They are best known for their Cotton series of shooter games , Zoo Keeper and others...
and in North America by Atlus
Atlus
is a Japanese computer and video game developer, publisher, and distributor based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for developing the console role-playing game franchise Megami Tensei. The first Megami Tensei was a Nintendo Entertainment System video game published by Namco based on a trilogy of...
for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
handheld game console
Handheld game console
A handheld game console is a lightweight, portable electronic device with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are run on machines of small size allowing people to carry them and play them at any time or place...
. It is the sequel to Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja
Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja
Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja, known in Japan as and in Europe as Izuna: The Legend of the Ninja, is a Nintendo DS roguelike game by Success and published by Atlus USA in the United States, and by 505 Games in Europe.-Story:...
and was released in Japan on November 29, 2007 and in North America on July 22, 2008.
Like the first game, Izuna 2 focuses on the adventures of Izuna and her friends. Shino, Izuna's friend, disappears in the midst of a wedding, so Izuna goes on a quest to find her. Izuna finds her, only to discover that Shino was looking for her sister, Shizune, so Izuna and her group decide to help search for Shizune. But by looking for Shizune, Izuna angers a group of foreign gods, who attempt to prevent her from reuniting with Shizune.
Upon release, Izuna 2 received mixed reviews. Aggregate review sites Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
and GameRankings gave the game a 65% and 63.56% respectively. Critics focused on its nature as a roguelike as both a positive and a negative, and as the definitive aspect of the game. Most critics praised the storyline and criticized the gameplay, concluding that Izuna 2 will only appeal to roguelike or dungeon crawler fans.
Gameplay
Random dungeon
A random dungeon is a dungeon in a role-playing video game which is procedurally generated by the computer using an algorithm, such that the dungeon is laid out differently every time the player enters it, and a player often never plays through quite the same dungeon twice. Random dungeons are...
. Each dungeon has multiple floors that need to be cleared, and many of these dungeons have bosses
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
that must be defeated. The player manages a health bar
Health (gaming)
Health is a game mechanic used in role-playing, computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPCs, and related objects. This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar....
; if the health bar is depleted, the player dies and is forced to return to town. Dying, a common occurrence in the game, will cause the player to lose all money and items being carried, though the player will not lose experience or levels. The health bar refills continuously every turn. To prevent players from remaining in place to restore health excessively, an "SP bar" was added. It constantly depletes per turn and a depleted SP bar decreases the player's attack power. The game is turn-based; the player can perform an action, such as moving, using an item, or attacking, and every other enemy in the dungeon will perform an action as well. The game includes many RPG
Role-playing game (video games)
Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
elements, such as equippable items, stats
Statistic (role-playing games)
A statistic in role-playing games is a piece of data which represents a particular aspect of a fictional character. That piece of data is usually a integer or, in some cases, a set of dice....
, and experience points to level up
Level Up
Level Up was a UK children's TV programme that was broadcast on CBBC. It was launched on the 3rd April 2006, replacing Xchange. The show was an hour long and during the school year broadcasting from 7:30am until 8:30am...
.
Equipment, items, and talismans can be found in dungeons. Their location and effects are randomly generated. Equipment comes in several classes: melee equipment such as sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
s, claws, arms, doll
Doll
A doll is a model of a human being, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have traditionally been used in magic and religious rituals throughout the world, and traditional dolls made of materials like clay and wood are found in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The earliest documented dolls...
s, and boot
Boot
A boot is a type of footwear but they are not shoes. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle and extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearly distinguishable from the rest of the sole, even if the two are made of one piece....
s, or ranged weapons such as boomerang
Boomerang
A boomerang is a flying tool with a curved shape used as a weapon or for sport.-Description:A boomerang is usually thought of as a wooden device, although historically boomerang-like devices have also been made from bones. Modern boomerangs used for sport are often made from carbon fibre-reinforced...
s and bows
Bow (weapon)
The bow and arrow is a projectile weapon system that predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.-Description:A bow is a flexible arc that shoots aerodynamic projectiles by means of elastic energy. Essentially, the bow is a form of spring powered by a string or cord...
. Items come in several types including pills, shuriken
Shuriken
A shuriken is a traditional Japanese concealed weapon that was generally used for throwing, and sometimes stabbing or slashing...
, kunai knives
Kunai
A is a Japanese tool possibly derived from the masonry trowel. Two variations are the and the . It is a good example of a very basic tool which, in the hands of a martial arts expert, could be used as a multi-functional weapon...
, bomb
Bomb
A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
s, caltrop
Caltrop
A caltrop is an antipersonnel weapon made up of two or more sharp nails or spines arranged in such a manner that one of them always points upward from a stable base...
s, and restorative items that heal health or SP. Talismans can "stick," or be attached, to equipment to add abilities or stats. A weapon can only have a limited number of talismans stuck to it. Talismans can also be used to cast magic, which uses SP.
Izuna 2 also includes a "tag
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...
" system not found in the previous game. The player enters dungeons with two characters, allowing the player to continue exploring the dungeon even after the first character has died. The player can switch characters in game during a fight through this system. Additionally, the player can use the secondary character in conjunction with the primary character to launch a powerful dual attack.
Plot
Ichika, a fisherwoman from the previous game, has plans to get married. However, during the night before Ichika's marriage, Shino, Izuna's best friend, disappears. Izuna frantically tries to find her and quickly locates her. Shino reveals that she was searching for her sister, Shizune, so Izuna and her friends decide to help Shino find Shizune. Izuna enlists the help of the gods of Katamari Village, whom she aided in the previous game. Lord Takushiki, one of the gods, reveals that both Shizune and Izuna are "portable shrines", or people who allow the gods to leave their home villages. Because the existence of two portable shrines in one area would cause conflict among gods, Takushiki sent Shizune to another region as a child. The foreign gods and their creatures from that region, mononokes, followed Shizune into Izuna's homeland. After defeating several foreign gods, Izuna successfully reunites Shino and Shizune. However, by defeating the foreign gods, Izuna angers the Dark Prince, the leader of these gods. Izuna is forced to defeat the Dark Prince. After doing so, she convinces him to return to his homeland, allowing peace to return to the region.Development
According to the developer blog, the localizationLanguage localisation
Language localisationThe spelling "localization", a variant of "localisation", is the preferred spelling in the US and Canada. is the second phase of a larger process of product translation and cultural adaptation to account for...
process for Izuna 2 was "surprisingly uncomplicated" and the original run through took less than a month. Success, the Japanese developer, provided Atlus, the North American developers, with well-organized files, which helped make the translation and editing quick and easy. However, the quality assurance
Quality Assurance
Quality assurance, or QA for short, is the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various aspects of a project, service or facility to maximize the probability that minimum standards of quality are being attained by the production process...
and debugging
Debugging
Debugging is a methodical process of finding and reducing the number of bugs, or defects, in a computer program or a piece of electronic hardware, thus making it behave as expected. Debugging tends to be harder when various subsystems are tightly coupled, as changes in one may cause bugs to emerge...
process was a "nightmare" due to the nature of the game and the randomized spawning of creatures. Additionally, the team looked closely at the bugs found by Japanese players and attempted to replicate every reported bug. This effort was marred by the lack of a debug menu
Debug menu
A debug menu or debug mode is a function hidden in a computer program that provides options used for testing and debugging, that are not normally available to users...
, though debuggers were able to use both a one-hit kill option and a floor-skipping option. Unfortunately, the one-hit kill option did not apply to the bosses
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
, so debuggers still had to grind
Grind (gaming)
Grinding is a term used in video gaming to describe the process of engaging in repetitive and/or boring tasks not pertaining to the story line of the game...
to gain enough levels to defeat the bosses. In total, six official testers found 104 system-type bugs and 259 text bugs.
Release
On the Japanese release date of Izuna 2, Success organized a series of fashion events at various stores in AkihabaraAkihabara
, also known as , is an area of Tokyo, Japan. It is located less than five minutes by rail from Tokyo Station. Its name is frequently shortened to in Japan...
. Cosplayers could compete for prizes by dressing up as either Izuna or Shino. Additionally, actors and members of the design staff attended to field questions and sign autographs. The game was also made available at Comiket 73
Comiket
, otherwise known as the , is the world's largest self-published comic book fair, held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan. The first Comiket was held on December 21, 1975, with only about 32 participating circles and an estimated 600 attendees. Attendance has since swelled to over a half million people....
between December 21 and December 23, 2007.
In North America, Atlus initially announced plans to release an English version on April 17, 2008. Atlus released a trailer of the game in April 2008, and in May 2008, Izuna 2 appeared at the 2008 Run to the Sun convention in California. A competition was also held in the U.S. to help promote the release. Fans were asked to add text to a series of images involving interactions between different characters and could win a free copy of Izuna 2 and all of the posters given away as promotional items with the game.
Merchandise
Izuna 2 was released in several different containers. SofmapSofmap
Sofmap Co., Ltd. is a Japanese retailer which sells both new and used electronics. It is a subsidiary of Bic Camera.-External links:...
, a Japanese retailer, released a collector's box
Special edition
The terms special edition, limited edition and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition and others, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints or recorded music and films, but now including...
depicting Izuna and Shino bathing in an onsen
Onsen
An is a term for hot springs in the Japanese language, though the term is often used to describe the bathing facilities and inns around the hot springs. As a volcanically active country, Japan has thousands of onsen scattered along its length and breadth...
, mirroring the design of many eroge
Eroge
An or Ero-ga is a Japanese video or computer game that features erotic content, usually in the form of anime-style artwork. Eroge originated from galge, but unlike galge, they feature erotic/pornographic content.-History:...
games. Each American release contained one of two pinup-styled mini-posters of Izuna. Copies of the game purchased through either GameStop
GameStop
GameStop Corporation is an American video game and entertainment software retailer. The company, whose headquarters is in Grapevine, Texas, United States, operates 6,500 retail stores throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New...
or Amazon
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
each included an additional, retailer-exclusive mini-poster.
Reception
Izuna 2 received mixed reviews. Aggregate review sites MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
and GameRankings gave the game a 65% and 63.56% respectively. Many critics pointed to the game's "quintessential Roguelike RPG" nature as a drawback because it required a great deal of grinding to progress in the game, though some critics enjoyed the difficulty of the game. Reviewers were also split with their impressions of the "tag" system. GameShark
GameShark
GameShark is the brand name of a line of video game cheat cartridges and other products for a variety of console video game systems and Windows based computers. Currently, the brand name is owned by Mad Catz, who actively markets GameShark products for the PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and Sega game...
found it to be a "nice twist" while RPGFan found it to be "irrelevant and not good."
Nintendo World Report
Nintendo World Report
Nintendo World Report is a Nintendo-specific video game website that covers Nintendo's current consoles, the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, and Wii.-History:...
commented that Izuna 2 "is a respectable and fun dungeon-crawler" marred mostly by its gameplay mechanics and disappointing graphics. They also pointed out that the game is targeted at "very specific gamer crowd". Likewise, GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
commented that the game "might prove too challenging to casual DS gamers who are just looking for a quick round of fun" and would most likely fit best for "DS owners looking for a hardcore dungeon crawling experience." In spite of this, they found that the game had several notable positive aspects, including a "solid" control scheme and "well done" Japanese voice acting and English subtitling.
X-Play
X-Play
X-Play is a TV program about video games, known for its reviews and comedy skits...
pointed to the game's "original visual style and a quirky sense of humor" as characteristics that distinguished the game from most other roguelikes. They greatly enjoyed the dialogue and voice acting and felt that the game "shouldn't get lost" among the other roguelikes released to the DS. However, 1UP.com
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
found that the "amusingly slapstick storyline" was the only point that stood out against other roguelikes, though the game was "a considerable improvement" over the original. In general, 1UP.com thought the game was "a challenge meant for hardcore RPG fanatics but amusing enough that newcomers might find it worthwhile, too."
Likewise, IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
commented that the game would take "a very specific gamer to cuddle up to this cute, comedic experience" and pointed out that the game was "most unlikely of sequels." In contrast to 1UP.com, IGN found the game to be "undoubtedly more of the same," leading to the same benefits and drawbacks.