The Storm Connections DLC leak previewed the upcoming content for the latest in the Naruto Ultimate Ninja series.
The anime fighter series of games began in 2003, with over 15 related games in the franchise. The full name of the newest game is quite the mouthful: Naruto x Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections.
Storm Connections is the first to see the sequel series protagonist Boruto share the title with his famous father.
As is common for many anime titles, Storm Connections launched with a DLC season pass available for purchase.
A dataminer has leaked a potential list of characters coming out in the first wave of Storm Connections DLC.
Storm Connections DLC leak: five rumored characters
Twitter user MoeruStorm began datamining Storm Connections not long after its November 2023 release, and found five characters to potentially appear in upcoming DLC.
This list is:
- Hagoromo
- Isshiki
- Kurenai
- Kawaki (Karma)
- Boruto (Momoshiki)
This rumored list consists of several prominent or obvious roster additions.
The first two, Hagoromo and Isshiki, are the only two members of the Otsutsuki family yet to appear in Storm. Meanwhile, alternate powered-up forms of Kawaki and Boruto are mainstay additions. Finally, Kurenai is a notable mentor figure and fan favorite.
The rest of the Storm Connections datamine was mundane content like costumes or leftover art.
As of January 16, Hagoromo Otsutsuki has been confirmed as part of DLC pack 1, raising the probability of the other rumored characters appearing in Storm Connections.
What’s new in Naruto Storm Connections?
For any new players enticed by the prospective DLC, Storm Connections featured several changes to update the long-running series.
In gameplay:
- Ninja items on the D-pad have infinite usage
- Idle chakra regeneration rate is faster
- Hitstun times are more uniform across the roster
- Additionally, hitting a enemy in crumple state, ground slide, or (with a ninja tool) downed state causes them to enter a re-stand state
- The counter from Storm Revolution inflicts a crumple instead of a ground slide
- Damage scaling is present
- Mid-ranged tilt moves are gone
- Chakra tool throws are gone
- Finally, online lobby invites are no longer possible
- Furthermore, the online tournament mode is gone
On top of that, there is a large number of additional customization items. With these, players can change their character’s opinion.
There are also several new Combination Ultimate Jutsu for characters to pull off. The new combos are:
- Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga, and Boruto Uzumaki
- Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Sarada Uchiha
- Naruto and Kawaki
- Kawaki and Boruto Uzumaki
- Finally, there is a combo between Jigen, Koji Kashin, Delt, and Boro
Additionally, there is a large roster of characters. Further, most of them have multiple alternate forms/costumes.
That said, many fans were unhappy with the starting roster which had several glaring exclusions. In particular, the rumored list of DLC characters leaves a sour taste in a lot of fans’ mouths, who believed that they should have been in the game to begin with.
The practice of many anime fighters to release multiple titles but restrict the huge rosters can feel very artificial. Fans may feel that the publisher strategy is exploitative with how often characters are locked behind DLC.
