The game has 118 playable characters, with new characters being added in addition to returning ones. Series creator Masashi Kishimoto was involved in the game to design an original character: a robot version of Naruto named Mecha-Naruto who has a two-stage awakening: a four-tails transformation and a Mecha-Kurama transformation. Playing a role in the newly introduced four-player Tournament Mode, Mecha-Naruto appears in a two-part episode of the Naruto Shippuden series that aired on the day of the game's release in Japan. In addition to the new character, Kishimoto also designed new costumes for Sasori, Deidara, Hidan, Kakuzu, and Orochimaru, as well as the design for a technique used by one of the game's new characters, Shisui Uchiha.
