Naruto: Clash of Ninja

"Dattebayo"

“Clash of Ninja” is a fighting game that is an adaptation of the first 22 episodes of the highly popular “Naruto” anime. Of course, the game itself is not a great way to get into the series; most of story mode is butchered, lacking key info and also not explaining exactly what happens between fights. The game itself also ends at a very lackluster spot in the show, right before Naruto and company enter a test where many more characters would have been available to add in this game.

"Clash of Ninja" has a great fighting system, better than most other anime fighting games to date, but it falls short in many ways. Using 3D stages and characters while being 2D at the same time, making the game feel like a mix between DBZ Budokai and Rival Schools, "Clash of Ninja" implements many new features. Using the Gamecube's A and B button as the primary attacking buttons, players can pull off ridiculous juggles and combos straight from the start.

Moves are simple to pull off since all the player needs to do is press either A or B while tapping the directional stick in one direction. Since the moves are so simple to pull off, most players can understand the controls in less than on fight later. The only problem with the controls is that turning around can be cumbersome since the player will have to do it manually.

Besides attacks, a Bar at the bottom of the screen can be used to pull of the characters special moves and can be used as a quick counter, which allows the player to instantly recover from being hit, teleport behind the enemy, and strike them instantly.

Most moves are actually from the show also, Naruto has his "Uzumaki Rendan", Sasuke with his "Lion's Combo", and in fact most characters keep their attacks from the shows. Some, like Iruka and Sakura have moves specially made for them in this game. The most interesting attack the game has to offer has to be Kakashi's Kancho counter. How this attack got in without being edited is beyond me.

Sadly, the fighting system becomes stale since it feels more like a button smasher than an actual fighting game. After a while, it loses it magic since most battles are incredibly easy even on the highest difficulty. Smashing opponents into the ground begins to feel old and since the game forces the player to play the game around 19 times to unlock everything, there really is nothing left to do but wait until the second "Clash of Ninja" comes out.

What really was the most bothersome thing about “Clash of Ninja” was that it only consisted on 10 characters, and that's counting two clone characters that play extremely similar to the originals (especially Sharingan Kakashi). While because of the lack of characters one could argue that “Clash of Ninja” is somewhat balanced, there was one character they could have added: Mizuki. For some reason, even though “Clash of Ninja” is based off the show and the anime, it completely left out the first opponent Naruto ever faced. Luckily, he was added in the later games but he really could have been here, especially considering the lack of characters.

“Why am I spending 40 bucks on a four year old Naruto game when there have already been three sequels?”

This should strike anyone contemplating on picking up “Naruto: Clash of Ninja.” With only ten characters and almost no real special features, “Clash of Ninja” ideally should have been at most 20 dollars cheaper.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/06/06