Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3, known in Japan as, is the third instalment of the fighting game series Naruto: Ultimate Ninja released for the Playstation 2.

Gameplay
The game has roughly 42 characters. It features a new story mode, more manoeuvrability for characters, and a much larger variety of music.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 also offers a different sort of story mode from its predecessor, Ultimate Ninja 2. This is called the Hero's History. It replays every major fight from the beginning of the series (Naruto vs. Kakashi-the training), to the end of Part I (Naruto vs. Sasuke-the final battle). Although it skips a lot of dialogue and transition scenes (scenes such as the Chūnin Exams preliminaries and most of the cut-scenes that one grew accustomed to in UN 2) are completely gone. It's a good way to get 'quick action' in the game for those who get bored easily of the endless tirade of cut-scenes in UN 2, and it is a good way to get a lot of unlockable characters.

Another interesting feature is called the Ultimate Path (Ultimate Contest in English version). This is an RPG style part of the game, which allows you to go on missions and unlock several characters, as well as learn different techniques. Before the player can do this, however, the player has to enter into a tournament in which the player is required to defeat many characters in order to get their crystals. After this is done, the player can roam freely and level up different characters that have been unlocked.

In terms of gameplay changes, the hit effects of attacks are much more exaggerated (such as knockback effects launching further or having a more vertically-acute angle), and some attacks gain altered inputs along with various moveset altercations for a number of characters. The game also now has a hit counter that displays hits in a combo (as long as it's not dropped) akin to all other traditional fighting games.

Playable Characters
Parenthesis indicate character's Awakening Mode or Summoning Mode.

Trivia

 * There was an OVA of this game's crystal competition mode used to help promote the game.
 * In a fight, if the player plays as Anko with Orochimaru as the opponent, she will go into Stage 1 of Cursed Seal of Heaven if her Ultimate Jutsu, Twin Snakes Mutual Death Technique, is successful.
 * Have a saved game from Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 on the memory card to when starting a new game, a confirmation message will appear on the blank screen just before the loading screen and main menu appears, stating that the player have earned 607 Ninja Info Cards and 50,000 ryō.
 * Minato (labelled the Yellow Flash in the game) is the only playable character that does not have a voice in this game.
 * Due to its prequel being criticised for the CPU being too difficult to fight and how some of controls and timing were impossible, many things in the combat was "dumbed down" to make it easier. For example, when a player gets sent back and the opponent attempts to do a knock back, instead of timing an input at the exact moment when they're hit to substitute, players mash a certain button in order to do so.
 * Unlike its two prequels, this game does away with ultimate jutsus that have multiple scenes and transitions. The player can do only one ultimate jutsu per match, but can customise which one they want. Also, unlike the previous games, the player can choose whether the ultimate jutsu is done by a command, mash, or spin input.
 * Certain characters, such as Jiraiya or Sakura, have unique Ultimate Jutsus where they turn into "Giant Battles". If they are successful at hitting it, they turn into gigantic creatures, such as Gamabunta or Inner Sakura, that are slow, but are very powerful and deal massively damaging attacks. However, this will not remain for the rest of the match, as a "time bar" will appear and slowly deplete; when it is empty, the "giant battle" will cease and go back to a normal match.
 * Certain characters change into different enhanced versions of themselves when they are successful with a certain Ultimate Jutsu. The change will last for the rest of the match. The following characters who can change into different characters: Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, Choji, Gaara, and the Sound Ninja Five. If the player wishes to play as these enhanced versions from the start of the match, highlight the character and choose them while holding the Select button.
 * In the previous two games during an Ultimate Jutsu, even if the Defending Player wins the input battle, the current scene/transition will still happen and they will take moderate damage from it. However, if the Defending Player wins in this game at a Ultimate Jutsu input, the screen will freeze during the scene/transition as their character will mock the failed Ultimate Jutsu attempt, and the screen will shatter back to the battle where the two characters stand off. The Defending Player will not take any damage.
 * During one of Sasuke's Ultimate Jutsus called "Falcon Drop", he does a four punch combo that finishes with a kick that sends the opponent flipping backwards. This actually was based off of what Naruto did to Sasuke in the anime during their fight at the Valley of the End in Part I, and would also be later on slightly modified to be used in Part I Naruto's sideways combo finisher in the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm series.
 * There is a reference to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (another Shōnen Jump manga series) in this game. During Shikamaru's Shadow Imitation Jutsu, characters are forced to strike Jonathan Joestar's famous pose along with the matching sound effects in the background.
 * Despite the existence of a combo-hit counter, the animation of hitstun/flinching animates fairly fast to the point where the victim's neutral state is assumed despite the game still indicating the victim is unable to move. This is can lead to misleading instances of how combo-confirms work compared to other fighting games.