Naruto: Clash of Ninja

Naruto: Clash of Ninja, known in Japan as Naruto: Gekitō Ninja Taisen!, is the first instalment of the Gekitō Ninja Taisen! (Clash of Ninja) series. This was the very first 3-D cel-shaded Naruto game.

Gameplay
The player can select between different game modes such as One Player mode, Two Player Battle mode, Play Against Computer mode, Survival mode, Time Attack mode, Training mode, and Story mode. Like with most fighters, first player to deplete the opposing side's health to zero wins, or the one with the most health left after a time out.

In battle, characters while rendered in 3D polygons move back and forth via 2D plane fighters, but are also able to sidestep into the foreground and background, via left and right (placement of side of screen is not relevant to change in dodging direction). Because of this, characters can end up facing the wrong way from their opponent at times, leading to exploits in movement. Other movements include running, backdashing (usually done as a back flip), jumping and double jumping. Characters are able to perform weak attacks, strong attacks, throws, and special techniques. Weak Attacks are often quick moves that sport sets of combos, with backward weak attacks being chargeable with guard points during their animations, allowing autoguard. Strong Attacks are often projectile moves and special ninjutsu characters tend to have, and most projectiles that are ninja tools like with autoguard attacks, can be charged up. Most backward Strong Attacks tend to be a teleport, counterattack reversal or a special stance. Characters can press their weak and strong attacks in a neutral position or four directions to access different moves, with some combos branching off of certain attacks (combos available vary for each character).

Running attacks and midair attacks are also available, where most midair weak attacks are often diving attacks. Characters can also block attacks by holding back or standing still. The guard in the game is infinite and can guard anything except throws and specials, but they can take "chip damage" (small amounts of damage from blocking) if they block weapon attacks or strong attacks that normally involve ninjutsu.

The chakra gauge at the bottom of the screen fills up via attacking, taking damage or blocking attacks. Once at a certain point, players can press the dodge buttons while getting hit to use the Body Replacement Technique, to either teleport out of harm's way or counter-attack from another direction. This costs some chakra however. Recovering/teching from a knockdown of any sort by pressing either attack button upon landing not only gives a small amount of chakra, but also helps mitigate a small amount of damage taken upon falling down normally.

If the chakra gauge is full, characters can perform secret special attacks (or Ōgi in Japanese) that use up all chakra. Most of them are cinematic moves that require an initial blow to initiate, such as the Naruto Uzumaki Combo and Lion Combo.

Chakra can also be used to extend most characters' strong attacks, for example, such as Naruto's down strong attack (where he teleports out of sight then uppercuts from underground), Kakashi's down strong attack (Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique) and Sasuke's forward strong attack (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique) can all be held down to extend their duration at the cost of chakra, though they can mainly be performed regardless of chakra amount. Most backward strong attacks that act as reversals can also be held down for chakra cost as well.

The player also can unlock new features such as new characters, stages, and modes by accomplishing certain tasks in the game (i.e. to unlock both Naruto Uzumaki and Kakashi Hatake's alternate forms, the player must first play on story mode to unlock Rock Lee, then beat one player mode with all players twice). The Story mode follows the Prologue — Land of Waves (to an extent), but the only character playable is Naruto Uzumaki, making the story a little twisted of how it's supposed to be.

Stages

 * Ramen Ichiraku
 * Academy
 * Hokage Rock
 * Hidden Leaf Village Gates (Day, Night)
 * Forest of Death
 * Great Naruto Bridge (Day, Mist)
 * Gamabunta's Chamber

Trivia

 * In both Japanese and English versions, Naruto's respective voice actresses act as the announcers per round.
 * Zabuza, Lee and Nine-Tailed Naruto are the only characters who cannot throw ninja tools with their strong attacks.
 * Kakashi in his Sharingan form is the only character who can also throw ninja tools with his running strong attack, as well as having combos that branch off of this type of move like so.
 * Naruto is the only character in the series who throws the least amount of ninja tools for his neutral strong in Part I, where he only tosses a single kunai as opposed to 2 or 3 of them (save for his upward strong attack, and save for Iruka throwing a single giant shuriken); to compensate for this, his kunai/ninja tool throw possesses more knockback compared to others'.

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