Naruto Shippūden: Gekitō Ninja Taisen! EX

is the fifth instalment of the Japanese-exclusive Gekitō Ninja Taisen series. This game was also the first Gekitō Ninja Taisen game to be released for the Nintendo Wii as well as the first entry into the EX sub-series.

Gameplay
The game uses the Wii Remote in unison with the Nunchuk by waving the controller in different directions, but the GameCube controller and the Wii Classic controller can be used with the game as well. Also new to the system are plane switches, where characters after hitting their opponents with a hard flying attack force them out via a cinematic, where they rush after them to a new area of the stage. During this time, the one who sent the foe flying can either chose to do nothing and let them fall to the ground in the new area, teleport behind them to give them even fair ground in landing, attack them or teleport out of sight and behind them in the new area to open them up to combos via a ground bounce from a fall. However, the one sent flying with proper timing in response to the pursuer can counter these actions by dodging or recovering, making it a bit of a Quick-Time Event. This function becomes a mainstay for the whole Wii sub-series of the Gekitō Ninja Taisen/Clash of Ninja series.

Also new and part of the mainstay are objects on the arena where characters can move next to in order to hide behind. Doing so they can perform one of their many attacks after slipping out of cover, hop over the object to assault the foe with midair attacks, or simply dodge away from the object. Both players can hide behind the same object, and they can be damaged and broken, leaving the hiding character in a stagger if they are happening to be hiding behind one of them. Characters can also knock each other into the objects with attacks for a "wallbounce" effect seen in more traditional fighters.

The game takes place during the Naruto: Shippūden series, specifically the first ten episodes of the Kazekage Rescue Mission. The game contains re-done Shippūden versions of 12 characters from the previous games in the series and two new characters specifically from the Shippūden series.

Another notable change to this game is the heavier physics compared to the GameCube titles, and decreased meter gain. As a result, characters now fall to the ground faster when getting combo-juggled while also having a lower chakra gain when connecting their own attacks.

Sidestepping as of this game throughout the Wii sub-series, is now based on button placement as opposed to perspective; thus, left-dodging will always result in dodging to the character's "left side", and right-dodging will always result in dodging to the character's "right side" likewise. Dodging when one's back is turned will now auto-correct a character's facing direction.

Trivia

 * Iruka's Japanese voice acts as the announcer in this game, which oddly enough carries over to the localized Revolution 3 with his English voice, and to Special.
 * Said announcer voice in Japanese however, also applies to the European version of Revolution 3.
 * Due to the Wiimote + Nunchuck scheme, it is impossible for both Lee and Guy to charge up their back weak attacks like so in the Wii games onward.
 * As of this game:
 * Clashed attacks now count as whiffed-attacks, meaning that entire combo strings clashing against each other can no longer occur.
 * Weapon attacks now make a metallic clunking sound when they are blocked, different from when thrown-bladed-weapons contact a surface or when they clash with each other.
 * Stages are now bigger than their prior GameCube counterparts with some specific corrections done to match the source material.
 * The viewing of the stage itself with no obstacles and/or opponents on it will be shown after the versus jingle during the battle intro.
 * A K.O. no longer briefly pauses the game in-real time, and instead slows the game down upon one happening.
 * Upon a K.O. happening, the defeated character no longer has a hurtbox registered to their body if they are about to touch the ground in a certain period of time, meaning they cannot be continuously hit as easily before the victor does their victory animation before the match ends and/or the next round starts.
 * Pause menu movesets now list down the super/special/ōgi-cancelable attacks for each character.