Naruto: Gekitō Ninja Taisen! 4

'''Naruto: Gekitō Ninja Taisen! 4' is the fourth instalment of the Gekitō Ninja Taisen'' series.

Gameplay
It covers the events from the Search for Tsunade arc to the Sasuke Recovery Mission. The game fleshes out the tag team mode from the last game, referred to as 3-man cell, which allows groups of characters to fight each other in turn. Most of it remains the same, only ''Gekitō Ninja Taisen! 4'' enables certain combinations of team members having special attack combinations (done with forward+special). The 3-man cell mode also enables either 1 on 1, 2 on 2, 3 on 3, 3 on 1, 3 on 2 and 2 on 1, all in one tag mode. The Crisis Special system is also less apparent, as characters' health bars no longer glow or show any indication of some sort when Crisis mode is in play.

The Crisis Specials themselves are also remapped, and this is the first Gekitō Ninja Taisen/Clash of Ninja game to feature backward specials (back+special button) (Naruto Shippūden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 reuses this concept).

In the prequels of the series, the guard was infinite and couldn't be broken. Now in this game, there is a little bar with five dots near the health bar that represents the strength of the character's guard. As attacks are blocked, the dots will disappear and the guard colour will change from blue to yellow to red. If a player keeps blocking when their guard is red and all five dots are gone, the guard can shatter, leaving the player vulnerable and losing all of their chakra. The guard will immediately reset to full strength if it's broken; furthermore, if a character is not guarding, their guard meter will regain dots and strength over time. Each character secretly has their own varying value of guard meter units.

Another new feature to the gameplay of this game is the use of the Chakra Cancel; a type of anywhere-meter-costing cancel that instantly returns the attacker to neutral state upon any attack. This normally costs 25% chakra and is done with the throw button in the middle of a connecting attack; however, any attack that inflicts a sweep knockdown effect, is coded with an airborne state, or as a projectile attack cannot be cancelled like so.

Most noticeably, the game does away with the shop feature, and unlockables are now acquired by simply meeting certain criteria in the game's new Mission mode. Mission mode forces the player to fight increasingly stronger opponents under specific circumstances and with different methods of winning in order to complete each mission. It is the last Naruto game for the Gamecube.

Stages

 * Gamabunta Bath
 * Academy - Schoolyard
 * Hokage's Monument
 * Ichiraku Ramen
 * Hidden Leaf Village Gate
 * Forest of Death
 * Great Naruto Bridge
 * Chunin Exams - Qualifiers
 * Chunin Exams - Finals
 * Chunin Exams - Finals (Rooftop)
 * Rooftop Castle
 * Hot Springs
 * Tanzaku Castle
 * 3-Way Deadlock
 * Hidden Sand Village
 * Nine-Tail Fox Gates
 * Hidden Leaf Hospital Rooftops
 * Hidden Leaf Village Temple
 * Hidden Leaf Police Department
 * Abandoned Uchiha District
 * Orochimaru's Lair
 * Snow Valley
 * Sand Shambled Plains
 * The Final Valley

Trivia

 * A Pakkun-shaped controller case was given away as the bonus to those who pre-ordered the game.
 * Similar to Naruto: Gekitō Ninja Taisen! 3, it would receive a Wii reprisal in America as part of the Revolution sub series, known as Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2. Like with Gekitō Ninja Taisen! 3 to Revolution, the roster is somewhat watered down, but more touches and changes have been added compared to the first Revolution game. 7 new characters have also been added in the place of the Third Hokage and the Sound Five as well, though it does way with the three member squad function and uses two-squad functions instead.
 * Both games involve Genma Shiranui acting as the referee's voice (with their respective Japanese and English voices).
 * Despite the fact it's there in the previous instalments and it's also shown on his character selection screen portrait, Iruka's model in the game does not have the scar across his nose.
 * Out of all the characters, Kabuto is the only one without a handicap equipped that can regenerate some of the damage he's taken, however it is not as fast as his regeneration in Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2.
 * Kabuto also has his own version of the Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique, where instead of pulling his target all the way into the ground like with Kakashi's version he instead sticks both hands (infused with the Chakra Scalpel) to disable his foe's legs and crumple them (this very method is used again for his team special with Orochimaru in Clash of Nina Revolution 2).
 * Kabuto also in this game, had many programming oddities, mainly on his down weak and several other moves which had various functions in their code. These were likely fixed as he appeared in later installments.
 * Naruto's first Jinchūriki form and his One-Tailed (AKA Ultimate Nine-Tailed) Form differ in that not only the latter form makes use of the Tailed Beast Chakra Arms (especially for some combo finishers and for his forward strong), but most of the first form's strong attacks are remapped to some of the One-Tailed Form's weak attacks. One-Tailed Naruto also possess a different upward and midair strong attack as well; the former being a type of throw akin to Sasuke's Peregrine Falcon Drop (his upward weak attack), and the latter being a Tailed Beast Shockwave (used later as a midair special in Revolution 3 and Special). His running strong attack is also a Body Flicker Technique attack instead.
 * To balance the fact that Crisis Specials/Jutsu are removed and with Naruto's first Jinchūriki form being accessible outside of low HP, activating it now slowly drains his health upon doing so.
 * Cursed Seal State 2 Sasuke mainly possesses his Sharingan form's moves as a base, while adding in extra touches such as slashing with his claws instead of with a kunai (for his neutral strong, and replaces his ability to throw shuriken), and also adds in some flight-based moves; he also possesses the same type of "chakra burst" akin to Naruto's Jinchūriki forms, only his is not a counter and can be charged up (this acts as his down strong). He also uses a non-special/midair strong attack version of his Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique that homes in on targets.
 * Like in Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3, he can also perform the normal version and Cursed Seal State 2 version of his Chidori; the former is performed as his running weak attack (the same type of punch used with his default versions), while the latter is used as his special; unlike his Sharingan form, his version acts as a typical initial blow-based special.
 * Cursed Seal State 2 Sasuke's down special (his alternate variation of the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique) has an odd interaction with itself; if two of the same fireballs collide, they will stay in place against each other and the game will heavily lag to the point of nearly freezing (especially if they are stacked). The way to fix this is to have either Sasuke connect with their Chidori to have one of the fireballs reach the ground first so the other can pass through smoothly.
 * Both Ultimate Nine-Tailed Naruto and Sasuke State 2 perform their forward weak attacks as the initial blows for their neutral specials; the poses used in which they generate their techniques is directly ripped from their fight in the original manga/anime.
 * Oddly enough, all Second State Curse Mark characters make use of their claws in this game.
 * Sasuke in his normal state has three different costumes in this game: his normal version with the forehead protector and arm-warmers on, normal version with no forehead protector and/or arm-warmers and his Chūnin exams outfit.
 * The game also features a number of interesting glitches:
 * Cursed Seal State 2 Sasuke has a distortion glitch with his Chidori done by moving the c-stick (to reset everything to neutral position in training mode) upon the actual Chidori connecting. The result would either be the screen turning completely blank or the screen producing negative colour effects from the Chidori itself (where it will return to normal only during set intervals). The latter effect is arguably harder to achieve and is possibly easier upon the Chidori being a killing blow; to recover from both glitches, a neutral special of any sort must connect and the screen will return to normal.
 * Tsunade, Neji and Awakened Hinata possess invincibility glitches where upon performing specific actions with them (Tsunade must connect her forward strong on a falling target without triggering the cinematic, Neji and Awakened Hinata must use their back strong Revolving Heaven on certain attacks or must connect with their neutral special through a single hit on an airborne target only), then they must not move afterward. From there, Tsunade, Neji and/or Awakened Hinata will have their hitboxes (or to be more specific, "hurtboxes") disappear until they move again.
 * In 3-man squad/cell mode, when Chōji connects with his neutral strong attack on Karasu (only when controlled by Kankurō) as soon as one of Kankurō's team members tag in, Karasu will be flung by Chōji's throw as usual, but will remain on the field as it will move in accordance to the tagged-in character (the only thing it can imitate are throws and normal movements). However, Karasu can only follow the character until a set-distance around where Kankurō was tagged out. Mistiming Chōji's neutral strong on Karasu will cause him to grab-and-throw nothing and the glitch to fail.
 * If Ultimate-Nine-Tailed Naruto connects with his upward strong attack on Kisame just as he unleashes his Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Technique, the special water ripple effects will remain on the field without the actual water shark coming out. This can be stacked multiple times on the screen.
 * A similar Ultimate-Nine-Tailed Naruto glitch can also occur with Tsunade; when Tsunade's midair strong attack nearly reaches Ultimate-Nine-Tailed Naruto just when he unleashes his Nine-Tails Surge, the wave will stay on screen after being sent out and will not move anywhere when Tsunade connects with it. Like the above Kisame glitch, this glitch-interaction can be stacked up on the screen.
 * If Kakashi lands Lightning Cutter Combo as a finishing blow on someone on the Enclosed Upheaval stage in a 3-man squad/cell battle, then the next character to be tagged-in will not appear, and will be considered "invisible" by the game's processing.
 * In this game via possible coding errors, Ultimate Nine-Tailed Naruto, Jirōbō, and Kimimaro had complete invincibility frames throughout the animations of their grounded Body Replacement Technique attacks.

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