- - ---------------- - - - - -------====================------- - - - - -----====================================----- - - - - ----===== NARUTO Clash of Ninja: Revolution ====---- - - - - -----====================================----- - - - - -------====================------- - - - - ---------------- - - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Naruto Character FAQ(Guide) Version 1.1 Written in 75-Line Monospace Format Written by Pyzik: [email protected] Best viewed in a Monospace Font: Courier or Lucida Console ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [01] Version History [02] What this FAQ is? [03] What this FAQ isn't? [04] Fighting Overview [05] Naruto Uzumaki [06] Sasuke Uchiha [07] Sakura Haruno [08] Kakashi Hatake [09] Neji Hyuga [10] Hinata Hyuga [11] Rock Lee [12] Might Guy [13] Tenten [14] Ino Yamanaka [15] Shikamaru Nara [16] Shino Aburame [17] Gaara [18] Kankuro [19] Temari [20] Jiraiya [21] Tsunade [22] Orochimaru [23] Kisame Hoshigaki [24] Itachi Uchiha [25] Copyrights NOTE: As in many FAQs before this, I use the tried and true Control+F layout which lets you jump to what you need. Say you're a typical Sasuke Fangirl and just want to see his stuff, you'd copy the code next to his name in the table of contents, and I'm using the term code lightly... Anyways, open up the Control+F window and then paste the code, which for this example is [06] into it, then you simply jump to the section :) Control+C -> Control+F -> Control+V ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [01] Version History ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Version 1.0 01 / 31 / 2008 This is version1.0, therefore, I'll assume it's completely flawless and not change it at all unless YOU put forth the effort to tell me I'm wrong and what I need to fix, so please do. I know it must have some problems or some things I've overlooked, and with cooperation we can make it great. Just make sure you leave a name if you submit a strategy or fix, so that I can credit you. Version 1.1 02 / 02 / 2008 Fixed some small errors, the big fix is that Itachi's Tsukuyomi drains all of his foe's Chakra when it hits, thanks to my sis for pointing that out, I don't know how I overlooked that. Uzumaki Barrage damage fixed, Hidden Lotus damage fixed (it did more than I thought, usually one shots a foe) Also added another site for this guide's posting, detailed another of Tsunade's Abilities and expanded Kisame's section. Version 1.2 ... ... ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [02] What this FAQ is? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is more of a character guide than a FAQ, I just call it one because I'm posting it on GameFAQs. It's purpose is simple: to provide you, the faithful reader, with general knowledge of all the characters in the game, and knowledge of their special moves and signature jutsu, as well as their unique traits and strengths, and some good strategies to use. This guide doesn't actually make you a better player, since this game isn't extremely complex (compared to Soul Calibur 3 as an example) and button mashing can get you through single player just fine. But, if you're like me and have human friends OMG rite?) who come over and play games with ya, then this guide will help you screw them out of victories and make them curse your name and possibly even slug you. Well, that's my intent anyway... I have been told that I'm pretty good at fighting games, and they probably are my favorite genre of game, and I was shocked that noone made a character guide for this game yet, especially because the Wii is sooo lacking in good fighters. I hope you will find this useful. The strategies and opinions expressed in this guide are entirely mine unless otherwise stated. If you contribute something to the guide then of course I'll give you credit. I want people to use my ideas when they play the game, but I don't want people posting my ideas as their own on forums and whatnot, because that is stealing. At the same time these characters are NOT mine, and I do not claim that to be the case. I do not own anything related to Naruto, Nintendo, or Tomy except for my own personal Wii and my copy of the game. I wrote this guide for GameFAQs, but I have a list of approved sites for its posting in the Copyrights section. If you want to post any or all of this guide anywhere else, you must first ask my permission through email. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [03] What this FAQ isn't? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This isn't a perfect tie in with the anime/manga, I don't use the names as properly as some fanboys would want me to, I use them as they appear in the game's instruction booklet. I will not review the game, and I definitely will not provide a walkthrough, because this is not a walkthrough, and seriously, who needs a friggin walkthrough in a fighting game. If you just want to know how to unlock all of the characters, that's actually rather easy, I did it in about 4 hours. You must beat the game (single player) with all the characters (except for a few, but do it with em all just to learn em all) and beat all 23 of the game's missions. Anyways, if you really need help with the missions, it's pretty easy to find what you need through google, that's what I did. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [04] Fighting Overview ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *I use the Gamecube Controller style when I play, and reference the controls as such. If you prefer to use the Wiimote / Nunchuk, or the Classic Controller, then convert the controls as necessary. I do this because the Wiimote controls often aren't as responsive as I'd wish them to be. I have nothing against using the Wiimote in other games.* ================== = Basic Controls = ================== Movement/Jumping: Analog Stick or D-pad Dash: Double Tap towards or away from the foe Double Jump: Jump again when in the air Weak Attack: B Button Strong Attack: A Button Special Attack (Jutsu): X Button Throw (nearly useless): Y Button SideStep: L Button or R Button Change Target (3-4 Player): Z Button Deflect Projectiles: C Stick ====================== = Advanced Maneuvers = ====================== Blocking: Nothing, or hold direction away from opponent In the classic control scheme of Street Fighter II, blocking is as simple as moving away from the opponent. This works fine in 1v1s, but can occaisonally mess up in 2v2s where you're switching targets and the camera is rotating, often you'll be blocking and then accidentally be walking towards the foe. For this reason I tend to prefer the "don't do anything" control method for blocking. Also, ala Super Smash Bros, your guard can eventually be worn down and broken, so don't sit and block all day, especially because when your guard breaks it BLOWS YOUR CHAKRA, making you feel rather stupid for getting into that situation. As your guard weakens, the little blocking animation turns from Blue to Yellow to Red, and then breaks. Deflecting: C-stick at projectiles (takes proper timing) Against people like Naruto and projectile-less fighters like Tsunade, this is worthless. But against Sakura and Tenten, the main projectile spammers in the game, this is extremely important as both a means of dealing damage back to them, and also to break their combos. Additionally, when successfully deflected, projectiles won't be eating at your guard, thus making at least attempting this maneuver much better than simply standing and guarding the projectiles. Even if you fail, you should be standing still and will guard automatically. The projectiles that cannot be deflected are: Shino's Bugs, Gaara's Sand, and Temari's Fan Blasts. Charging: Hold A Button (Strong Attack) All the characters who use projectile attacks as their standard Strong Attack, can charge them for added damage and possibly more hits. Characters who don't specialize in projectiles usually have 1 Charge Level, but a few have 2 Charge Levels, and Tenten actually has 3 Charge Levels, and her max Charge is actually the first hit of a really ridiculous projectile combo. Sakura's Shurikens become a homing scattershot when fully charged. Tsunade can charge many of her physical A attacks, and Kisame can charge one of his sword attacks. Standard Jutsu: X Button Every character has a signature move, and all of them are unblockable. This means that they need to be dodged, or interupted with a fast attack, either option is fine. These Jutsu, when standing on the ground, will almost always require an initial strike to hit first, and will drain ALL your Chakra, whether they succeed or not. I highly reccomend learning how to chain these in after a few initial combo hits, which makes them much easier to land and will add in some extra damage. Secondary Jutsu: Special + X Button Every character has at least one alternative or variation on their Jutsu. Some characters lose their first Jutsu and gain a more powerful version when in Crisis. These Crisis Jutsu still take ALL of your Chakra. Many other characters have secondary Jutsu that are used while jumping and pressing X, or with Down + X. These typically do not take all your Chakra, though they still take 75% of it. Another type of Secondary Jutsu is the Transformation, such as activating the Sharingan or opening the Inner Gates, these also do not take that much Chakra and are activated with Down + X. There are a few moves in the game that are technically a Jutsu and will require some Chakra or drain Chakra while the A Button is held, but these do not require use of the X Button and I list them in a different section for each character. Most of the Secondary Jutsu that take 75% Chakra instead of all your Chakra, are blockable and not as powerful as your Standard Jutsu. This is a general rule and not always true, read under each character to know specifically how their Jutsu work. Substitution Jutsu: L Button or R Button (Sidestep) during attacks If you are being attacked and hit L or R, you use a Substitution Jutsu. A Substitution quickly lets you escape an enemy's combo and counter attack, usually from behind though not always, just depends on when you do it and what character you're using. This move takes a big chunk of Chakra, but you'll quickly find that if you dodge out of a combo where your foe had the intent to chain in a Jutsu, and he blatantly missed because of it, that it's Chakra well spent. For some characters who have good combos and can usually do as much damage with combos as they can with their Jutsu, saving Chakra for frequent Substitutions is a wise strategy. Counter Stance: Away + A Button (Strong Attack) Holding away from the foe (as you would during blocking) and then hitting Strong Attack, will make most characters enter a Counter Stance, in which case they do something neat if they are hit during it. The best example is Neji, who uses Rotation to block any type of attack and repel the attacker. Kakashi reveals his book and will teleport behind you and use "A Thousand Years of Death!" should you attack him in his Counter Stance. It's a good idea to learn what each character does in their respective Counter Stance, because many of them are really match breaking. Most of them leave the foe wide open for counter attacks, or automatically counter attack. Rolling Landing: A Button or B Button (as you land from a fall) Any time (and I mean any time) that you are hit and would fall hard onto the ground, you can hit either Attack Button and roll to negate the knockdown and get away. This is easiest to do from a high fall like after a throw, but can be done all the time including during a combo, as long as you get hit onto the ground during it. You can aim the roll with directional input, and if you roll towards an enemy during their combo, you can often end up behind them to land a sneak attack. Someone very succeptible to this, oddly enough, is Naruto. Many of his combos hit foes into the ground and then he jumps down at them. This is when you would roll, before he jumps down for the last hit. This is a move that should be practiced and used whenever possible, especially during enemy combos. Hide: Dash towards an object, or Sidestep towards it When you hide behind an object, you're safe from direct attacks, even projectiles, untill the object breaks or you move or your opponent is smart enough to get close and hit you around it. Every character has two attacks from hiding, one with Weak Attack and one with Strong Attack, and most characters have pretty powerful attacks from hiding. You can also choose to leap right out from hiding instead of attacking out of it. Hiding is something I like to do right at the begining of a round, but is also not a good idea vs Sakura, Temari, or Tenten. Those three are extremely good with rapid projectile spams, and can easily destroy your cover in an instant. One thing interesting to note about hiding objects is that they can be used in combos. Hitting someone into an object constitutes an extra hit in your combo. Attack Throw: Special A few characters possess these kind of moves, they result in a throw- like motion for the foe, but only if they hit, which makes them very different from normal attacks. Unlike real throws, attack throws start with an attack (duh) and can therefore be guarded against. In a normal combo, even if all the hits are blocked, you can still go through them all. In an attack throw, if the initial hit is blocked, the rest doesn't happen. A prime example of this is Sasuke's Up + B. If hit by this, you will be grabbed and launched up into the air, before being slammed headfirst into the ground. If guarded against, Sasuke simply jumps up pointlessly. Tsunade's jumping + A attack is similar: if it hits then Tsunade grabs your head between her legs and backflips, probably breaking your neck and shattering your skull all in one motion. If guarded against she simply hits the ground, no backflip. If you plan to use a character frequently, take the time to learn if they have an attack throw and make good use of it. Airborne Throw: Y (While in Air) Some characters are capable of using throws in the air, Naruto and Kakashi for example. I don't have a list of them all and honestly, airborne throws are typically a worse alternative during a combo then simply continuing with the combo attacks. However, if your foe is relentlessly blocking your combos, then an airborne throw can really catch them off guard. I tend to think of most throws as pointless, very few characters have good options directly after a throw for damage even close to what you'd get from your stronger combos. If someone out there feels I should list all the characters who can airborne throw, or wants to submit the list to me and have his/her name on this guide, then by all means, do so. Crisis: Less than 40% Health Remaining This is a requirement for many of the strongest Jutsu in the game, and has a neat side effect of causing your Chakra to regenerate much faster than normal. Chakra regeneration is inversely proportional to Health remaining. I felt I should define this term so people knew what I was talking about when I say Crisis next to a character's Jutsu. For a reason I will never understand, the female characters are the ones who typically have Crisis Jutsu... the only male characters who have them are Naruto and Guy. ================== = The Characters = ================== Here's the bulk of this guide, the information on each character. I play the game with the damage set to 3 usually, because I prefer a bunch of quick rounds where a Special Jutsu can easily kill a foe without giving them the chance to use their overpowered Crisis Jutsu. If I say an attack will do about 50% Health, and for you it only does 30%, don't email me to tell me I'm wrong. It's that you don't have your damage set the same as mine. You can change this in Settings, and I'm pretty sure it defaults to 2. Don't forget to use Control+F to find what character you want, it's faster and easier that way. *If I left out anything about a character that you feel is worth noting, email me about it and I'll probably add it. You'll even get credit and your choice of bonus prizes... and of course by bonus prizes, I mean nothing other than the satisfaction of helping a lazy FAQ writer, and your name in the section where it applies* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [05] Naruto Uzumaki ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== As the main character and the game's namesake, the developers thought that Naruto should be one of the strongest characters in the game. Initially, he may not seem that great, partly due to the fact that his projectiles SUCK horribly, and partly because his best combo attacks all end the same way, with a jumping attack and then an attack from the air, which leaves you quite vulnerable if the opponent decided to substitute earlier in the combo. However, his attacks actually chain very well together, indeed it's rather easy to do so with a bit of practice, and splice in some Special Jutsus for good measure. Naruto can also use a super hilarious "pop goes the weasel" Shadow Clone Attack, and can summon a Shadow Clone to fight with him, though this slowly drains Chakra while active. Naruto's true power lies in his Crisis abilities, which makes him much better if played in matches with the attack set to a low value (meaning both people deal less damage to eachother and fights last longer). Naruto has a powered up Jutsu when in Crisis, which is rare though a few other characters have special Crisis Jutsu as well (most of them female for some reason...?). Additionally, he has a very strong transformation when in Crisis, which gives him entirely new attacks complete with the demon fox claws and constantly regenerating Chakra. The Nine Tailed Fox Naruto is very strong, but the reason Naruto shines is that he has the choice to retain his normal moves and use the insanely powerful Rasengan, or to switch into his alternate form, that choice is what sets Naruto apart from most of the other characters, who usually only have one of those two options. True to his fighting style in the anime, Naruto seems to be at his best when he's in a pinch, losing the fight, don't count him out, EVER. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Uzumaki Barrage: X This is a standard Special Jutsu in every aspect, and will be my basis for comparison on other characters. If you ever watched Naruto vs Kiba then you'll be familiar with this attack, Naruto summons a group of clones to aid him in the attack. First one straight kicks the foe into position, next the others move in and surround the foe with a series of upward kicks, and finally Naruto jumps in to bring his foot down HARD on the foe's head after he's been kicked into the air. Deals decent damage, less than the majority of other Jutsu in the game, but Naruto more than makes up for this with his Crisis Jutsu. Requires an initial strike to hit. Rasengan: Crisis X Who watches Naruto and doesn't love this move? If you've been fighting with someone clearly better than you, and he's weakened you into crisis while keeping about 60% or 70% of his health left, then this Jutsu is a "WTF!" instant turnaround victory move, especially if you chain it after a short combo, for added damage and a much greater chance of successfully landing it. The cel shaded graphics do a damn good job of making a very pretty Rasengan, and this is one of the more fun Jutsu to use the Wiimote controls with, whee spin whee. The spirally Rasengan does a lot of damage when it first hits the foe, a bit more when it sends them skidding backwards, and a final hit when it explodes at the end. Does about 100% more damage than Uzumaki Barrage, which is crazy but mostly because Uzumaki Barrage is a little subpar in it's damage. If it was as strong as most other Standard Jutsu, then Rasengan would only be doing about 70% or 80% more. Needless to say, this replaces Uzumaki Barrage. Requires an initial strike to hit. Nine Tailed Fox: Crisis Down + X (Transformation) This transformation will instantly heal Naruto by a modest amount and give him the Red Chakra that we all know and love, which gives him a steadily regenerating Chakra bar, and allows him to use his new Jutsu much more often. The transformation also changes his attacks, specifically changing Strong Attacks from Kunai into Claws, which means no more projectiles, and a lot more damage with combo attacks. His transformation moves are in his attack list thankfully. As an added bonus, the activation of this transformation doubles as a close ranged knockback attack, not much damage, but cool looking. Setting a standard for all Transformation Jutsu, this doesn't take much Chakra, maybe 25%. You cannot change back for the duration of the fight. Nine Tailed Berserk: X (In Nine Tailed Fox) This is a really violent looking Jutsu, if you can even call it one, since it's just a relentless series of slashes followed by an unnecessary explosion of Red Chakra. Naruto likes to yell "I'll DESTROY You!" when he does this. Personally, as cool as this is, I think I like Rasengan more, which is probably because Rasengan does more damage. The power of Nine Tailed Fox Naruto comes alive when you master sneaking this Jutsu in after claw slashin combos. Requires an initial strike to hit, and note that this is not a typical attack Jutsu, and is more like a combo, this means that it typically DOESN'T WORK if used on an airborne foe, even when other Jutsu would. Use this only on standing foes for best results. Deals more damage than an Uzumaki Barrage but less than a Rasengan. Requires an initial strike to hit. ============= = Abilities = ============= Shadow Clone Jutsu: Away + A Naruto doesn't have a Counter Stance in his normal form, he just has this ability, which summons an AI controlled clone at the cost of slowly draining Chakra. The clone dies in one hit, making this not very useful, but occaisonally confusing oppoents in 4 player brawls and causing them to waste a Jutsu on a clone, which will make everyone laugh till they pee themselves. Pop goes the Weasel: Down + A Naruto slams his hand onto the ground, and after a small delay, a clone pops up from under the ground a la Naruto vs Neiji, deals decent damage and is very suprising from far away in 4 player battles. Not as useful in a 1v1, though the delay is long enough that you can often start this attack, get hit during it, and the clone still pops up and strikes the foe as he's already hitting you. Does not require Chakra, which is really bizzare. Super Speed: Dashing A (In Nine Tailed Fox) When Dashing towards an opponent if you hit A you will teleport right behind your enemy. This is a nice way to start a combo and is not expected from most people, one of the nice things about the enhancement provided by the Demon Fox's Chakra. Make sure you have room to run before trying this, or else you'll mess up. Chakra Counter: Away + A (In Nine Tailed Fox) This is functionally Neji's Rotation, crude though it may be. Naruto shields his face with his claws, if he is attacked he flings both arms outward and explodes in Red Chakra. He also does this maneuver at the end of Nine Tailed Berserk. This is a pretty good Counter Stance due to the fact that it has high knockback, which gives you room to dash and abuse Super Speed. Bane of 1000 Weasels: Down + A (In Nine Tailed Fox) This time around Naruto teleports underground and delivers the attack himself, thus eliminating the chance of him getting attacked while he summons the clone like in a normal Pop goes the Weasel. It's hard to not like this attack, it just reminds you of that fight with Neji so much. The main drawback to this attack is that it's extremely easy for the foe to counter attack you if he blocked. ============== = Strategies = ============== Naruto's combos in Nine Tailed Fox form are very damaging, but you will probably spend more time in normal form and thus learning those combos is more important. Forward + B -> B is a good two hit combo that bounces the enemy up, at which point you can go into another combo on them, usually the standard B -> A -> A -> B Spam combo, or a B -> B -> Uzumaki Barrage combo, which is pretty unavoidable if they didn't roll out of the combo earlier. If you see a naruto starting this kind of combo, then try and Substitute out of it to evade his Jutsu and make him blow all his Chakra. When Naruto gets pissed and enters his Nine Tailed Fox form, then his combos are a bit different, and rely more heavily on the A Button. In Nine Tailed Fox form Naruto's best combo is probably Up + A -> A. this leaves an opening to start another combo after it, meaning it's time for B -> B -> B -> B -> A. In a close fight where you both get low on Health, transforming into Nine Tailed Fox form, then teleporting behind your opponent and using that combo will more than likely end the battle in your favor. This is a fast game and planning these types of combos ahead of time is how you win. Also remember that Nine Tailed Fox Naruto has some very nice Chakra regeneration, and you should use Nine Tailed Berserk (preferably after one or two normal attacks) all the time. Final Note, if your opponent has 60% or less Health and has weakened you into Crisis, it's often easier to end the fight with a Rasengan than it is to try your luck with Nine Tailed Fox Naruto, unless you really like playing as that version of Naruto. ============== = Conclusion = ============== Naruto is a good character, his ability to come back from Crisis with a devastating Rasengan or let rip with his claws in Nine Tailed Fox form are both extremely effective. Even if his combos are a little repetitive, they still do good damage and he's one of the easiest characters to chain in Jutsu during combo attacks. His main flaw is his awful projectiles and the fact that his best abilities are limited to Crisis times. As a main character should be, Naruto is good enough to be competitive with the more uber characters, such as Sasuke, Kakashi, Temari, Orochimaru and Itachi. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [06] Sasuke Uchiha ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== I'd be lying if I said Sasuke wasn't one of the best characters in the game, he's just really good. Sasuke's Fireball Jutsu has a bigger radius than Orochimaru's and Jiraiya's Fire Jutsu, meaning it can hit enemies on the ground! So if you end a combo with Fireball Jutsu, hold A to keep the fire going and crush the foe into the dirt with a flaming combo from hell. Sasuke is good in his normal state, Lion's Barrage is on par with Uzumaki Barrage, and he has a nice variety of cool combo attacks. His proficiency with projectiles is decent, far above Naruto's single kunai attacks. Sasuke also has quite a few nice airborne combos, he seems very fond of jumping all the time. His Counter Stance is actually a teleport attack that poofs right above your foe's head. He has an Attack Throw with his Up + B that flies up into the air before smashing back down. Sasuke gains new abilities and combo attacks when he engages his Sharingan, and is generally better in that state and should be played as such. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Lion's Barrage: X This is the technique that Naruto based his Uzumaki Barrage on, which is why they look very similar and do the same amount of damage. Lion's Barrage is pretty sweet looking, Sasuke kicks the enemy into the air and follows up with a series of flipping motions kicking the enemy a few times and then stomping them into the ground. It's a quick and elegant attack. Like most Jutsu, the best time to use this is after some initial combo hits, for added damage as well as making it much easier to successfully land. Requires an initial strike to hit. Sharingan: Down + X (Transformation) Use this to enter Sharingan state, and hit it again to revert to normal state (why you would revert I'll never know?) The transformation takes about 25% of your Chakra, reverting takes none. Sasuke then has lightning covering him in this state, so it's easy to tell which state you're in. Chidori: X (In Sharingan) They made Sasuke's most powerful technique suck, and we'll never know why... Chidori is unblockable, like most basic X Jutsu, and it causes you to run forward when you do it, both of those are good qualities. That's it for the good qualities... It does less damage than any other X Jutsu, and I mean any of them, yep, Lion's Barrage does more damage than Chidori. Compared to some of the amazing Jutsu of other characters like Sakura and Neji, this teeny weeny damage Jutsu is trash. Don't assume that because this is the uncharged version it doesn't take all your Chakra... it still takes it all. Requires the dash strike to hit. Max Chidori: Hold X (In Sharingan) If you charge up Chidori, then it will rocket you across the full length of the stage or untill you strike your foe, at which point you pierce right through them and take a much bigger chunk of their Health, then finish standing on their other side. This Jutsu is much better than an unchanrged Chidori... welll... except for the fact that you have to stand totally still and vulnerable for about 2 seconds to even get to use it. This gives your opponent plenty of time to see it coming and avoid it, and also makes it impossible to sneak into a normal attack combo like most Jutsu. In the rare occaisons where you can successfully use this, it's pretty nice, but if you play mainly against intelligent human opponents, this Jutsu will hardly ever be used. Requires the dash strike to hit. Fire Style Phoenix Flower Jutsu: Jump -> X (In Sharingan) This was always one of the cooler Fire Jutsu, though it actually doesn't look all that impressive in this game. It comes out fast and inflicts damage in a narrow cone that shoots out at a shallow angle, you'll land more hits if you're closer to the foe when you start it, and you'll blow all of it's damage if you're too high up when you start it. In total, it only does about 5 hits, but it does a LOT of damage per hit. Even if you don't pull it off perfectly, it will, in all likelyhood, still be better than a basic Chidori. This move is pretty easy to sneak into Sasuke's combos as many of them put him up in the air anways. As a secondary Jutsu, this doesn't take all your Chakra, only taking about 75% of it, and it can be blocked. ============= = Abilities = ============= Fire Style Fireball Jutsu: Forward + A This is SO much better than Jiraiya and Orochimaru's Fire Jutsu, as it has a huge radius and can hit people on the ground. It actually traps them under it if they are on the ground, making this a very efficient way to use your Chakra and inflict a lot of damage. Hold A to increase it's duration at the cost of draining Chakra. Lion's Strike: Away + A Sasuke's teleport attack. I like this attack because the kick reminds me of Lion's Barrage. This is a good move to instantly close the gap on long range fighters, and is pretty suprising whenever it's used. Sadly, the flashy smoke poof animation makes it very noticeable and easily blocked by a foe with fast reflexes. Head Crush: Up + B Sasuke's Attack Throw, this skill will grab a foe and lift him into the air, before coming back down and smashing them, upside-down, into the ground. If blocked, this attack simply causes Sasuke to jump up pointlessly. This is a neat looking attack, but it doesn't do so much damage that it's better than a nice combo. However, if you're up against someone who loves to Substitute, then this attack is of major value as you cannot Substitute out during the throw, and it will not build their Chakra as much as a flurry of combo attacks. Counter Teleport: Away + A (In Sharingan) If attacked in this state, Sasuke sneaks right behind the opponent, ready to deliver any kind of combo he deems fit. This isn't necessarily better or worse than any other Counter Stance, but fits Sasuke's personality well and looks pretty nice. Shadow Strike: Up + A (In Sharingan) This is a faster and meaner version of Lion's Strike, with many advantages. First and foremost, it uses Up + A instead, thus freeing up Away + A for a Counter Stance, which normal Sasuke doesn't have. Second, it comes out faster than Lion's Strike, and doesn't waste time with the smoke poof style teleport, instead using a classic ninja teleport. Finally, this attack goes BEHIND your opponent, making it extremely hard to block, and smart oponents will usually have to move forward to avoid this, except for friggin Gaara who can just use the Sand Shield. If you're having trouble in any Single Player mode, spam this move, as the AI has a lot of trouble avoiding it. ============== = Strategies = ============== In my personal opinion, Sharingan should be initiated as soon as possible, and left on for the duration of the fight. If you would like to fight as a Sharingan-less Sasuke, by all means do so, but I'm not coming up with a bunch of combos for his weaker state. Thankfully, a lot of Sasuke's normal attacks remain unchanged through the transition to Sharingan. Now that we've got that covered, let's learn some horribly efficient combos as Sharingan Sasuke. This one is my personal favorite, mainly because I tend not to rely on the "hit or miss" nature of charging Chidori, and prefer to use my Chakra in a more reliable attack. Start with Down + B -> B -> NOTHING. Yeah, you heard me, at that point in the combo you can hit A or B, but I say don't hit anything, and prepare a Phoenix Flower Jutsu. This is totally unexpected, and will work the first time you try it unless your foe rolled away right as he landed. After you do this 7 or 8 times, I'm sure your foe will figure it out and try to avoid getting into this situation. Please note that Phoenix Flower Jutsu will only do about 3 hits if you hit it too fast, bringing your combo total to 5. If you wait a bit and drop lower before initiating it, you can get the max of 5 hits from it, bringing your combo total to 7. This is an excellent use of Chakra and a very efficient combo. Another very potent Fire Jutsu is the Fireball Jutsu, but this is easy to see coming if simply used by itself. The best use of this Jutsu comes in what I like to call Sasuke's "AfterBurn" combo. This is simple to do, use Forward + B -> A -> B -> B -> A combo, which concludes with a Fireball. However, the foe should have ended up on the ground and be underneath the fire, so at this point you hold the last A Button and keep the fire stream going. Use this with full Chakra for best results, it does massive damage and keeps the foe in a Fireball Jutsu hitlock which maximizes its damage. Since the entire combo must hit, foes who see this coming will Substitute out of the combo earlier, so beware of that. Sasuke is a very complex character and takes more time to completely learn than most of the other characters. His Up + B is a very painful Attack Throw reminiscent of a Piledriver. This attack slams the foe's head into the ground with a satisfying crunch. Sasuke's Shadow Strike is an extremely easy way to hit a foe without them expecting it. Use his Counter Stance to escape a combo and instantly be able to set up your own. The ability to revert back to normal and change your moves and main attack Jutsu (back to Lion's Barrage) any time you want, is another nice quality about Sasuke. Naruto would never choose to revert back from Nine Tailed Fox form because he would lose his amazing Chakra regeneration and claw attacks. On the other hand, Sasuke could revert just to use an attack combo with Lion's Barrage because it's way easier to chain in than Chidori is. ============== = Conclusion = ============== Sasuke is a powerhouse with a lot of variety, but this variety means that he has plenty of good moves, and a few bad ones too *cough Chidori cough* which keep him from being uber 1337. His basic attacks all look pretty friggin cool as well. Sasuke is good, but not so good that he out-classes the Sanin or Itachi. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [07] Sakura Haruno ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== Sakura is the shuriken fighter in this game. Noone else comes close to her skill with shurikens. She can chain throw 3 times both on the ground and in the air. Also, when charged to the max, her shurikens scatter shot and home in on their target. Sakura actually doesn't have that many different combos, but she doesn't really need much more variety, since shurikens work just fine for ranged fighting. Sakura also has some of the sweeter looking Jutsu in the game, and can freely Substitute and Teleport, which helps to supliment her lack of diverse moves. Sakura is an average fighter, because even though she exhibits great skill with shurikens, Temari and Tenten are both better at playing the range game and have more damaging combos. Sakura's best qualities are her rapid projectile spams, efficient for both damage and for draining your foe's guard from a safe distance, and her very damaging Jutsu, Super Inner Sakura. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Inner Sakura: X This is one of my favorite Jutsu, because it's just really sweet looking. The initial strike is an overhead punch, if it hits, then the foe bounces up, where Sakura catches them with a few punches, then lays into their gut hard. During this time, Inner Sakura appears off to the left side and deals a bunch of hits as well. Then, to finish them off, she jumps up with a knee and yells "Keep it going... Get Outta Here!" as she ends it with a spin kick that sends the foe flying. It's a typical beat em up Jutsu, and like most of the standard Jutsu, it isn't necessarily better than anyone elses. I just happen to like the way it looks. Requires an initial strike to hit. Super Inner Sakura: Crisis X Ow... Seemingly the same at first, except Sakura's hands are glowing red, that can't be good. After the first few hits, the foe flies up farther than normal, and Sakura focuses her rage as they're coming back down. Then a very intense series of blows from Sakura and Inner Sakura ensues, finishing off with a knee and kick again. Sakura yells quite a few nice things during this Jutsu, sometimes ending it saying "The end of the world, BLAST AWAY! That feels about right." Like most Crisis Jutsu, you can expect this to be significantly stronger, this Jutsu does roughly 60% more damage than her standard Jutsu does. Requires an initial strike to hit. ============= = Abilities = ============= Perfect Substitution: Away + A Sakura puts her smarts to work in her Counter Stance, using the tried and true Substitution Jutsu. If attacked, she instantly Substitutes and counter attacks from above. Because Sakura has such superb Chakra control, this ability doesn't drain your Chakra. Ninja Teleport: Forward + A Sakura moves forward a set distance and turns around to attack the foe from behind. The distance you teleport is always the same, and thus if you use this from very far away, you won't make it behind the foe and will just be turning around for no reason. This is a drawback, and it might seem problematic, but think about it for a sec. If you are so far away that teleport won't work, you shouldn't be wasting your time teleporting, and should be shuriken spamming. This skill is good in medium or close range, and should be avoided at long range, especially because shurikens make much more sense for distance damage. ============== = Strategies = ============== As Sakura, distance is your friend. The most reliable projectile attack is the homing shurikens, but the A -> A -> A combo throws more shurikens and does more damage. The airborne shuriken spam can lead into the ground shuriken spam, for a nice combo of about 12 hits. So Jump -> A -> A-> A -> Land -> A -> A -> A. She also has some decent melee combos, but usually I stick to range and close to melee once my Chakra is built enough to use Inner Sakura. Her best melee combo is B -> B -> B -> B -> A -> A -> A, the last 3 hits are from the air and this combo requires some knockback distance to hit properly, so it's not as good right next to a wall. Sakura is a technical character and takes a lot of technical skill to be decent and is much better if you have good timing to roll away when you land, block with Perfect Substition, and get behind your opponent frequently with Ninja Teleport. Lots of characters can sneak behind the enemy with teleporting skills, and so the fact that Sakura has a shitty teleport skill, is just one more way she's inferior to... Sasuke or Itachi or Shikamaru, so don't think of that as a saving grace. Remember though, blocking attacks too much will cause your opponents guard to break and leave them relatively helpless; if you're shuriken spamming and he's sitting and blocking, YOU have the advantage. Be wary of foes who can sneak behind you, as they'll usually wait till you start a shuriken combo and get behind you while you're vulnerable. Also remember that fully charged shurikens are less damaging than a 3-chain shuriken combo, and the wide scatter of the charge shurikens can occaisonally cause some to strike objects and dissapear before hitting your target. ============== = Conclusion = ============== Sakura is not the best character in the game. Where she excels, others excel more. However, Sakura has a distinct charm and some really cool Jutsu, and is the best in the game with shurikens. Sadly, the attacks from Tenten's weapon barrages and Temari's fan (which trumps every other projectile weapon) are better for distance warfare. Sakura just doesn't possess the speed of Tenten or the power of Temari, which doesn't make her a bad character, but makes her noticeably inferior to them. But Sakura is still cuter than them, so she wins XD. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [08] Kakashi Hatake ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== As we come to the end of Naruto's squad, it's time for their squad leader, Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja. Kakashi has a Sharingan in one of his eyes, this is because he was not born with it and is not an Uchiha. As such his prowess with the Sharingan is less than that of a full blood Uchiha. Being the Copy Ninja, Kakashi is famous for his ability to use his Sharingan to master the Jutsu of his foes. He can use this ability to reflect some Jutsu back at their users. Kakashi also posseses a hilarious Counter Stance while in his normal state, and a sweet attack throw where he pulls you underground. He is a good brawler with a few nice tricks to keep things mixed up, and an above average Jutsu while in Sharingan form. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Lightning Blade: X Essentially the same as Sasuke's Chidori. By that I mean that this skill doesn't do nearly enough damage to be useful. Kakashi pushes the foe a small distance away with his Lightning Blade, which is the only real difference from Sasuke's Chidori. Remember, both this and the charged version will take ALL your Chakra, so try for the charged version. Requires the dash strike to hit. Max Lightning Blade: Hold X Substantially more powerful than an uncharged Lightning Blade... but also takes much longer to use. Most foes are never going to let you use this, but if they do let you hit them, you may be shocked to find that it still does less damage than Lightning Blade Strike, even though it has to be charged and is much harder to land. So, there's not much reason to ever use Lightning Blade by itself, and little reason to ever fight without the Sharingan activated. Requires the dash strike to hit. Sharingan: Down + X (Transformation) Like Sasuke, Kakashi can activate the Sharingan, but because he is not as proficient with it, it slowly drains his Health while active. It's the only real drawback to his Sharigan, as it strengthens his combos and enables the use of Lightning Blade Strike, which is one of the most powerful Jutsu in the entire game! I would suggest leaving this on for the duration of the fight. Takes about 25% Chakra to activate it, reverting takes none. Lightning Blade Strike: X (In Sharingan) After an initial hit, Kakashi does a 4 hit combo that ends with a kick into the air. He then starts charging a Lightning Blade and catches the foe as they come down, by piercing them through the chest with his Lightning Blade. This is one of the more damaging Jutsu, above standard damage Jutsu like those of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, this is more like the damage inflicted by Itachi with Tsukuyomi. Also, it has the distinct advantage over his other Lightning Blade Jutsu, of being a normal Strike based Jutsu and therefore can easily be chained in during a combo, such as B -> B -> X. This skill seems like it literally does as much damage as all the initial hits plus the damage a fully charged Lightning Blade would do... and thats a lot. Requires an initial strike to hit. ============= = Abilities = ============= Secret Jutsu, 1000 Years of Death: Away + A Kakashi's Counter Stance, he starts to read his favorite book (I'm pretty sure it's Make Out Violence, I'm not sure which one it is this time) and thats when you ATTACK him. Wait... bad move, cus that's just what he wants you to do. He dodges and appears behind the attacker, and does his most secret of all his techniques "1000 Years of Death!". It's just a glorified poke to their butt, they go flying in the opposite direction and take pretty good damage. This is one of the more entertaining Counter Stances. Do note that this cannot be used in Sharingan status. Earth Style, Head Hunter: Down + A Kakashi's very cool and unique Attack Throw, also doubles as a teleport attack. It takes no Chakra, unless you hold the A Button, which lets you stay hidden longer but also rapidly drains Chakra. A personal favorite of mine and hilarious whenever you do it. As is standard with Attack Throws, this move doesn't work when blocked, your hand will pop out of the ground but you won't drag the opponent under and will just jump out pointlessly. Kakashi does an 8 hit combo when he drags them under, and it does a good amount of damage, enough to make this a staple in your arsenal when playing Kakashi. Copy Jutsu: Away + A (In Sharingan) This is an interesting Counter Stance, in that it only works on enemy Jutsu, and even then only on Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Lee. It will counter their standard Jutsu with the exact same Jutsu, only redone in Kakashi Style. Inner Kakashi is really funny looking. Entering the stance has no Chakra cost, but if you pull off a Copy Jutsu, then you use all your Chakra and the oponent wastes all their Chakra. It's good in those rare instances where it's possible. ============== = Strategies = ============== Hit hard and fast, there isn't really a reason to wait around as Kakashi, especially since the Sharingan will be draining your Health throughout the fight. If you need to close the gap on a ranged foe, use Head Hunter. If you can see it coming and are against an appropriate foe, use Copy Jutsu. Aside from that, I'd say just be aggressive, which you should do with every character in any fighting game. Kakashi has a lot of variety in his combos, and many good ones, but I personally like the combos that begin with Forward + A. I like Foward + A -> B -> B -> B -> A -> B or any of the slight variations on that combo. I also like his down B Spam combo, it's a series of kicks that keep the foe in the air. Kakashi's abilities are very straightforward, just press the offensive and sneak in Lightning Blade Strike as often as possible. I play with the attack value set to 3, and that Jutsu does over half a foe's Health, and thusly will probably only get to be used once per fight. Occaisonally reverting just to be able to use 1000 Years of Death is fine, we both know you want to. ============== = Conclusion = ============== Kakashi lives up to his name as the Copy Ninja with his ability to fully counter some enemy Jutsu. I only wish it worked against more people. He has a good variety of combos and one of the most powerful Jutsu in the entire game, as well as a very cool and damaging Attack Throw. He's one of the better characters, as he should be, being one of the most 1337 of the high ranking Leaf Ninja. Fear the eye... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [09] Neji Hyuga ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== Neji is a member of the branch family of the Hyuga Clan, their purpose is to protect the main family. While they aren't actually slaves, they have markings on their heads that allow them to be forcefully controlled by the main family. Neji is a prodigy and is able to use the most advanced abilities known by the Hyuga Clan. In the game (as well as the anime) Neji's skills lie in his Chakra infused blows, both increasing his damage and letting him inflict internal damage to vital organs or to a foe's Chakra points, thus sealing their Chakra. His 64 Palms Jutsu drains about half a foe's Chakra, and his Triple Palm drains a decent chunk as well. If you just want a Chakra fight, then Shino is your main man, but Neji's added Chakra drain is nice too. Neji's real power lies in his Rotation abilities, which suppliment his normal attacks quite nicely. Neji always has his Byakugan activated in battle. Neji's Byakugan eyes let him see attacks from all directions, he has NO blind spots... but can he see why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch? Neji: "Because they are DESTINED to love it!" Kids: "NO Silly! Because it has Cinnamon Sugar Swirls in every bite!" ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== 8 Trigrams 64 Palms: X Neji's classic move. He repeatedly strikes the foe's Chakra points, sealing their Chakra, which translates to draining about 65% of their Chakra in this game. But even with an extreme advantage like that, this STILL does a heap ton of damage, better than normal Jutsu like Uzumaki Barrage and Lion's Barrage, and way better than Hinata's Jutsu. There really is nothing bad about this Jutsu. The animation is pretty nice, Neji starts with two simultaneous strikes and doubles the number every time untill he gets to 64, finishing it with a final Chakra burst for added damage and style. Requires an initial strike to hit. 8 Trigrams Exploding Palm Rotation: Down + X This is not like normal Palm Rotation. This move will activate very shortly after being initiated, whether anyone hits you or not. The Chakra is so intense that it combusts in the air, exploding and intensifying the Rotation. It isn't a counter attack, it's an offensive Rotation that has a huge radius and is red in color, not the usual blue. This comes out really fast, it can often be used after a foe activates their Jutsu but still come out before theirs, thus interupting them. Remember that since this is an offensive Rotation and not a counter attack, you can be interupted during it (though that is EXTREMELY unlikely). The radius is much larger than a normal Rotation, and can easily hit everyone around you in a 4 player fight. Doesn't require all your Chakra, only about 75% of it. Because this doesn't drain Chakra, and does less damage than 64 Palms, you should stick with that in 1v1s, and use this more in larger fights with more people nearby to hit. ============= = Abilities = ============= 8 Trigrams Palm Rotation: Away + A Neji's Counter Stance might be the best one in the game. Before I go in depth on it, you need to know that it can be extended to last for a longer time if you hold A, but it will drain Chakra untill you let go or successfully counter an enemy attack. There is no need to do this if you have good timing, but I thought it was worth mentioning. If Neji is attacked by anything during this stance, even projectiles, he will spin around while releasing Chakra all over his body, creating a blue Chakra whirlwind that deflects any attack and counters with equal force. Its radius is big, its damage is nice, and it looks puurty as well. It is quite possible that in a 4 player fights you can strike everyone in the fight with Rotation even though you only countered an attack from one foe. The damage from Rotation is nothing compared to the extreme damage from the Down + X version, but that takes a lot of Chakra and this usually takes none. A good move any time you know your opponent is about to attack. Triple Palm Strike: Special Forward + A This is Neji's basic Chakra draining attack. It's a 3 hit attack that does decent damage, and is also his A attack when used from hiding. It also occurs at the end of 3 of his combos. This attack is good at what it does, it's always nice to deal damage while draining Chakra, instead of filling up their Chakra like usual. Here's the list of combos that end with a Triple Palm Strike. B -> B -> A Forward + B -> B -> A -> B -> B -> A Down + B -> A -> B -> B -> A Down + A -> B -> B -> A Chakra Strike: Special Neji attacks a single Chakra point with a strike. This drains some Chakra, though not as much as a Triple Palm Strike, and also occurs at the end of some of Neji's combos. These are typically the longer combos, thus you will do more total damage but drain less Chakra. This attack sends the foe flying a decent distance. Here's another list of combos, the ones that end with a Chakra Strike. B -> B -> B -> B -> A Forward + B -> B -> A -> B -> B -> B -> B -> A Down + B -> A -> B -> B -> B -> B -> A Down + A -> B -> B -> B -> B -> A ============== = Strategies = ============== It's gonna be fun on the bun, Neji is a very good character with a lot of advantages and good combos. Down + B -> A -> B -> B -> X, when properly executed, Neji's 64 Palms will come out too quickly after the 4th hit of that combo to be avoided (unless of course they'd been blocking those hits). This is harder than sneaking it in after B -> B but does more total damage, you can sneak it in any time you think you can get away with it. Neji's best combos are the ones that will incorperate some Chakra drain, and I have already listed those under Abilites. Pressing your offense is a fine strategy, but it's always fun to use Rotation a few times too, if only because it looks sweet and pisses people off when they attack you and FAIL because of Rotation. The Exploding Rotation is typically best left to bigger fights because of it's large radius, or when you need some extra range to hit someone in a 1v1. Neji is a character where, although he's fairly good with projectiles, you should never use distance and always close to melee, just because of the Chakra drain. Also, he lacks a rapid approach technique, and so if you do get very far away from a long range fighter, you have no choice but to try and run/jump your way over or take a hit and use a Substitution. It's best not to get into that situation by simply staying in their face and never letting up. Neji is pretty good no matter how you play him, he's a genius. ============== = Conclusion = ============== Neji is one of the better characters in the game, he brings a lot to the table and his ability to drain Chakra is a rare and powerful asset. Shino is the only other character with any good Chakra drain. Neji always has Rotation to fall back on, and a great wide area attack for 4 player brawls. His only flaw is the lack of any teleport or other rapid approach technique. Neji knows that he will win, because he is destined to. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [10] Hinata Hyuga ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== Hinata and Neji are NOT siblings. They just happen to both belong to the same main family, but occupy different branches. Hinata is more like the nobility and Neji is like the slave, though thats not exactly how it works, it's a close enough comparsion. This would explain Neji's hatred of Hinata. In the game, Hinata specializes in channeling and blasting Chakra through her palms, which logically would make her attacks stronger than most characters. Sadly, the game developers saw fit to make her pitifully weak, which makes me a sad Panda. Hinata is decent, her projectiles are fair, her combos, though they often look impressive and may require 7 or 8 buttons to successfully execute, often only do as much as 4 or 5 button combos from other characters. This means that not only is she not as good as those other characters, but potentially more difficult to learn to use. If I haven't put you off from playing her yet, then read on to find out specifically why I feel this way and said all those mean things. Hinata always has her Byakugan activated in battle. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== 8 Trigrams Palm Combo: X These are single or double Palm Strikes, and as such they barely do any damage on their own. Hinata moves around the foe, striking them 6 times to stun them, then charges her Chakra and unloads a few blasts reminiscent of a Haduken into the chest of her foe. It doesn't look all that strong, because it isn't. Sadly Hinata doesn't have any other real use for her Chakra, she can't use rotation and doesn't possess any Chakra intensive abilities. This is one of the weaker Jutsu in the game, and it makes me sad to see them stick this crap on Hinata, I mean why not Ino? Nobody likes her... I think it would be cool if they added an internal bleeding status effect to some of Hinata's moves, including this one, so that after the initial damage the foe would be subject to added damage over time from the internal injuries. Of course, that's just my ramblings, no such luck, this is one of the weakest Jutsu in the entire game. Requires an initial strike to hit. 8 Trigrams Spirit Palm Counter: Crisis Down + X Thankfully, once Hinata enters Crisis, she has a much less sucky Jutsu. This does a crap top of damage, like most Crisis Jutsu, but is still not as good as Super Inner Sakura or Rasengan because those are attack Jutsu and this is a counter Jutsu. It takes no Chakra to enter the counter stance, only using Chakra if it successfully activates. Hinata grabs the foe's hand and flips them over her back and into the air (how is she THAT strong?). As they are coming down she blasts them with a massive Spirit Palm that makes me want to yell "Haduken" every time I see it. This does a good amount of damage, less than the other powerhouse Crisis Jutsu like Rasengan and Super Inner Sakura, in fact even less than some of the most powerful normal Jutsu like Lightning Blade Strike. Curses! I started saying bad things again, ok this is good, in that it's better than her normal Jutsu, about 80% more damage, and it also looks pretty cool. I just think, that as a balancing factor, this should be doing much more damage than it does now. I mean, for god's sake, Hinata needs some kind of uber Jutsu to bring her back from the brink of intense suckitude. ============= = Abilities = ============= Spin Counter: Away + A When Neji counters he spins himself. When Hinata counters she spins her foe. If attacked, you counter with this move which doesn't do any damage, but leaves the foe totally open to any kind of attack, and it leaves enough of an opening to use her Palm Combo, or anything you feel like using. It's functional and doesn't have any real problems, YAY. Flying Palm: Jump -> B When you use this, you jump forward a set distance and it doubles as an attack. It's like a midair dash, pretty cool actually, though it doesn't do much damage. I have yet to figure out why Hinata is able to do this yet noone else is, maybe cus shes liek sum kind of liek angel or sumthin, and dat means she can fly. I honestly don't know, but I thought it was worth noting. ============== = Strategies = ============== Hinata only has 11 attack combos and no real special abilities... OK Pyzik, cmon you can do this, think of strategies for a simple character like this. Ok, first and foremost, her two best combos start the same way but end differently, they do about the same damage: B -> B -> B -> A -> B -> B -> B B -> B -> B -> A -> B -> B -> A -> A Her Up + B move will launch the foe into the air and leaves enough of a gap to be used again instantly to juggle the foe. Forward + A -> A is a two hit combo where Hinata often moves so far that she sneaks around an opponents guard and hits them in the side. I know this from experience fighting my lil sis who loves Hinata, and plays her against all odds. If I keep blocking she'll always use that to hit me anyways. The Flying Palm can be used to smack a foe who likes to jump before he attacks, or right after a throw to sneak a hit in as they're coming down. Whenever you get weakened into Crisis, NEVER use her normal Jutsu anymore, and only use Spirit Palm Counter, since it does almost twice as much damage. Spirit Palm Counter is capable of countering most strike based Jutsu, so it can be used on a foe starting their Jutsu to screw them out of it. If you're bad at timing counter attacks, I would say you shouldn't play Hinata untill you're really good at timing them. ============== = Conclusion = ============== I conclude that Hinata ranks among the worst characters in this game, but... just like Super Smash Bros Melee, me saying this doesn't mean that it's impossible for you to get your ass handed to you by a pro Hinata. She is not as good as the other characters, but if the person playing her is good enough, she is still a force to be reckoned with. Thats pretty true in fighting games across the board, don't let a character's limitations prevent you from playing them. You need to be patient and know when to attack and when to counter to be good with Hinata. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [11] Rock Lee ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== The Lotus of the Leaf Villages blooms twice! Poor Bushy Brow just doesn't understand what a huge goof he is, but we love him anyways. Rock Lee is a Taijutsu expert, and that means two things. 1: He never uses projectiles, or any long ranged Ninjutsu, all of his attacks are melee (and the majority of them are kicks). 2: He has a huge variety of physical attacks and combos, and can use his Chakra to open the hidden gates, strengthening his Taijutsu noticeably, and giving him the most powerful Jutsu in the game... so powerful in fact that it's TOO powerful with the attack value set to 3. It deals 90% of a foe's Health like that, making that technique better suited to lower attack matches; seriously, who needs that much overkill? Rock Lee is a very fun, very strong, very unique character. The only other character close to Rock Lee is, of course, his Sensei: Might Guy. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Primary Lotus: X Rock Lee's signature move, the Primary Lotus is a spinning piledriver type move that involves using Lee's wrist bands to tie up the foe first, thus preventing their escape during the Jutsu. If you use this by itself you may be shocked by how little damage it does, but after opening the Gate of Rest you'll quickly find that it's on par with many of the better Jutsu in the game. The Lotus is easily used on foes falling down from being launched into the air by Lee's combos, indeed there are many times to easily chain this move in. Aside from opening the Gates, this is normal Lee's only Chakra using move, and so if you tend not to use this much, then you have plenty of Chakra for frequent Substitutions instead. If this move is used on Gaara, the animation changes and incorperates a series of kicks just like what happened in the Chunin Exams when Lee fought Gaara. Gate of Rest, Open! Down + X (Transformation) Opening this gate takes exactly 50% of your Chakra, and causes an increase to damage for all of your attacks, as well as an increase in the damage of the Primary Lotus. This should be done ASAP in every round of every fight. Like Naruto's Nine Tailed Fox Transformation, this acts as a close range melee attack and will damage anyone near you when activated. This is a one way transformation. Gate of Life, Open! Down + X (Transformation) After opening this gate, you enter the Hidden Lotus. This also takes exactly 50% of your Chakra, therefore if you started with full Chakra, you could open both gates consecutively right at the begining of a fight, which is a good way to gain the advantage instantly. In this state, your attack damage is insane, and you have extremely fast Chakra regeneration, but your Health goes down rapidly. The main purpose of putting yourself in this predicament, is to enable the use of the Hidden Lotus and end the fight with it. Like the Gate of Rest before it, this doubles as a close range attack. This is a one way transformation. Hidden Lotus: X (In Hidden Lotus state) This is a teleport strike Jutsu, you will ninja teleport next to the foe before you strike, no matter where you are. If the strike connects and this Jutsu activates... the foe is almost surely dead. See, it'd be funny if I was exaggerating, but I'm not. With the attack set to 3 like how I usually play, this Jutsu is almost always an instant kill. On some characters you will one-shot even if the foe started with full Health, others will take more like 90% Health, but if you already attacked a bit then it will still end the match. This is Rock Lee's trump card, and should be used as such, not relied on as his staple attack, because it is too risky for that strategy. Requires an initial strike to hit. ============= = Abilities = ============= Leaf Hurricane: Forward + A It sure is nice to yell out your moves every single time you do them. This is Lee's advancing attack, he leaps forward a great distance while spinning and kicking. It does pretty good damage and there are a couple combos that send the foe flying through the air and set up nicely to be followed up by this attack. Theres nothing really special about this move, it looks cool though. Leaf Whirlwind: Down + A This is another great attack, it covers a nice wide circular area and hits anyone on the ground as well. This move really shines when used as part of a one-two combo that is as follows: Down + B -> A. Both of those attacks strike the ground and will hit grounded foes, which makes this a great follow up anytime you've just put your foe onto the ground and want to add on some more damage. If used on standing foes, this move trips them and essentially sets up for using itself again. Dang, Lee's got long legs... High Speed Taijutsu: Away + A Lee effortlessly deflects an enemy attack and leaves them completely open, so he can have his sick way with them... It's a Counter Stance, it does what it does, and that's all it does. I don't use this much, only because Lee is a bloodlust berserker by nature, and doesn't need to sit around idly waiting to counter attack his foe. ============== = Strategies = ============== With Rock Lee, you have a whole lot of options for combo attacks, and it's pretty easy to chain them all together. The main "tricks" to Lee are as follows. If you can, start with Up + B, as this lifts the foe into the air and gives you plenty of time to land before them and start a combo on them before they hit the ground. Second, whenever a foe hits the ground, try and use Down + B -> A to crush them into the ground and add some more damage. Finally, ALWAYS be ready to use the Lotus on foes falling down from an aerial combo. This is much easier near the edges of the stage, where they have nowhere to be knocked away too and will fall down right into your lap. Practice with Lee's standard B -> B -> B -> B -> A combo and then land a Lotus right afterwards. That combo (with the Gate of Rest already opened) does well over half a foe's Health, and is just one of the many ways you can inflict massive pain with Rock Lee. Using the Hidden Lotus is fun, but also risky because of how much damage you cause yourself doing it. ============== = Conclusion = ============== Rock Lee is an explosive powerhouse of a character. Easy to learn and to do well with, but his high power comes with high risks that can cost you the match against skilled opponents. He's a really fun chaarcter to use and possesses the single strongest Jutsu in the entire game. Even if you think you've won, NEVER count out Rock Lee: "The Lotus of the Leaf Village blooms twice" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [12] Might Guy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== "They call me the Handsome Devil of Leaf Village!" Guh, it's easy to tell where Lee gets it from. Guy is Lee's sensei, and that explains why they dress exactly the same. Guy is very overconfident, and can seem like a jerk at times, because of how much faith he puts into his Taijutsu. As far as how he plays in the game, he's more or less a clone of Rock Lee (or vice versa if you prefer). Some of his moves have some different animations, but they're activated the same way. So I'm gonna make Guy's section pretty brief, since if you read Rock Lee's section you've basically got both characters covered. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Youthful Embrace: X "What an Idiot!" Guy sucker punches you and sends you flying across the field. This strike is awesome, Guy dashes forward a nice distance when he does it, so it's easily chained in after any combos that send the foe flying through the air. Just always be watching and ready to try and land this. If it hits, the foe is sent reeling and Guy quickly rushes over and apologizes "You're such a great person" before giving them a nice hug. The hug does most of the damage, it looks quite painful, and this is one of the more entertaining Jutsu because of the lovely sunset background that you get to see during it. If this move is used on Lee, he screams "Guy Sensei..." during the hug. Like Lee's Lotus, this does more damage if you open the Gate of Rest first. Requires an initial strike to hit. Gate of Rest, Open! Down + X (Transformation) Opening this gate takes exactly 50% of your Chakra, and causes an increase to damage for all of your attacks, as well as an increase in the damage of the Primary Lotus. This should be done ASAP in every round of every fight. Like Naruto's Nine Tailed Fox Transformation, this acts as a close range melee attack and will damage anyone near you when activated. This is a one way transformation. This enables the use of the Leaf Youthful Lotus, and yes I copied and pasted this description from Rock Lee's section. Leaf Youthful Lotus: Crisis Down + X (After opening the Gate) If you're in Crisis AND have opened the Gate of Rest, which you should do in every fight ASAP, then you can use Guy's version of the Lotus. He uppercuts the enemy into the sky and screams "The Power of Youth!" before he does his Lotus. It's the same type of spinning piledriver move as Lee's, but it has Guy's awesome sunset background during it, and it does quite a bit more damage. Of course, this IS a Crisis only Jutsu, so it's understandable that it should do a crap ton of damage. And let's face it, noone can do as much damage as Lee's Hidden Lotus, so Lee is still more powerful in the end. Requires an initial strike to hit. ============= = Abilities = ============= Severe Leaf Hurricane: Forward + A It sure is nice to yell out your moves every single time you do them. This is Guy's advancing attack, he leaps forward a great distance while spinning and kicking. It does pretty good damage and there are a couple combos that send the foe flying through the air and set up nicely to be followed up by this attack. This does slightly more raw damage than Lee's, but the damage differences between their attacks aren't that big of a deal. Severe Leaf Whirlwind: Down + A This is another great attack, it covers a nice wide circular area and hits anyone on the ground as well. This move really shines when used as part of a one-two combo that is as follows: Down + B -> A. Both of those attacks strike the ground and will hit grounded foes, which makes this a great follow up anytime you've just put your foe onto the ground and want to add on some more damage. If used on standing foes, this move trips them and essentially sets up for using itself again. Guy doesn't yell the name of this move when he uses it, like Lee does. What an Amateur: Away + A Guy's Counter Stance, it makes me think he's going to yell Crane Style or something similar every time I see him stand like that. There's noone else who looks quite as goofy in their Counter Stance, except maaaaybe Kakashi and his book. If attacked during this, Guy teleports behind the foe and says "What an amateur" it's pretty annoying when you do that to someone 5 times in a row. Any back teleport move is good because it usually results in free shots at the opponent. I usually don't use this because with Guy's power you can end matches before waiting and counter attacking ever becomes a necessity. Dynamic Entry: Dashing + B It's just his dashing kick attack, but he always yells Dynamic Entry, unlike Lee who doesn't feel the need to say anything, he screams his moves enough... ============== = Strategies = ============== The same strategies that I listed under Rock Lee's section all apply here. If you look at Guy's Attack List, it's the same as Lee's. However, their moves actually differ a little bit in some of the animations, with Guy often using some slower but slightly more powerful hits. Guy should still make good use of his Up + B to get opponents into the air before starting a combo, and has an easier time landing his Jutsu on falling opponents because it makes him dash forward and Lee's Primary Lotus doesn't. Always crush them with Down + B -> A after they land. Don't fight at a distance, keep up close where you can do the most damage. If things turn ugly, break out your Lotus for a nice turnaround victory. ============== = Conclusion = ============== Might Guy is a fun character, and I do like to use him, but I like Rock Lee more because he has the Hidden Lotus and Guy doesn't have an equally uber technique. Guy typically does a little more damage per hit, but doesn't go through his moves as fast as Lee does. They're basically the same character, both good and very powerful. Guy is the Handsome Devil of Leaf Village, and is lethal in the hands of a master. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [13] Tenten ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== Tenten is the weapon specialist of the series, she can use Ninjutsu to summon throwing weapons from scrolls. Her proficiency is not only in long ranged weapon attacks, but also high speed attacks and jumping moves. She likes to fight from the air, most of her combos have some type of jump involved in them. She also typically moves a fair distance from the foe after many of her jumps, which emphasizes the long range aspect of her game. Finally, Tenten is the only character in the game who can lay a trap. She can lay a mine which fires Kunai up at anyone who stepped on it. Tenten is a hybrid character with both strong projectile attacks and quick melee moves. Splice in her high jumps and trap laying abilities, and you've got yourself a winner. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Rising Twin Dragons: X Tenten loves to summon weapons from her scrolls. In this Jutsu, after she hits the foe, Tenten unfurls both scrolls and jumps up into the air with them twirling around her. Then she unloads a massive barrage of weapons on the foe... it looks really funny because she misses with over half of them. But enough hit to do nasty damage, this is a great Jutsu, especially because Tenten has loads of opportunities to chain this in after her attacks, I'll go into that later. The reason it's so easy to chain is because it's range is deceptively long, she runs forward when she uses it, making this a great move after you send the foe flying through the air, or as they back dash. Requires an initial strike to hit. Rising Dragon Dance: Jump -> X This follows the trend of most jumping Jutsu, it does a lot of damage in a rapid fire fashion, comes down at an angle, typically works better the closer you are to the target, and only takes about 75% of your Chakra. I like this move, but it's SO easy to chain in her normal Jutsu after attacks, that I rarely find it necessary to take the risk of trying this Jutsu. If dodged or blocked, this will accomplish nothing. I have found that if you can jump up right next to a foe who's near the wall, and unload the barrage of weapons while you are both in the air, you can get an obscene number of hits out of it, around 25. This is a difficult trick to pull off, but works best if you throw the foe towards the wall and then jump up to intercept him before he lands. This Jutsu can strike everyone in a 4 player fight. ============= = Abilities = ============= Dragon Mine: Down + A This lays a trap on the ground for a set duration. Anyone who touches it (besides Tenten of course) will trigger a burst of Kunai up at the foe. If you just hit Down + A, then Tenten automatically backdashes after laying the mine. if you hit Down + A -> A then Tenten will leap forward after laying the mine. It is possible to have 2 active at a time, but difficult to have 3 together, because of the limited time that they remain in the field. This also occurs at the end of her combo: Down + B -> A -> A (one of my favorite combos), and in her Forward + A -> B -> A -> A combo. Dragon Counter: Away + A If Tenten acitvates her Counter Stance, and is attacked, she dodges and back dashes away from the foe (gaining some nice distance). She also unfurls a scroll and fires a blast of assorted weapons in the process. It's a really nice move, that has a two-fold function of being a backdash and a counter attack. ============== = Strategies = ============== There's a lot of things you can do when you're playing Tenten. First, her easiest projectiles combo is Jump -> A -> A -> A -> A. Another way to trigger that combo is to hold A untill max charge, then as you release the attack, spam A and you initiate a combo that ends the same way. Either of these combos has NO DELAY when you land. OK, that means a lot of things, but the main point is that since there's no waiting around after the combo's done, and her standard Jutsu makes her run forward, you can easily chain in Rising Twin Dragons after Tenten's projectile combo. If you don't have Chakra for it, that's fine, you can chain on another combo after that combo. It's easy to rack up crazy damage by chaining her combos together, and there are a lot of ways to do it, especially if you're creative about hitting people into mines. Also all of her combos that start with Forward + A will move her forward a great distance when they start, which is a nice way to suprise a foe who doesn't expect you to be all up in his face all of a sudden. Tenten is a lot of fun and has a lot of variety, but when I play her, I usually focus on chaining in Rising Twin Dragons during my combos. So let's talk about when to use Rising Dragon Dance instead... there are two main times to do this. The first and more common is when a foe is on the ground, and you can hit them before they start to get back up. A good amount of hits to aim for is anywhere from 10 - 15. That's how many hits you should expect from the Jutsu, not the entire combo, and if you get less than that, then it probably wasn't worth all that Chakra. I like to use this right after Down + B -> A -> A. That combo concludes with a mine, which shoots them up and gives you time to jump towards them as they land, and fire off a Rising Dragon Dance as they're laying on the ground. It's important to jump ASAP and to jump towards them for this to work. The rare other time that Rising Dragon Dance is good is if both you and your foe are in the air and near the wall of a stage. You can try to create this situation by throwing the foe towards the wall when you're both close to it, then jumping up and activating the Jutsu just before they come down to your height. If done properly, you can get around 25 hits out of this Jutsu, which does a shit ton of damage. Those situations are rare, but very useful. ============== = Conclusion = ============== Tenten is one of the best characters in the game. Being so skilled in projectiles and jumping makes her VERY vulnerable to Temari, who excels in deflecting projectiles and aerial juggling. Tenten has the imcredible speed and fast combos that make her a threat in melee, even though her specialty is range. Her traps are a special advantage that only she, in the entire game, has access to. And to top it all off, her Rising Twin Dragons is one of the easiest Jutsu to use, because it moves her so far and because she has plenty of combos to use it after. Tenten is easily up there in the top for speed, and is a great all around character. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [14] Ino Yamanaka ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== Ino fills the role of the popular preppy anorexic girl that thinks all the guys in school want her, in the Naruto universe. She's a blond, and a mean one at that, who isn't shy about putting people down. She had a soft spot for Sakura back in the day, and they were close friends, but became bitter rivals when they both started to lust after Sasuke. You might think that Ino would play similarly to Sakura, but you'd be wrong... Ino is pretty terrible, down in the same class with Hinata but better because Ino has very powerful long range Jutsu. Ino has barely any variety in her moves, with only 14 combos in her Attack List. Many of her combos make her do a ninja teleport off to the side and fly back in with a kick... this not only looks semi- retarded (teleport AWAY from the enemy to attack, of course!) but also doesn't always work, thus your combo won't finish properly just because you were too close to a wall... On one hand it pains me to see how pitiful they made Ino, but on the other hand it means that Hinata has a sister in suckitude, so she's not lonely down there at the bottom of the tier. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Mind Transfer Jutsu: X This is a unique Jutsu in that Ino shoots a very fast moving blue projectile from her head, and the Jutsu doesn't activate unless it hits a foe. This is both an advantage and a huge weakness, because if by some chance you miss your foe, you are HELPLESS for a good while and will fall down onto the ground. If it hits then Ino takes over the foe's body, and calls for Asuma (her Sensei). Right as he get's ready to attack, she releases the Jutsu, and Asuma gets a free shot on the target. This is an above average Jutsu with good damage and a huge range. Mind Transfer Jutsu, Pummel: Crisis X Same as the above Jutsu, same range and same drawbacks, except that this time, Ino gets her own shot in after Asuma attacks. This does nice damage, but aside from doing more damage than the other version, is the exact same thing. Remember not to miss with the projectile or you'll be stunned for a good while. This is Ino's saving grace, and will allow you to win fights that you should have lost. ============= = Abilities = ============= Backstab: Away + A In Ino's Counter Stance, she says "Get Ready" which sounds like a blatant taunt into attacking her. If attacked she Substitutes and then stabs the foe in the back with her Kunai. It's a functional Counter Stance, though I prefer the ones that simply dodge/teleport and then leave you free to use whatever attack you want. Ino would have benifited more from such an ability since it would give her an easy openeing to use her Jutsu. Slide Attack: Forward + A Ino jumps and slides forward along the ground, sliding and tripping her foe with her Kunai. This is actually a pretty cool technique, I'm just trying to figure out why Ino has it and noone else does. You usually end up on the opposite side of the foe when you use this. ============== = Strategies = ============== Ino doesn't really have any special traits in her combos. Her best combos are B -> B -> B -> B -> B -> B, and Away + B -> B -> B, and Down + B -> B -> B. It's all pretty bleh, just try to keep attacking to build up your Chakra to use Mind Transfer Jutsu frequently. Just don't mess up and miss, because the recovery time from a failed Mind Transfer Jutsu is BRUTAL. Her Jutsu is stronger in Crisis, just like Naruto and Sakura, but not so much stronger that she magically becomes a good character because of it. Use her Slide Attack to occaisonally get a suprise hit on your foe, but aside from that she really has nothing going for her. If you ============== = Conclusion = ============== Ino is down there with the worst characters in the game, and there's very little reason to play her, unless Ino is your favorite character or something. It's always worth playing your favorite character. If anyone has a favorite character, don't let my opinion put you off from playing them, but Ino is so bad that I just can't get in to playing her, especially since there are so many much more powerful characters in the game that I like... Gaara and Jiraiya for example. Play Ino at your own risk. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [15] Shikamaru Nara ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== Shikamaru Nara is my favorite character from the anime. He's the most intelligent of all the original Genin, his I.Q. is OVER 9000!!!11!!1!2 ... ... ... I apologize for the horrible DBZ reference, no Shikamaru's I.Q. is actually only over 200, but still well above genius level. He isn't the fastest or strongest ninja around, and doesn't have any special bloodline trait, but he is a very dangerous opponent because of his clever use of the Shadow Possession Jutsu. In every episode where Shikamaru has a fight, he totally outsmarts his opponent with some amazing crap. In this game, Shikamaru is one of the best characters, but not because he has some extremely powerful Jutsu or because his physical damage is very high. All his power and strategy comes from his Shadow Stance, in which he can use two different teleport attacks, one to the front and one to the back, which is all you'll ever need in any fight you're in. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Shadow Possession Jutsu: X This is the same version of the Shadow Possession Jutsu that he used in his first fight in the Chunin exams. He takes over his foe and then they both share the same actions, as if Shikamaru is using his foe as his puppet. The main drawback to this Jutsu is that the foe EXACTLY duplicates Shikamaru's moves, and so if Shikamaru were to directly stab the foe, then likewise he would be stabbed by the foe. This makes the Jutsu seem useless, but it is very situationally useful based on the surroundings. When Shikamaru uses this Jutsu, a wall appears behind the foe. Both Shikamaru and the foe throw a shuriken at eachother, and they both matrix dodge it, but the foe dodges right back into the wall *OUCH* hitting it so hard that it splits it two. One of the funnier Jutsu to watch, this one does decent damage. Requires an initial strike to hit. Shadow Drop Jutsu: Down + X This is another really funny looking Jutsu. Just like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon, Shikamaru creates a hole under the foe with his shadow, and the foe falls in... then through a spacetime paradox, falls from the top of the screen back onto the ground. The shadow hole extends along the ground till it hits a foe, and in a 4 player fight he extends his shadow towards everyone on the field, so it's 3 times as powerful in those fights. In a 1v1, it's a little too weak for my tastes, and I prefer to use my Chakra for well timed Substitutions to keep myself alive. Should you miss with this Jutsu, you're left open for a very long time, so using it presents a risky element of chance. Only takes about 75% of your Chakra, cannot be blocked, which is very rare and makes this different from most secondary Jutsu which are usually blockable. ============= = Abilities = ============= Shadow Stance: Away + A This is not a Counter Stance, it does nothing on it's own, but allows the use of teleport attack combos, 8 different combos to be exact. Many of Shikamaru's basic combos cause him to end in this pose, the final A hit doesn't actually attack, it triggers this pose. The game calls this "Special Pose" but I figured that Shikamaru probably already got enough trouble for hanging with Choji all the time and didn't need a suggestively gay name for his best ability. It should be noted that you can still use his Jutsu from Shadow Stance. This is a very complex ability, but it can be simplified like this. If you hit A while in Shadow Stance, you will teleport behind the foe and attack with your Kunai. Alternatively, if you hit B while in Shadow Stance, then you teleport right above the foe and knee them in the face. Since you can choose which side of your foe you want to attack, it is very difficult to dodge these attacks. Your foe has to guess what you're going to try and move accordingly, he has a 50% chance of guessing wrong and taking a hit that leads into whatever combo you feel like using. This is Shikamaru's golden ability. ============== = Strategies = ============== Shikamaru is a fighter where you have to know his combos and plan accordingly to achieve the maximum damage. Many of his basic combos will put him into his Shadow Stance, but he can instantly enter that with Away + A if necessary. He can also use Jutsu from Shadow Stance, tricking an opponent who is readying his defenses for your attack and not thinking in a million years that you'd be about to use Shadow Possession Jutsu. The best combo for entering Shadow Stance is as follows: B -> B -> B -> A This is a 3 hit combo as the A hit isn't actually an attack, it's entering Shadow Stance. Naturally you would continue the combo after this OR would hit X right after entering Shadow Stance, to chain in Shadow Possession Jutsu for a nice chunk of damage. Shikamaru has 8 combos he can use from Shadow Stance, remember that those starting with A will teleport behind the foe and attack with a Kunai, and those starting with B will teleport right above the foe and knee them in the face. Here's a list of the combos: B -> B -> B B -> B -> A B -> A -> A (These two are the best for frontal attacking) B -> A -> B (These two are the best for frontal attacking) ----------- A -> A -> A A -> A -> B (These two are the best for back attacking) A -> B -> B -> B (These two are the best for back attacking) A -> B -> A Usually it's easy to close the gap on foes with your Shadow Stance combos, but if you want to use a dashing combo, I reccomend using Dashing B -> A -> A -> A -> A. This causes you to run at them with a flipping kick followed by three Kunai slashes to the back, and is a good change of pace from your usual combos. In a 1v1 I don't often use Shadow Drop Jutsu, but in a 4 player fight the shadows extend to every enemy player, so it's much more useful and a funny way to break up everyone's fights and make them all want to target you for it. Aside from that, Shikamaru is a brawler. Clever and strategic though he may be, his strength is in keeping up an offensive through teleport attacks and never giving the opponent a chance to strike back. When I play Shikamaru, I usually save Chakra for Substitutions in the event that my foe manages to counter attack me, that way I can keep up the offensive. Also, when you typically don't rely on your Jutsu for damage, it makes every time you choose to use it that much less expected from your foes. ============== = Conclusion = ============== Shikamaru is easily one of the best characters in the game. Sadly he doesn't have the explosive power of some of the characters like Naruto, Kakashi, and Rock Lee, but he more than makes up for it with his Shadow Stance and arsenal of teleport attacks. Because of the way Shikamaru works, he's especially effective on foes like Sakura, Temari, and Tenten, because they try to stay at a distance and Shikamaru can be on them in a second. He also has one of the funniest Jutsu in the game, just one more thing to love about the guy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [16] Shino Aburame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== Shino Aburame is bug kid, for those of you who might not know who he is. It's understandable, since he hardly ever does anything in the anime. In the rare occasions where he does fight, he shows some impressive skills and cold calculating logic reminiscent of someone like Shikamaru. Shino's bugs come from inside his body, he has holes all over his body that let them freely enter and exit, and they eat his Chakra to survive. The bugs can also eat an enemy's Chakra in battle. In the game, Shino has a lot of cool looking moves and is a good all around character who excels in Chakra draining moves. He takes a little time to learn however, as a lot of his combos are broken up with teleporting and other strange bug abilities, but give enough time and practice, Shino is a force to be reckoned with. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Parasitic Insects Jutsu: X This is one of the meaner looking Jutsu in the game. Shino spreads out a cloud of bugs and dissapears... Then he asks "where're you lookin?" from behind his foe, promptly backhanding them onto the ground. Then the bugs swarm in, ripping at the body while it's on the ground, doing a good amount of damage though not quite as high as moves like Lightning Blade Strike or the Lotus, and draining about 30% Chakra. This is a fun happy time Jutsu, but should only be used in 1v1s, because Insect Pillar is much better in 4 player fights. Requires an initial strike to hit. Insect Pillar: Down + X Shino vanishes in a cloud of bugs, then rematerializes into a spike of bugs that shoots out of the ground below the foe. This deals good damage, but deals more if you can get the foe on the ground before it hits. Drains about 80% of the foe's Chakra, making this very useful even in a 1v1, but it's godlike in a 4 player fight. You see, a spike appears under every enemy on the field, so in a 4 player fight, this one Jutsu will take everyone's Chakra down to almost nothing (assuming noone dodged it) and it only takes 75% of your Chakra. This is Shino's golden ability, use it not only for it's damage, but to prevent your foes from using their Jutsu against you. This Jutsu is unblockable, but can easily be dodged by foe's who see it coming, decreasing it's usefulness in 1v1s. ============= = Abilities = ============= Swarm: A Shino doesn't use Kunai or Shurikens, he uses his bugs for his projectile weapons. They travel along the ground straight out from him, and do a nice amount of damage as well as draining Chakra, but they move much slower than normal projectiles. If Shino takes a hit, then the Swarm dissapears. Cannot be deflected like normal projectiles. Can be charged for more damage like any other projectile attack. Insect Counter: Away + A Shino has a GREAT Counter Stance, easily one of the best in the game. If attacked, he bug teleports away behind the foe but also binds them with an Ankle Snare at the same time. This leaves them open for a huge amount of time, letting you prepare whatever you feel like to hit them with. Since Ankle Snare is an attack, this Counter Stance does some damage and drains some Chakra before you even use your own follow up attacks. Use this to set up for either of your Jutsu, especially when fighting against a fast aggressive opponent who you can easily tell is going to attack again. Counter attacks ftw. Ankle Snare: Down + A This is a positively great disable, it does some damage and drains some Chakra, but it holds the enemy helpless for a good while and sets them up for either of your Jutsu. Though you can use this move by itself, it naturally occurs during some of Shino's combos. Here's the list: B -> B -> A -> B -> A -> A Forward + B -> B -> A -> A Away + B -> B -> A -> A Insect Cannon: Forward + A Fire's a blast of bugs from Shino's hands. This is usually a 3 hit combo (though I've seen it do less) that does a decent chunk of damage and drains about 24% of a foe's Chakra. Though you can use this move on it's own, it's better to simply use the combos where, it will occur, here's the list: B -> B -> B -> A B -> B -> A -> B -> B (He does a one handed version in this one) B -> B -> A -> B -> A -> B -> A Forward + B -> B -> A -> B -> A Insect Rain: Up + A This does less damage than Insect Cannon, but can hit opponents from farther away. Shino summons a rain of bugs that target the foe, no matter how far away he is, dealing damage and draining about 20% Chakra. This also happens in his Down + B -> A combo. ============== = Strategies = ============== Shino is a complicated character who can be played a lot of ways. He is functional at a distance with all his A Abilities, but also has some good melee combos. The important thing to remember as Shino, is that you should always try to use bugs whenever possible, if a combo has the choice of either B -> B or B -> A, you should almost always choose A for the bug attack and Chakra drain. Shino's greatest strength is the Chakra drain, which will keep you from being countered by frequent Substitutions and allow you to lay into your foe. Since Shino has a lot of options in a fight, the best strategy is to keep your foe guessing. If you get into a pattern of Ankle Snare combos, suddenly hang back and use ranged attacks, and your confused foe may run right at you to attack, only to get caught in your Counter Stance and snared again anyways. And always follow the golden rule of Shino, in a 4 player match, never use Parasitic Insects and always use Insect Pillar, since it hit's everyone. ============== = Conclusion = ============== Shino is one of those hybrid characters who can do a little bit of everything, but he also has the best Chakra drain in the entire game, and some of the best Jutsu and Counter Stances, and the best disable in the entire game. With all these advantages at his disposal, Shino is a great character. His main weakness is that many of his abilities are slow, and won't always hit faster opponents. In the end, Shino is easily up there with the best characters in the game, if only because of Insect Pillar. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [17] Gaara ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== Gaara of the Sand, he is one of the most powerful ninja in the Sand Village, and eventually (in Shipuuden) so powerful that he becomes the Kazekage. Gaara's power comes from the same source as Naruto, but where Naruto has the Kyuubi (9 Tails), Gaara has the Ichibi (1 Tail) sealed inside him. Gaara's demon is different, his is called Shukaku and has the power to control sand, and this is Gaara's power as well. Gaara defends himself with his sand, and uses it for long range attacks as well. It's possible to play Gaara and barely move at all, simply shooting sand and spamming sand attacks, and Substituting any time you take damage, before continuing the offensive. However, Gaara does very well in close combat as well, his combos chain well and he has a LOT of knockback. Gaara is a great character and my second favorite. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Sand Coffin / Sand Burial: X When activated, Gaara sends a trail of sand along the ground. It looks adorable and me and my sister like to go "nom nom nom" while the sand travels along, it looks just like it wants to eat you. Sadly, thats pretty much what it does. If caught by the sand then the foe is completely encased in sand, that Jutsu is called Sand Coffin. Gaara is perfectly capable of suffocating people this way, by covering their face as well, but he usually leaves that open and prefers to finish them with Sand Burial. In that Jutsu, he rapidly compresses the Sand and crushes the victim with much more force than necessary, dealing an instant kill. In the game it is still powerful, but not nearly as powerful as it should be, this should be up there with the Hidden Lotus in my opinion. Still, this Jutsu looks sweet, and it's strong enough that noone needs to complain. Requires the sand trail to hit, for the Jutsu to activate. Shukaku, The Sand Spirit: Down + X I tend to prefer this Jutsu, because it has many advantages. First of all, this is a secondary Jutsu and takes about 75% of your Chakra, instead of all of it like Sand Burial. However, it still does the same amount of damage as Sand Burial. Also, unlike a lot of Secondary Jutsu, this is unblockable, whereas Temari's and Tenten's are indeed blockable. Finally, this Jutsu's range is huge and it can hit more than one foe at once, if they are lined up properly. In this Jutsu, Gaara summons a sand cocoon and makes himself invulnerable for a few seconds. During this time, the massive claw of Shukaku shoots out across the screen, dealing a mean hit to anyone unlucky enough to be hit by it. The best way to avoid this attack is to be up in the air when the claw comes out, although it is also pretty easy to sidestep enough to dodge it when it comes out, easier the closer you are to Gaara. He is also vulnerable upon emerging from the cocoon. This is one of my favorite of Gaara's attacks. ============= = Abilities = ============= Sand Shot: A Gaara is another character with an unorthodox projectile attack. Like Shino's bugs and Temari's fan blasts, Gaara's Sand Shots cannot be C-Stick Deflected. They also do very nice damage when charged. It is a decent way to follow up after sending an enemy flying, charging your Sand Shot and spamming a few at your foe. Obviously this is of much less use against foes who can teleport up to or behind you, but we have ways of dealing with them, bwahahaha... Sand Shield: Down + A Gaara's magical Sand Shield causes his sand to surround him on all sides, attacking anyone around him anywhere, even behind him. That's right, Gaara has an easy to activate and relatively quick back attack, so if you can predict when a foe will teleport behind you to attack, you can totally screw them over. This attack also has insane knockback, it sends foes flying across the entire field. Finally, this occurs at the end of a lot of Gaara's combos, which means that if a foe Substitutes behind you near the end of the combo, you can often get lucky and still hit them due to it's obscene range. Here's a list of the combos where this naturally occurs: B -> B -> B -> B -> A -> A B -> B -> A -> B -> A -> A Foward + B -> B -> A -> A Down + B -> B -> A -> A Down + B -> A -> B -> A -> A Up + A -> B -> A -> A Sand Daggers: Forward + A This is yet another long ranged sand attack, indeed it's area of effect is much bigger than you would think. It's possible to damage foes who are beside or even behind you, though they have to be very close. It's also possible to hit foes almost up to two back-dashes away from you. However, in all these long range instances, it doesn't do as much damage as it can when they are up close, it does a 6 hit combo when they're in close quarters. Use this to stop an advancing foe in his tracks, or to add damage onto a foe just landing from an attack. This is even better when used as part of a combo, here's the list of combos where it occurs: B -> B -> B -> A Forward + B -> A Away + B -> B -> A Sand Pillar: Up + A Gaara summons up a pillar of sand right under the foe, launching them into the air. This is an infinite range ability, it will hit the foe no matter where they are. On its own, it doesn't do much damage, but it is the first hit of a very strong combo, and is an important part of Gaara's best combo. Here's a list of the combos where it occurs: B -> B -> A -> A B -> B -> A -> B -> B B -> B -> A -> B -> A -> A Down + B -> A -> A -> A This one is THREE Sand Pillars in a row! Down + B -> A -> B -> B Down + B -> A -> B -> A -> A (The below Combos start with a Sand Pillar) Up + A -> B -> A -> A Up + A -> B -> B Sand Teleport: Away + A In Gaara's Counter Stance he makes his little hand sign and waits for an attack. If attacked he vanishes into his sand and reappears behind the foe, ready to strike. It's no different than any counter teleport type ability, except it has an animation tweaked to Gaara's style. I typically "counter" by never giving my foe a chance to attack me in the first place, and so I don't find much use for this. However, it's good at what it does. ============== = Strategies = ============== With Gaara, you have two main options. There's the "play it safe and use ranged attacks style" and the "overpower your foe with insane combos style". As far as ranged combat goes, you can simply use any of his Sand Abilities, explained in detail in that section. For heavy duty melee, I'll explain the tricks here. Gaara has a super crazy combo that has no delay after it, and leaves the foe up in the air, which means you can follow it up with almost any other combo you want. This uber combo is Down + B -> A -> A -> A, it juggles the foe with THREE Sand Pillars. The easiest follow up is Forward + B -> A, hit em with Sand Daggers when they land. However, with a little imagination, you can do some very damaging combos. I discovered that Up + A -> B -> A -> A works well most of the time, the only problem is that sometimes the foe is too far away to be hit by the B backflip kick and then the rest of the combo fails. I've saved the best for last though, it is possible to chain this combo after itself... 2 or 3 or even 4 times... it just takes good timing and it helps if you're near a wall so they aren't knocked as far. If you can keep using the Down + B -> A -> A -> A combo and never let them land on the ground, then they have no choice but to Substitute out of it. This is horribly cheap, but it is possible so I figured I should list it. Some other characters have seemingly infinite combos like this, but there is no such thing as an infinite combo in this game. Even if you think you've got one, Substitution Jutsu will always exist. Oh, and remember to use Shukaku's claw every now and then, best used as they land so that the claw will come out right as they stand back up. Remember to wash off thoroughly after playing in the sand, and have a nice day. ============== = Conclusion = ============== Gaara is my second favorite character in the game, mainly because of his very powerful combos and ridiculous knockback. It feels like you're in complete control of the fight when you play as Gaara. He has ranged attacks as well as powerful melee combos, and some good Jutsu (though not quite as good as some of the other characters). He is a pretty easy character to learn, and one of the only characters able to quickly and easily protect his backside from attacks. Gaara sets a standard for the other Sand Ninja, they are all among the best in the game, though not as good as the Sanin. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [18] Kankuro ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== Kankuro is a puppet master, but he's actually pretty lousy at it. In Shipuuden you get to see some real puppet masters, including Sasori who made the very puppets that Kankuro uses. In this game, Kankuro only uses one puppet, his first puppet Crow (also knowns as Karasu). Controlling Kankuro is more complicated than any other character because you have to always be aware of both your position and Crow's. Foes cannot choose to target Crow, but he can still be attacked. I will refer to Crow as he, even though it's a puppet, because when I play Kankuro, Crow is my friend and also my scapegoat for any time I make a mistake. "Damnit Crow stop screwing around and get them!" Generally, B controls Kankuro's attacks and A controls Crow's. In the event that Crow takes damage, Kankuro doesn't take any, but will lose a bit of Chakra (proportional to the damage Crow took). I kinda like Kankuro, he's a nice change of pace from the other characters, and can use some tricks that noone else can, simply because of his unique two character setup. If you aren't patient with learning advanced controls and positioning, then Kankuro isn't for you. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Puppet Master Jutsu: X This is the same type of attack that Kankuro used during his fight in the Chunin Exams. He sends Crow out who wraps his arms around the foe and then crushes the ever living crap out of them, breaking most of their bones in the process. Kankuro concludes by saying "I'll break everything but your neck" as the final hit is dealt. This is a standard Jutsu in every way, there's nothing wrong with it, but I have more fun with the other two Jutsu myself. Requires an initial strike to hit. Secret Jutsu, Poison Kunai Barrage: Down + X This is an absolutely awesome Jutsu. First of all, this Jutsu comes from Crow and not from Kankuro, which means if Crow is off in left field and you use this, your opponent will probably be shot from an unexpected angle. However, this attack works best in close quarters, where all the projectiles can hit and it can do maximum damage. Crow fires 14 poison coated Kunai, that is the maximum number you can hit with at point blank or close range. From farther away, anywhere around 10 is good... if you're landing less hits then you're sucking badly. A max damage hit does about 40% of a foe's Health, for only 75% of your Chakra, a pretty good deal. This is just fun to use because it comes from Crow, so you can do fun tricks with positioning, such as getting a free shot at their back if Crow is behind them. This can be blocked, like most secondary Jutsu. Though you can hit more than one person with this Jutsu in a 4 player fight, it doesn't actually target them all with more Kunai, so don't expect this to hit everyone. Secret Jutsu, Poison Bomb Shower: Jump -> X Crow jumps up when Kankuro does, and Crow has to be in the air for this to work. Upon activation, Crow fires off 10 of his Poison Bombs in a wide cone shot. If you are right next to the foe then this will do its max of 10 hits, but in most fights if you land anywhere around 8 then that's good. The full 10 hits is slightly stronger than Poison Kunai, doing 45% of a foe's Health, and this Jutsu also only takes 75% of your Chakra. With both Jutsu Kankuro yells "Watch out!" which is really bizarre. Why would you warn someone when about to use a suprise attack, doesn't that defeat the purpose? ============= = Abilities = ============= Poison Bomb: A This very weak projectile attack comes from Crow and not from Kankuro, which is a nice advantage as it lets you shoot people in the side and back fairly easily. They cannot guard as easily from the back, and this is a good strategy for creating an opening on a foe who's guarding against all your attacks. The attack's low damage is offset by how long is stuns the enemy, the poisonous gas has a heavy stun effect. Poison Kunai: Jump -> A This is just a jumping projectile attack, but it works with A anytime Crow is in the air... even when he should be on the ground and you forced him to jump. This means during a combo: B -> B -> A -> A -> A, if you made Crow jump twice during the B hits of the combo, when you get to the A hits Crow will just hover in the air and keep blasting Kunai. This is a neat trick that me and my sis discovered. If Crow is in the air and Kankuro isn't, you can use the Forward + A -> A -> A combo to force 3 Kunai shots out in rapid succession. Puppet Dash: Forward + A This is your basic control which moves Crow forward, it also doubles as an attack and is the first hit of a few combos. If you need to move Crow, this is the way to do it. The basic combo attack with Crow is Forward + A -> A -> A. Puppet Call: Away + A If Crow is too far forward and you need him to come back, use this to call him back to you. Because that's all this control does, it shouldn't be used very often, especially since having Crow behind the foe isn't necessarily a bad thing. Always be aware of your situation and know when to pull Crow back. High Jump: Up + B Kankuro jumps up over his opponent to attack their back side. Directly after using this he can use any of his first 9 combos with no delay. Some of his combos end with him performing this jump, in those combos the last B hit isn't an attack, it is this jump. Here's the list: B -> B -> A -> B -> A -> B B -> A -> B -> A -> B Forward + B -> A -> B Forward + A -> B -> A -> B *These are Kankuro's most important combos, because they are designed to let you chain right into another combo. I have done 60% or more Health with some of these extra long combos, though in all likelihood noone will actually let you get away with them and will Substitute out early* ============== = Strategies = ============== Memorize memorize memorize. Learning how Kankuro and Crow need eachother in their combos is extremely important. I will not list all the possible combos you can do between them, because they are so diverse and complex, that it would take an hour to read through em all, but here are some of the tricks I have learned... Remember to chain your Down + X into your normal combos, and remember that it works best in extremely close range. You can suprise a foe like this: Forward + A -> Down + X. Crow will mad dash at them, and if he hits them, they'll be stunned long enough to get a free shot in, which should do all 14 hits because of how close Crow is to them. You can also use B -> B -> Down + X, which can easily be done after one of the high jump combos and you've already jumped behind your foe. If you're in a 4 player fight, try to use the Jump -> X Jutsu more because it's easier to get multiple foes in it's cone range. A good combo with Crow by himself is Down + A Spam, Crow spirals upward in a series of slashes and hits them back down. Kankuro does the most damage working together with Crow, but it's ok to rely on Crow by himself and hide on the other side of the field too... unless your foe is smart enough to teleport over to you and punish you for that strategy. Here are some wierd quirks with Crow's controls. You can make Crow jump during combos with Kankuro when Kankuro can't jump, by hitting up during the attacks. If you hold A to keep a Poison Bomb Charged, you can still move and attack with Kankuro and B, and the shot won't fire untill you release A. If Crow is in the air and you are on the ground doing a combo that involves hitting the A button, Crow will often start shooting Kunai down at the foe instead of doing his normal combo attacks. An exception to this is when he teleports in to attack, he will always do that reguardless of whether he was already in the air or not. You'll have to force Crow into the air to make him do this, that means simply have him double jump while you're doing the B hits of a combo, and when you get to the A hits watch the Kunai fly. If Crow is too far from you to feel comfortable, pull him back to you, and likewise use his dash attack to close the gap between him and your foe. ============== = Conclusion = ============== Kankuro can chain a lot of combos and Jutsu together to do loads of damage in a short period of time, but is heavily dependent on the positions of himself and his puppet. He's the most difficult character to master in the entire game, but that doesn't mean he's bad, he just requires more work to be good. I acknowledge that I'm not as good with Kankuro as I am with some other characters, but I see his potential to be that good with enough time and effort. Kankuro is a one of a kind character with plenty of tricks to make him competitive in any match. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [19] Temari ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== Temari is the fan-wielding Ninja from the Sand, and the last member of Gaara's squad. She is a long distance fighter, both her standing and jumping Jutsu have a lot of range, and her ninja fan specializes in cyclonic barrages from a safe distance. Unlike Sakura and Tenten who typically do best spamming straight along the ground or from air to ground, Temari actually does best spamming from the ground to the air, which means throws are actually GOOD on Temari. Her fan trumps all other projectile weapons, which is logical and how it worked in her fight with Tenten, but is still a huge overpowering trait and a bit of a balance issue. If you counterpick as Temari vs Sakura or Tenten, you already won. Because of these traits, I state Temari as the best distance fighter in the entire game. But... being someone who needs a bit of distance is also a disadvantage, as fast close combat foes can overwhelm you and disable your best attacks, simply by being too close. Temari has an aggressive know-it-all kind of attitude and is ready to settle her differences with her fan doing the talking. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Wind Style, Wind Scythe Jutsu: X A really nice Jutsu, for a couple reasons. As far as damage goes, this one is pretty good, but it's nice because of its range. The hitbox of this Jutsu continues outward over a distance, much like Gaara's sand coffin but faster. That means that although the foe must be inside the wind slash hitbox at least once for the Jutsu to activate, this Jutsu DOESN'T require an initial strike to hit. Even if you think you jumped over it you can sometimes accidentally land into it and activate it. The Wind Scythe Jutsu is an awesome series of wind slashes that lifts the enemy up into a vortex where they take a lot of hits, before falling back down and landing directly on the fan (which has to hurt like hell). This breaks their back and Temari yells "You're still weak!" and then throws them off along the ground. Now lets talk about the negative aspects of this Jutsu compared to most other characters Jutsu... oh wait I'm terribly sorry, there don't seem to be any. Wind Scythe Jutsu just kinda rocks out loud. Ninja Art, Hurricane: Jump -> X This is like most jumping X Jutsu, in that it comes down at an angle, does a lot of damage, and won't take all your Chakra, only about 75% of it. When used, Temari fans two giant wind blasts down that become cyclones upon hitting the ground. They then travel along the ground, striking any enemy they hit a ton of times before traveling past. If the foe tries to block this Jutsu, he's hit sooo many times that it depletes over half his guard meter by itself. The nice advantage to this Jutsu, is that it has infinitely long range. The cyclones will continue untill the edge of the field, you can never be far enough away to avoid this, and blocking it is risky, and jumping over both cyclones is also pretty tough to do, though the attempt usually results in taking much less damage than hitting both cyclones. The only way to escape this Jutsu completely unscathed, is to be so close to Temari that the cyclones go over you and miss completely, or to be able to rapidly move sideways or teleport up to Temari and not be near the cyclones. I usually opt for this instead of Wind Scythe Jutsu. ============= = Abilities = ============= Fan Flight: Jump -> B Temari literally rides her fan on the wind and flies a short distance forward, attacking anything in the way. This does light damage but covers a lot of ground quickly. If used while high in the air, this move will often soar over the opponent, not hitting them at all but moving you to their backside. This move isn't great, but it's good at what it does. Here are the combos where this move occurs normally: Down + B -> B -> B Up + B -> B Counter Fan Flight: Away + A In Temari's Counter Stance, she shields herself with her fan, and will counter with a Fan Flight if attacked during it. Theres not much to say about this one, pretty straightforward. Wind Scythe: Down + A Temari swings her fan in a 360 sweep attack that knocks anyone it hits into the air. This has a much larger range than you'd think it does, and is a staple move for Temari, as it sets up for a combo of three additional fan attacks. That combo is as such: Down + A -> A -> A -> A ============== = Strategies = ============== The most important thing I can emphasize about Temari is range. Her standard ground fan combo A -> A -> A will do half as many hits and much less damage if it is used on a foe right next to you, the attack demands distance to maximize its power. However, being too far away will also be bad, as the fan blasts do eventually dissipate and might not reach their target in that case. A good melee combo for Temari is Down + B -> B -> A. Also use B -> B -> B -> A -> A -> A if a foe is in your face and you need to do a lot of damage. Whenever you use Wind Scythe or a throw, make sure you follow up with three more A hits up at them since aerial juggling is one of Temari's strongsuits. Using Temari's Wind Scythe Jutsu is actually very easy due to its extra range. It can be chained into a normal attack combo like with any other character, but I rather enjoy using it with a throw. Most people will not expect this at all, and throws are unblockable. Simply run up and grab the foe, then hit X as soon as you can. They should fall into the attack and be sucked up into the painful vortex of Wind Scythe Jutsu. Temari's Wind Scythe Jutsu is by no means bad, but I just prefer to use Hurricane instead. Hurricane can only be used from the air, and so you need to plan ahead for time to jump to use it properly, if you don't and your foe gets up close and sneaks under it, then you blew 75% of your Chakra for nothing. The easiest combo to use this in is the air juggling combo from Down + A -> A -> A -> A. The delay after the second of the three fan blasts is shorter and you can jump up and prepare your Hurricane faster, but adding the final fan hit gives you that much more damage and will get the foe a little father away, which often results in more Hurricane hits. Just make sure you're fast enough to hit them with it before they get up, or else they'll take way less hits than if you had just hit them while they were still laying on the ground. As Temari, fanspamming is your best friend, but also your main flaw. If you're fighting someone who can teleport up to or behind you, then he can sneak right up while you're in a combo and cheapshot you. Be very careful when fighting these foes. ============== = Conclusion = ============== Temari is the best distance fighter in the game. Everything about her is designed to work just as well, if not better, from a long distance as it does in melee range. Use kicks, sweeps, or throws to keep your foe far away from you, and unload heavy duty fan punishment. Temari shows no mercy, and is a good choice against other projectile fighters like Sakura and Tenten. Temari is vulnerable to fast melee foes, especially those who can teleport, but is still one of the best in the game, like her Sand Ninja bretheren. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [20] Jiraiya ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== At long last, we come to my favorite character in the game. Jiraiya, as one of the Sanin, ranks among the most powerful characters in the game. He has an arsenal of great Jutsu, including a wonderful disable: Dark Swamp, a great defense that doubles as a pokey pokey attack: Needle Gizo, and a Fire Jutsu like Orochimaru and Sasuke, plus he has two Summoning Jutsu: one that drops a frog on the foe and another that burns them to a crisp. Jiraiya is a big guy and has very powerful physical attacks, some of his palm thrusts send foes skidding back even if they blocked, and his kicks crush them into the ground. Jiraiya is a jack of all trades, he even has an Attack Throw. He is the most well rounded of the Sanin. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Summoning Jutsu, Toad Flame Bomb: X Jiraiya's standard attack Jutsu. After a quick punch he slams his hand down to summon one of his Toads, then jumps on it's back. They both breath fire together, creating an explosive combo attack that burns the crap out of whoever he hit with it. Deals good damage, somewhere around 45% Health, but not so much that you should always use your Chakra for this. Jiraiya has so many other cool things he can do with his Chakra, that this is actually my least favorite use of Chakra. Using an AfterBurn combo (see Fire Breath) is the best way to use your Chakra, with Bring Down the House Jutsu and Needle Gizo in a close second. Requires an initial strike to hit. Bring Down the House Jutsu: Down + X This attack is great any time, but especially in 4 player fights. Jiraiya drops a massive Toad on his target, inflicting damage to everyone nearby. It deals slightly less damage than Toad Flame Bomb, but only takes 75% of your Chakra and has such a nice range, that it's almost always better. This is one of your staple skills, any time you see an opening, drop this one in (horrible pun intended). "It's raining frogs!" ============= = Abilities = ============= Ninja Art Needle Gizo: Away + A Jiraiya's Counter Stance is my favorite one in the game. In this state you are invulnerable and act as if you block all attacks from all sides. Also any enemy that touches you, even if they Substitute attack you from behind, or are laying on the ground, will take rapid damage over time from being in contact with the needles. Finally, if you hold A, you can keep this stance active for a long time, while draining your Chakra. When using this as a follow up attack, I reccomend holding A to keep the attack going longer. This is his golden move, I love this and use this more than I use the X Button. Earth Style Dark Swamp: Down + A Jiraiya hits the ground and summons a muddy pit under the foe, who then slips into it and... somewhere... I have no idea where they go? But shortly thereafter, the foe pops back out, totally vulnerable to anything you would want to hit them with. This is Jiraiya's disable, it is an infinite range skill that works like an Attack Throw. That means if they block it, nothing happens, and the move fails. This is a good setup for Needle Gizo, especially in a 4 player fight, since both Dark Swamp and Needle Gizo can hit more than one foe at a time. If they Substitute out to attack behind you, and you've already activated Needle Gizo, then they won't hurt you and will take damage instead. You can use combo attacks or Jutsu after a Dark Swamp as well, I just gradually determined Needle Gizo to be the best course of action. Use whatever you want, that's the whole point behind using a disable in the first place. Fire Style Fire Breath: Forward + A Do you remember how I raved about Sasuke's Fireball Jutsu and his "AfterBurn" combo? Well guess what? Jiraiya can do it too. This move is functional by itself, it does decent damage untill they are pushed out of it's range. But, if used at the end of his combo, it pins the foe under the ground, crushing and burning them in a hitlock untill you release the A Button, which you shouldn't do; just use all your Chakra and roast them alive. Here is the combo: B -> B -> A -> B -> A This is the most Chakra efficient damage you have access to, and it looks very painful too. I like to mix it up with Bring Down the House Jutsu and Needle Gizo as well, but that's only for variety's sake. ============== = Strategies = ============== Well... with a character like this, you have so many options on how to spend your Chakra and how to fight, that I can't really explain them all. Jiraiya is a strong melee fighter, he doesn't hit very fast, but hits extremely hard. One of his combo's has an Attack Throw: B -> B -> A -> A It ends with an Attack Throw that you can't make him use except in that combo and as his A Attack from Hiding. He grabs the foe's head and then flexes his arm hard, sending them flying. I like his Down + B -> B -> B combo a lot too, he repeatedly stomps the foe into the ground. A few of his combos end with a hard palm thrust that sends the foe flying backwards, even if they block it. As far as Chakra usages, the AfterBurn combo works well in open areas. Another great combo, ESPECIALLY in a 4 player fight, is Dark Swamp -> Bring Down the House Jutsu. You'll drop the toad as they're coming back out of the swamp, dealing a lot of damage, probably to more than one foe at once. Another good combo is Dark Swamp -> Needle Gizo, which is my personal favorite. Occaisonally using Fire Breath at other times is fine too, it works well if you can pin them against a wall with the fire. When you see a character with this much variety, wthiout even using his standard Jutsu, and then you see characters like Hinata and Ino, it's clear why they are so terrible. If only everyone had as many cool moves as Jiraiya. Do beware of some of Jirayia's longer and slower combos, as they can leave you open should they be blocked or your foe teleport behind you. ============== = Conclusion = ============== All the Sanin are good characters, but Tsunade is only really good in close combat, and Orochimaru doesn't have nearly as many special Jutsu as Jiraiya does, making Jiraiya the most versatile. Jiraiya is also good at attacking everyone at once, making him better than Tsunade and Orochimaru in 4 player fights. Jiraiya is a very dangerous opponent, especially if you know all his moves, and he is my personal favorite character in the game. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [21] Tsunade ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== Tsunade is the next Sanin we'll be looking at, she was part of the squad with Jiraiya and Orochimaru and is the 5th Hokage. She is renowned for her amazing physical strength and frightening temper. The reason behind Tsunade's strength is that she is a medical ninja and enhances her attacks with Chakra, resulting in stronger blows. In the game, she doesn't actually have to use Chakra to attack, but still exhibits superhuman strength, like the ability to split the earth with her punches and send foes flying with one finger. Sadly, Tsunade doesn't have any special Ninjutsu, with the exception of an amazing self healing Jutsu, and she also doesn't have any projectile weapons. Tsunade is a straight melee fighter, with a LOT of power, and good variety in her combos. She is the most powerful of the Sanin, and the only one who can self heal, but also the simplest and lacks projectiles. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Legendary Heel Drop: X "Now you've ticked me off!" After landing the initial hit she leaps into the air and raises her leg... this can't be good. When this hits, the field explodes and the earth splits, leaving a massive crater in the field and doing the standard good damage that a heavy hitting Jutsu should. This is a good use of Chakra, but so is Substituting to keep up your offensive. Whether or not you choose to use this attack a lot or not is up to you. I prefer to use this when I know I can easily chain it in during my combo and I feel like crushing some skulls. Requires an initial strike to hit. Mitotic Regeneration: Crisis Down + X After an initial hit, which HAS to hit and does some damage, Tsunade releases Chakra from a special seal on her forehead. She uses this Chakra to fascilitate the growth of new cells in her body, rapidly healing her wounds. If you're fighting a Tsunade and she uses this, quickly finish her off before the benifits heal her too much. This is a great Jutsu, and after activating it, you should try and stall with blocking and Attack Throws to drag out the fight and keep on regenerating Health. Tsunade is the only character capable of healing herself like this, which is good as this Jutsu is very powerful and can easily turn around a fight. Requires an initial strike to hit. ============= = Abilities = ============= Finger Quake: Down + A Since Tsunade doesn't have any projectile attacks, this is her closest thing to a projectile. She pokes the ground so hard that it shoots a small earthquake out in a line. This is not only good as a long ranged attack, but also good for striking a foe who just landed on the ground. Master this move and use it often, it also occurs at the end of some of her combos, here's a list: B -> B -> A -> A A -> B -> B -> A -> A Finger Flick: Forward + A This is Tsunade's hilarious Attack Throw, though her Skull Crush is another Attack Throw, this one is much funnier. She pokes with one finger, and if it is blocked then nothing happens. But if it hits, the foe is screwed: Tsunade says "One finger is all I need" then flicks them so hard that they fly across the field and take a load of damage. You've gotta appreciate a woman with finger strength. Flying Kick: Up + A Tsunade leaps across a fair distance with a kick. This is a great way to close the gap between you and a foe, it does nice damage, and it has good knockback. Tsunade has a ton of great moves, this is just one of them. This doesn't cover as much ground as dashing and attacking does, so stick to that for very long distance attacks. I'll Crush You: Away + A This is a fun Counter Stance, if attacked, Tsunade says "I'll Crush You" and ninja teleports behind the foe. She doesn't even turn around to face the foe, and simply elbows backwards, slamming them hard in the back and sending them flying. It's a Counter Stance, they all kinda feel the same with a few rare exceptions (Needle Gizo). Skull Crush: Jump -> A She comes down at an angle from the air, and if she hits her foe in the head, she grabs their head between her legs. If blocked, nothing happens, but if it hits then the throw triggers and she does a backflip while still holding the foe. She lands hard on the ground and crushes the foe's skull and breaks their neck. Noone should be able to get back up after this attack, I only wish it did more damage. Still it just looks so happy that I sometimes feel the need to spam it, just to see the hatred on my foe's face. Impact: Jump -> B The very earth itself splits when Tsunade lands from this attack. The impact area will damage everyone around you, but her fist does the most damage and this is best used as a direct attack on foes right under you. If you jump and your foe is far away, use Skull Crush for the forward movement. If your foe is closer, use Impact for it's downward movement. This does less damage than Skull Crush. Dizzy Fist: Special Hold A In most of Tsunade's combos, when you use an A Button hit it can be charged if you hold the A button. If you land this hit (which can be hard to do since you have to take the time to charge it) then the foe will have a ? above their head. This puts them in the "Dizzy" status where their movements are reversed as are the A and B Buttons. It's infuriating to be hit by this in a fighting game, as your counter attacks will be blatantly wrong because you'll be hitting the wrong buttons. This is one of the most powerful things that Tsunade can do, and it's pretty common in her combos. Here's a list of the combos with a * next to the A Button hit you have to hold: B -> B -> B -> A* -> B B -> B -> A* -> B B -> B -> A* -> A Forward + B -> A* -> B Down + B -> A -> A* -> B A -> A -> A* -> B A -> B -> B -> B -> A* -> B A -> B -> B -> A* -> B A -> B -> B -> A* -> A A -> B -> A* -> B A -> B -> A* -> A Dashing -> B -> A* -> B Dashing -> B -> A* -> A ============== = Strategies = ============== Oddly enough, I don't have to list any combos here since I already listed her best ones up there under Dizzy Fist. Making the effort to charge your attacks and make your foe Dizzy is definitely worth it, as that usually completely messes up their chance of performing combos against you. It's really hard to play with your buttons and directions reversed, I've tried, the combos are just too engraved into my brain for me to suddenly reverse the buttons on the fly. Tsunade's combos do a lot of damage but also usually send the foe flying away, which means you have to chase them (no projectiles remember). It would be nice if she could chain her combos together more, but she would also be overpowered then because of the crazy damage she would do. Always try to use your Attack Throws at least a little, because they break up the action for a sec and give everyone a chance to think, but also because they look sweet. Whether you choose to use Chakra for Heel Drops or for Substitutions is up to you, but if you're losing the fight then it's no contest: Use Mitotic Regeneration! Take advantage of the fact that you're playing the only character who can self heal like that, it's a powerful asset. Crush your foe with no mercy! ============== = Conclusion = ============== Tsunade is a jerk, she hits really hard, makes you dizzy, and can heal herself. As one of the Sanin should be, she's up there with the best characters in the game and can be very difficult to fight against in melee. Tsunade is more vulnerable than most characters to long range attackers like Temari and Tenten, but her ridiculous physical strength can carry her through even the most difficult situation. Tsunade is probably not as good as Jiraiya and Orochimaru, if only because they both have good ranged abilities as well and Tsunade is straight melee. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [22] Orochimaru ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== Orochimaru is the last of the Sanin, he left his squad and abandoned Jiraiya and Tsunade just as Sasuke did with Naruto and Sakura. I always liked Orochimaru's style, all of his Jutsu are snake-like and he specializes in snake-themed attacks. He can also shed his skin to heal himself, and even transfer to new bodies to remain eternally young. He is a sick-minded and evil ninja, who knows nothing of compassion and doesn't think twice about killing those who get in his way. Having grown up together with Jiraiya and Tsunade, he knows them both very well. In the game, Orochimaru is definitely one of the best characters, because he has great skill with projectiles and can use Striking Shadow Snakes in his combos, which does a lot of damage and covers a huge range. He can also teleport freely to either side of his foe and remain phased out of the game during his teleports. Orochimaru is the combo specialist of the Sanin, very dangerous with his high damage snake combos and teleportation ability. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Five Pronged Seal: X This is the best standard Jutsu in the game. Orochimaru spins and slashes at the foe. If it hits, he then grabs them around the neck with his snake tongue, lifts them high into the air, and slams them down for good damage. After that, he brings them up close, cracks his knuckles sickly, and hits the foe with his Five Pronged Seal, which insantly blows all their Chakra and prevents them from recovering Chakra for a very long time. You should try to save Chakra at the end of a fight so that next round you can open with a combo and this Jutsu. Sealing a foe's Chakra instantly almost guaruntees you the victory, since it eliminates the chance of them Substituting out of your combos and the chance of them turning the fight around with a Crisis Jutsu. Requires an initial strike to hit. Grass Longsword: Down + X Orochimaru's prized extending sword, that he keeps concealed untill he needs to use it. This is a Secondary Jutsu, but still only hits one foe, still takes all of your Chakra, is unblockable, and actually does more damage than Five Pronged Seal. So it seems just like any standard Jutsu, except for the fact that Orochimaru flies across half the field when he uses this, making it very easy to hit a far away foe. As nice as this Jutsu is, Orochimaru's intense combos can often do even more damage, so once you have your foe's Chakra sealed, you should never use Chakra on Jutsu and save it for Substitutions. Since this is incapable of hitting more than one foe at a time, there isn't much use for this Jutsu... ever. ============= = Abilities = ============= Leaf Teleport: Special Away + A This is a great skill of Orochimaru's. When used, you vanish in a cloud of leaves, and then reappear behind your foe, ready to unload a ton of snakes to the back of their head. This doesn't take any Chakra and puts you right behind your foe, reguardless of distance. But... that's only if you do it normally, this is more than meets the eye. If you rapidly switch the direction you are holding, then you teleport to the FRONT of your foe instead of their back. So if you were holding left, after you hit A, quickly hold right, and you will teleport right in front of your foe. This can be further modified by holding the A Button, which leaves you phased out of the game untill you release A. This drains Chakra quickly, but can be used to dodge attacks or to hide and wait for a chance to strike, or just to confuse the hell out of your foe. Since you can change what side you teleport to, and how long you're gone, this is the best teleportation ability in the game. Fire Style, Fire Stream: Forward + A Orochimaru's Fire Jutsu isn't terrible, but it doesn't shine like it does for Sasuke and Jiraiya. Orochimaru has one combo which uses his Fire Stream, it's Away + B -> A, and if you hold A it can do pretty good damage, but also blow all your Chakra. Orochimaru can already do crazy damage with normal combos that don't take Chakra, so why would you ever choose to waste it like this. If you're a fire fanatic and really want to use this Jutsu, then try to get a slight distance from the wall of the stage and pin your foe against it with the fire, that does the best damage. I advise against using this Jutsu. Striking Shadow Snakes: Special A Orochimaru shoots freaking snakes out of his hands, how happy is that? The snakes can travel outward in a straight line or up at an angle to strike airborne foes. The snakes do a LOT of damage and rack up a crazy number of hits. In one two button combo, I got a 19 hit combo, that's kinda ridiculous. You should only use combos with the snakes, and avoid his other combos. For a laugh, check his Attack List, his combo 07 is the same as combo 12. Here's a list of Snake Combos: B -> B -> B -> B -> B -> A B -> B -> B -> A -> A Forward + B -> A -> A -> A Forward + B -> A -> B -> A Down + B -> A Down + B -> B -> B -> B -> A Down + B -> B -> A -> A Dashing -> B -> A Down + A -> A -> A Down + A -> B -> A ============== = Strategies = ============== Rule of thumb with Orochimaru: always try to use combos with Striking Shadow Snakes, and typically avoid other combos. The snakes do sooo much damage, get a crazy number of hits, and look great too. He's not a super complex character, attack relentlessly and try to use Five Pronged Seal as soon as you can in every fight. Try to end the fight with full Chakra so you can start the next fight with Chakra ready and waiting for a Five Pronged Seal. The ability to completely seal a foe's Chakra is Orochimaru's greatest asset. The only two things you should ever use Chakra on as Orochimaru, are Five Pronged Seal, and Substitutions, and occaisonally for the trick with Leaf Teleport, but that's only in rare occaisons. Normally teleporting doesn't require any Chakra, so you can do it all day, and why not? It's fun to be Orochimaru, you have access to many of the best abilities in the game... and I hear he was actually MORE powerful in the last Clash of Ninja game O.o? ============== = Conclusion = ============== Orochimaru, the last of the Sanin, is the best of the three. Since they are all among the best in the game, some people might argue that Orochimaru is the best character in the game. I personally think that Itachi is better, but Orochimaru is a close second to Itachi and very fun to play as well. He's a teleporting madman who has insane combos and the ability to completely seal your Jutsu. He isn't slow like Jiraiya, and has good projectiles unlike Tsunade, and can teleport which neither of them can do, which is why I say he's the best of the three. Orochimaru is a great pick for 1v1s, but not as great in 4 player matches. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [23] Kisame Hoshigaki ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== Kisame Hoshigaki is a mysterious member of Akatsuki who is almost always seen working with Itachi. His appearance is reminiscent of that of a shark, he has a blueish skin color and visible scales, as well as many jagged triangular teeth. Kisame and Itachi are the only playable members of Akatsuki in this game, though if you count that Orochimaru used to be a member that makes three. Kisame is a very accomplished swordsman and is skilled in Water Element Jutsu. He is also known to have insanely high Chakra reserves, comparable to that of Nine Tailed Fox Naruto. Furthermore, his mysterious sword, "Samehada" is covered in scales and tears at flesh instead of cleanly cutting like a normal sword. His sword is also capable of eating Chakra, every time you are attacked by Kisame's sword you will lose some of your Chakra. Kisame can use his enormous Chakra for the biggest Jutsu in the entire game: the Water Style Shark Bomb Jutsu. Even when blocked, this attack sends foes across the entire length of the field and explodes in a watery cascade upon ending. Kisame is a high power, low speed, sword wielder. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Samehada, Rip!: X I love Kisame's sword, and it loves to rip and tear into people. This Jutsu is a slow and nasty sword combo. After the first hit, Kisame stabs them and then slowly pulls the sword back, tearing into them and draining Chakra in the process. After that he swings for another attack, pierces the enemy to get some leverage, and then lifts them up and over, slamming them into the ground on his other side. Deals moderate damage for a Jutsu but also drains about 40% of the foe's Chakra. This is a pretty average Jutsu, requires an initial strike to hit. Water Style, Shark Bomb Jutsu: Down + X Using his insane amount of Chakra, Kisame fires a massive water shark across the field, dealing decent damage to whoever it hits, and pushing them across the field, even if they block it they will still be pushed to the other side. At the end the shark explodes in a watery cascade, it's all very prettyful, but its damage varies a lot depending on positioning. Here's a general summary: the foe takes more damage the farther the distance he is moved by the Jutsu, so use it when they AREN'T pinned against a wall. Also, they take more damage based on the distance the Shark travelled before hitting them. The ideal situation is you on one side of the field, your foe about halfway across, and the wall nice and far on the opposite side. This Jutsu can do impressive damage, upwards of 40%, but only when you carefully use it where it can do the most damage. You would think that they would give Kisame some more powerful Jutsu, what a shame. Only takes about 75% of your Chakra. I do like this move, I just think it should be doing more damage than it does now. ============= = Abilities = ============= Counter Slash: Away + A Kisame protects himself with his sword in this Counter Stance. If attacked, he repels the attack with an upward sword slash that lifts the foe into the air with it's sheer force. It's a Counter Stance, just a simple counter attack and nothing more, though the fact that it lifts your foe up in the air is nice for follow up attacks. Flying Slash: Jump -> A This is a quick attack that has little to no lag upon landing, and is important for Kisame as an initial hit to set up for a combo right afterward. This both makes combos do a bit more damage, and also helps you land them since Kisame's basic attacks are painfully slow. Flying Shark: Jump -> B Hehe, I thought it was kind of a funny name. This is Kisame's big air attack, does more damage than Flying Slash and comes straight down on foes below you. It also shocks the ground when he lands, doing damage in a small area. Sharkskin: Forward + A This attack can be charged to do more damage and drain more Chakra. Many of Kisame's sword attacks will drain Chakra, but this is the easiest one to do on the fly. It is unlikely that you'll be able to fully charge this attack in a normal fight, but it doubles it damage and Chakra drain when fully charged. It also occurs naturally during two of Kisame's combos, here they are: B -> B -> B -> A Forward + B -> A Power Throw: Y When Kisame uses a throw, he grabs the enemy and slams them on down on the opposite side, setting up for more attacks. I usually just follow this up by hitting A for an additional sword slash, but it's a nice throw all the same. A rarity since I hardly ever use throws and just happened to discover this, and it does do pretty good damage. ============== = Strategies = ============== Kisame is pretty slow combo-wise, but I have found a few tricks to help him out. Especially with his Flying Slash. Use this on the way down from a jump to hit a foe with a light slash, and then instantly go into a combo. It's a cheap way to add one more hit on to a combo, and Kisame needs all the help he can get. His A -> A -> A -> A combo is one of his better ones, any that end in the upward sword slashes are good because of the damage and also because they will drain Chakra from the foe. A "clean" sword hit from Kisame won't drain Chakra, but any of the hits with the scaley part of the sword that cause a ripping animation will drain Chakra. Kisame has a big lack of variety in his combos, which only serves to compound the problem of him being amazingly slow. Try to use the sheer range of his sword to offset his speed, such as in his Down + A -> B -> A combo. The sweeping slash has a deceptively long range, letting you set up the combo with relative ease. Because of the possible damage it can do given the right distance, always try for a Water Shark Bomb Jutsu whenever you see an opening, It's especially nice in 4 player fights. If you are being hammered by a fast foe, just wait it out and try to win through counter attacks, that's about all you can do when everyone is faster than you. His combos starting with B come out faster than the A combos, so against a fast foe a good combo is B -> B -> A -> B -> A. Never stay far from your foe for long, distance is not your friend. If you end up facing a long ranged attack specialist... good luck :( ============== = Conclusion = ============== Kisame is a cool character, but is just too slow and underpowered to be good. His Chakra drain is good, though not as good as Shino's and Neji. Kisame feels like he plays at about 1/2 the speed of most other characters, and he is noticeably without any projectile attacks or teleportation abilities. Still, he is cool, and that warrants playing him at least a little. He ranks in the middle, with the Sand Ninja and Sanin, as well as Orochimaru and Itachi, all residing above him. But, he's still leagues better than Hinata and Ino, and that's something. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [24] Itachi Uchiha ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========== = Summary = =========== Itachi Uchiha is Sasuke's older brother and the source of his anger and hatred. Itachi murdered their entire clan, leaving only Sasuke alive. Currently, Itachi works with Akatsuki, with his partner in crime, Kisame. He is a Sharingan specialist and highly skilled in Genjustu. Using his Tsukuyomi, he can create the illusion of hours of torture in only a few seconds. Itachi is also lightning fast, one of the fastest of all ninja. In the game, Itachi shows amazing skill with Shadow Clones, using them in almost all of his attack combos. He also has a devastating counter attack, Clone Explosion. Naturally, he is amazingly fast and can use the same teleportation ability as Orochimaru. In my personal opinion, Itachi is the best character in the game. As a show of his obvious superiority, or maybe just because he feels like it, Itachi never uses his left arm in combat. ================== = Special Jutsu: = ================== Tsukuyomi: X The Ultimate Sharingan based Genjutsu. Itachi traps his foe in his own little world, where he controls time and space and a thousand of him surround the foe and take turns a stabbin with katanas. The pain of this torture is so intense, that the foe feels real pain even though it was just a Genjutsu. Itachi can create the illusion that it took hours and hours, even though in reality it only lasted for seconds. He says something special to Sasuke when he uses this Jutsu. Deals plenty of damage, but also obliterates 100% of the foe's Chakra. This is a great move at any time, but especially when your foe has full Chakra. Requires an initial strike to hit. Clone Explosion: Down + X The Ultimate counter Jutsu. Itachi enters his Counter Stance, if attacked, he appears behind the foe... revealing that what was just attacked was actually a Shadow Clone. The Clone promptly explodes, dealing extreme wide area damage (when me and my sister play together we've gotten double kills with this before) and making whoever just attacked Itachi feel very foolish. It all happens so fast too, I just love the animation, I only wish it said "Epic Fail!" across the screen when this Jutsu happens. This is unblockable, obviously. Itachi blows all his Chakra when he uses this, Hah Hah, BLOWS his Chakra, that was got to be the single most clever pun in the history of FAQs. I'm sooooo freakin funny! ============= = Abilities = ============= Perfect Teleport: Away + A Though this is Itachi's ability, it is functionally the same as Orochimaru's. The only noticeable difference is that Itachi's doesn't have any leaves, just a poof of smoke. This doesn't even take any Chakra and puts you right behind your foe, reguardless of distance. But... that's only if you do it normally, this is more than meets the eye. If you rapidly switch the direction you are holding, then you teleport to the FRONT of your foe instead of their back. So if you were holding left, after you hit A, quickly hold right, and you will teleport right in front of your foe. This can be further modified by holding the A Button, which leaves you phased out of the game untill you release A. This drains Chakra quickly, but can be used to dodge attacks or to hide and wait for a chance to strike, or just to confuse the hell out of your foe. Since you can change what side you teleport to, and how long you're gone, this is the best teleportation ability in the game. Naturally, the lightning fast Itachi has access to this ability. Clone Dash Combo: Forward + A -> B or Forward + A -> A -> A Itachi instantly summons a Shadow Clone and sends it mad dashing at his foe. In the B combo he follows up the Clone's attack by dropping in with a drill kick. In the more powerful A combo he attacks with Kunai instead. Both of these combos allow you to send in the Clones to do your dirty work, and also to teleport yourself right up to your foe during the attack. Clone Drop: Jump -> A Itachi uses a perfect aim, infinite range, near instant attack on his foe. He summons a Shadow Clone that attacks with a drill kick. It doesn't do great damage, but it's sooo easy to hammer someone from across the field. How Itachi can summon Shadow Clones so fast... and using only one hand, is beyond me. Flying Clone Combo: Up + A -> A or Up + A -> B -> B -> B Itachi initiates this attack with a Shadow Clone so that he can remain safe at a distance. The 2 hit A combo only uses the Clone and is thus less risky than moving in yourself. The 4 hit B combo is more powerful but causes Itachi to teleport in and do the attacking himself, which carries a greater risk of being counter attacked. ============== = Strategies = ============== Itachi is wonderful, use your Shadow Clones to do half the work for you. He can be everywhere at once between his Clone attacks and his teleportation. If you're taking a beating, use Clone Explosion to make your foe regret every trying to fight back. Itachi's best combo is B -> B -> B -> B -> B -> A, it's up there with Orochimaru's combos in terms of damage, and it also looks cool as in concludes with a pincer attack between Itachi and his Clone. Any time you hit your foe onto the ground, try and use a Clone Drop on them to add some extra damage. One of my favorite combos from anywhere is Up + A -> A quickly followed by Forward + A -> A. After the first Clone's attacks you send another to attack the foe twice as he's falling, as long as you don't hit A again then Itachi won't teleport in, letting you keep your safe distance from the foe. Itachi is a great counter to projectile fighters like Temari and Tenten, and Sakura as well, because he can easily attack anyone anywhere, and has no distance limitations. Once a foe starts with the projectiles, Itachi can simply slam a clone in their face or teleport behind them to begin the ownage. Itachi's Down + A -> A combo will send him dashing at the foe with a Kunai attack, then automatically teleport behind them. This is a nice way to interupt anyone doing something, then get ready for another combo. Finally, his Forward + B -> B -> B combo leaves the foe in the air and you can usually add in any other combo right afterwards. I suggest the best combo: B -> B -> B -> B -> B -> A, this double combo attack chain does amazing damage. All of Itachi's moves are great, it's simply a matter of finding out which ones work well for you, and when the best time is to use them. ============== = Conclusion = ============== Itachi isn't about raw power from his attacks, he's about his insane speed and great combos. His Shadow Clone abilities are great because they allow him to attack without becoming vulnerable himself, and if he does become vulnerable, he can use Clone Explosion to turn the tables instantly. He can also do a 100% Chakra drain Jutsu, it doesn't seal Chakra like Orochimaru's but is still awesome. Since Itachi is so fast and has such amazing Clone abilities, I rate him as being better than Orochimaru, and as the best character in the game. Oddly enough, he is the hardest to unlock out of all the characters, but if you play relentlessly you can unlock everything (including Itachi) in a day or two. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [25] Copyrights ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The game "Naruto Clash of Ninja, Revolution" is a product of Tomy and Nintendo, and I do not own any part of it, nor do I claim to. Naruto as an anime/manga and all of it's characters are the property of it's creator Masashi Kishimoto, and Shonen Jump. The only things that I own related to these groups are my own copy of "Naruto Clash of Ninja, Revolution" and my own Nintendo Wii. The ideas and opinions expressed in this guide are mine, and if I find it anywhere that I didn't give my consent for it to be posted, that's stealing and I'll hunt you down and do very nasty ninja things to you. Currently I only allow this to be posted on sites in my site list, if you find this anywhere else, email me. All I ask is that you ask me before posting this guide, and give me credit for anything you take from it. I return the favor in kind; if you contribute anything to this guide then you get credit for it. If you think you want to contribute or notice any problems, be sure to email me so that I can fix it, updates are nice. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. Thanks G.I.Joe! ============= = Site List = ============= GameFAQs (obviously) http://www.supercheats.com =========== = Contact = =========== I am Pyzik, contact me at [email protected] I check my email pretty regularly, just make sure the subject is something about the FAQ so I don't dismiss it as spam. ... ... ... ... ... ... You wins, a winrar is you