I'm not the biggest fan of anime. Sure, I can appreciate Miyazaki's work, and I grew up watching the Pokémon show, but it's just a form of entertainment I'm still building appreciation for. One thing I do recognize, however, is the Naruto franchise. This series is everywhere, with buttons from Hot Topic, DVDs at Target, and grown men running around with a goofy headband and stripes painted on their face. It's easy to look down on something so popular.


So checking out two new Naruto Shippuden games, Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 for the Wii and NARUTO Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2 for the DS, was going to be an adventure in mass produced populist pablum. Sure, the games are based in the post-formative years of our ninja hero, so, yes, there would naturally be more interesting things to see than the adventures of a ten year old. However, Naruto still looks like Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes and I still held onto my shameless pretensions against the series. A videogame wasn't going to change that.


Then I found out that the Wii (and Gamecube) Naruto fighting series has a hardcore tournament level fan base, that NARUTO Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 is promising to be the most balanced of the series. Even better, I can play a grandma lady who attacks with puppets. Let's just say my respect for the series has oddly gone up. Killer grandmas are worth a lot in my book.


Hit the jump for my first of two previews.

I'm going to be blunt with Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3: this game is not a revolutionary fighter. The controls aim to strike a balance between the quick-and-easy of a game like Smash Bros. and the techniques of a 3D-fighter like Tekken. With strong and weak attacks, a special move, blocking, a dashing counter, and fighting inputs that rely on only four directions and button presses. No quarter turns, no dragon punches. There is the obvious health system, as well as the chakra bar, controlling the number of supers and counter attacks you can do. It's a simple system that is popular, and it has been proven by the tourney scene that has simmered under the Guilty Gears and Street Fighters of the world.

I know, crazy right? A tournament scene for a Naruto game? But there you go, queue “The more you know”.  For a while now, Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2, for the Gamecube, has stood as the standard for the fighting game series, with the best balance of speed and gravity. It's popular, but there's a problem: certain characters were not balanced, the the series had moved to the Shippuden portion of the story arc, so all the main characters have grown up a bit, and plenty of new characters are being ignored. Topping it off, the Japanese-only entries of the series are considered floaty and unplayable for the tourney scene, making a three year old game the standard fighter.

That's actually where Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 is making the biggest improvements. In a move odd for a licensed fighting game, the developers, 8ing, who also made Tatsunoko vs Capcom and are currently working its localization, have focused primarily on making Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 the best tournament-worthy fighting game in the series. Pros have been brought out to help tweak characters to find the right balance, new characters have been brought in, and stat edits for everything from health to the amount of chakra can now be used.

For example, Kakashi, a character apparently low- to mid-tier, has been boosted with enough tweaks to impress the tournament fighters giving him a second chance. Many previously ignored features, such as the Smash Bros-esque four-player free-for-all and the tag battles system, have now been updated to be something more than a novelty.

Finally, there's two things that are very important and new to the series. First, WiFi multiplayer has been added to the series, meaning you'll be able to take this game and do your battles on the go. Unfortunately, they are unable to talk about such things as friend codes and lag, but I've been promised that they have been working hard to reduce lag as much as possible. Naruto fans, look forward to that.

The next big announcement, I've been told by Associate Producer Mike Jones, is that Granny Chiyo is now a playable character, a specific nod to fans. This spry old lady fights using two puppets, and considering she has almost no direct attacks, she's all about moving around and sending puppets outward. It's an interesting style that, so far, has fuddled the gameplay standards of the pros.

In the end, this is a game designed for fans of Naruto and Naruto Shippuden. However, it is promising to be the best, most balanced game in the series, and with online fighting, a boosted character roster of 35, and the standardized option of multiple control schemes (Gamecube controller, Wiimote sideways, Wiimote with nunchuck, etc.), there is an obvious attempt to make this the definitive Naruto fighting game.