How to play
The Clash of Ninja games are part of the "3D fighter" genre depending on how you define it. The game is constantly functioning as a 2D fighter as your characters fight on a 2D plane, but you can sidestep into the background or foreground to adjust the angle the game reads that plane on. This allows the game a new method to avoid attacks and approach opponents.
At first glance, you'd probably assume this is a shallow tie-in game with not a whole lot of mechanics behind it. Surprisingly, it's not - it can actually get fairly deep (not Melee deep, but still fairly in-depth)
This game was developed by Eighting, the developers of the Bloody Roar fighting game series, and the series in fact uses a modified Bloody Roar engine.
If you're a newcomer, it's also important to throw most of your initial notions behind fighting games out too. Not all of them though - after all, this is still a fighting game. By this, we mean it doesn't require long calculus equations for combos like you'd see in Street Fighter or Tekken - many combos require a single directional input accompanied by a string consisting of 
and 
.
It's really important to grasp the basics before jumping in, and that's what this guide is going to be focusing on. It's also worth noting that there are many unique mechanics in this game that aren't described in the games' manuals or even the tutorials, so you may want to refer to this guide every now and then if you're just starting out.
Gameplay UI
Here's a diagram showing the crucial parts of the UI.
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Timer: This area of the screen displays a number and slowly decreases. When this number hits zero, the round is over and the player with the most health at the end of the round is declared the winner. If both players have the same amount of health, it is considered a draw and neither player earns a match point. Match time can also be disabled (∞) as can be seen in the sample screenshot.
Health gauge: A fighting game staple, also referred to by some as a "lifebar". The objective of the game is to fully drain the yellow portion of this bar, also referred to by some players as "life". When attacked, the damage inflicted turns red before disappearing from the bar when struck again.
In games that feature tag battles, the character's red health will slowly recover if the active character tags out. Some characters can also recover red health, such as Tsunade or Kabuto.
- When a player's health reaches a certain point, they will enter a "critical" state. What happens in this state depends on the game:
- In Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen! 4, when a player's health reaches 20%, chakra gain increases.
- In Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 and Naruto Shippuden: Gekitou Ninja Taisen! Special, when a player's health reaches 30%, Latent Ninja Powers will activate.
Chakra gauge: Referred by some players as a "super gauge", this gauge is responsible for some of the actions the player can execute. When his gauge is filled, a blue flame will appear in the sphere and a character's Secret Technique can be performed. Executing one of these actions consumes a part of the gauge.
| Cost | Action(s) |
|---|---|
| 25% | Y-Cancels, regular team swap, activating Sasuke's Sharingan |
| 50% | Character state changes (Kakashi's Sharingan, Lee and Guy's Gates) |
| 75% | Substitutions, tag substitutions, non-cinematic Secret Techniques |
| 100% | Cinematic Secret Techniques |
| Cost | Action(s) |
|---|---|
| 25% | Y-Cancels, Paper Bombs, regular team swap |
| 50% | Character state changes (Kakashi's Sharingan, Lee and Guy's Gates), wake-up Substitutions, attack team swap, assist attack (2P Squad Battle only) |
| 75% | Substitutions, tag substitutions, non-cinematic Secret Techniques |
| 100% | Cinematic Secret Techniques |
This gauge increases when a player:
- attacks
- blocks
- successfully tech rolls
The gauge also gradually increases when a player tags out in any of the Clash of Ninja games that feature a tag system.
Combo counter: When you perform a series of consecutive attacks, this is called a combo. When you land a second hit, this counter appears. As you land hits, this number increases. Once you stop landing consecutive hits, this counter disappears.
Guard gauge: A player's guard (which varies depending on a character's Defense) is represented by colored circles. Upon a successful block, these circles turn black depending on the value. When a character's guard is depleted, you will break the character's guard.
Round markers: When a player wins a round, a small kunai "marker" will be displayed underneath a player's chakra gauge (in some games, this is a shuriken instead). When a player wins the number of rounds specified by the "Match Point" setting in the game's options (default is 2), the match ends and a winner is decided.
Moving
In this game, your character can 
walk forward, 
walk backward, dash, backstep, 
jump, double-jump, and sidestep with 
or 
when you're not being attacked.
Starting with Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen! 4, you can now sidestep while dashing, making this a very safe maneuver.
In Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 onward, your character is temporarily invulnerable when sidestepping and back-dashing.
More information coming soon.
Blocking
Blocking, or "guarding" in the Clash of Ninja titles is very easy: you can either hold away from the opponent or do nothing (don't touch Control stick or buttons)
Blocking isn't free, however: every character has a finite value of how much they can guard (represented both in the guard gauge and by the color of the hitsparks when blocking: blue when full, then yellow, then red) and when this value has been depleted, your character's guard will break (represented by an animation and a "shattering" sound) and your character will be temporarily defenseless.
Something to keep in mind is that all characters' (except Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination ) very briefly have guard frames on startup. If they're hit during this point in the attack, this counts as a guard, and your character will continue to perform an attack.
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This is known in fighting games as a reversal. If you can gauge when your opponent will attack and perform a just in time, they might think you're capable of reading minds!
Attacks/Combos
- Main article: Attacks
Attacking is extremely easy in this game: does a regular attack (a punch or kick of some kind) and has your character use either a weapon or some other type of jutsu attack.
When you're standing on the ground, you can vary your techniques by inputting one of 4 directions (technically, 5 if you count leaving the stick stationary) before hitting an attack button.
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+ or makes the magic happen.
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You can also do a dash attack (hit an attack button while dashing 
)
Air attacks also exist in this game, however they don't vary as much as your options are either 
or . Some characters do have aerial Secret Techniques, but we'll cover that later.
Every character in this game has a set number of premade combos - which are performed by putting together what we've discussed so far in this section: a directional input and a series of buttons.
| Combo 1 |
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This is an example of what a combo looks like. |
I wasn't kidding when I said "throw out your idea of typical fighting game combos": even a beginner, just picking up the controller for the first time can effortlessly execute a multi-hit combo. This is truly the charm of the Clash of Ninja series.
However, that said, as tempting as it may be, in order to improve, you don't want to mash out and like a madman. Rather, the timing is what's essential to keeping an advanced combo string going: you'll need to learn when to appropriately delay inputs, otherwise you'll drop the combo. It's crucial to learn your character's attack properties and the timings on inputs in order to become a better player. You can also use portions of preset combos instead of the full things that allow you to create longer and more efficient combos. Creativity is the big thing here.
Throws
You can throw your opponent by hitting 
. Throws in this game give you the upper hand by allowing you to follow through with a combo, although the damage of the throw itself is fairly low. The range which you can throw people is very short, and often, you cannot perform it unless you're in very close contact with your opponent.
Most players starting out typically do not utilize nor expect throws, so it's very easy to catch someone by surprise with one.
There are a few types of throws in the Clash of Ninja series.
Types of throws
Overhead throws
Most of the cast has this type of throw. The animation, once confirmed, has the character grab the opponent, somersault over their head, and then toss them into the air with the opponent sailing fairly high. You can follow up with a combo to this throw, however, it will require you to take a few steps forward so you're in range of the opponent as they fall. This window in which one can do this is fairly short. The only exceptions to this type of throw is as follows:
Bounce throws
Fewer characters in the Clash of Ninja games perform this type of throw. This throw does twice the damage of a normal throw. This animation, once the throw is confirmed, consists of the player grabbing the opponent by the ear, pulling them over their right shoulder, finishing with slamming the opponent against the ground. The opponent "bounces" off the ground (usually the height of the player) and the player can immediately combo them without any need to move forward. The input time required to follow up with a combo hit immediately after a bounce throw, however, is fairly small. Examples of these characters include Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination and Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination in GNT4 onward, as well as Asuma and Tsunade in Revolution 3.
Push throws
The animation, once the throw is confirmed, consists of the player grabbing the opponent and pushing them away. Very few characters do this type of throw in the series; examples include Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination and Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination in GNT4 and Ino in GNT Special. This throw does zero damage, but sets the player up for an assortment of combo strings.
Bite throw
This throw is restricted to solely Akamaru.
Air throws
In Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen! 4, only a few characters can grab an airborne opponent in mid-air by pressing .
In Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3, air throws are universal and any character can perform them - some of these have custom animations, too.
Custom Throws (Rev3)
Several characters in Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 have access to a unique throw that typically is cinematic in nature and varies in properties from their typical throw. On the ground, these can be performed with and custom air throws work by simply pressing . (Tip: you can hold if your timing isn't great when trying to do a custom throw on the ground.)
Throw teching
If you press (or any attack button, so that includes , , or 
) at the same time as your opponent when they attempt to throw you, both characters will push one another away and the throw will be cancelled.
Secret Technique (Ougi)
You can perform these by hitting . These are equivalent to "Supers" in other fighting games and take a lot of the opponent's health.
There are two types of Secret Techniques seen in the Clash of Ninja series: The '"cinematic" type which starts with a single lunge or hit and on connect begins a scripted scene where the attack plays out, and a "real-time" type which happens near-instantly and doesn't lock the other player(s) in a cutscene. They can also target more than one player in a 4P match.
The "cinematic" Secret Techniques require a full chakra meter and cannot be blocked. "Real-time" supers usually only require 75% of the chakra meter - however, these do not do as much damage and can be sidestepped or otherwise avoided, as players can sometimes react in a timely fashion.
It's important to note that activating a Secret Technique isn't entirely risk-free. Should the opponent dodge a cinematic super, it will leave your character not only without chakra but extremely vulnerable to attack, as the animation plays out very slowly. Be careful!
- To overcome this scenario, here's a tip: In all of the Clash of Ninja titles, the combo is nearly universal. It's fairly easy to grasp and you'll look like a pro in front of your friends when you do it. ;)
State changes
These are somewhat derivative from Secret Techniques, but (usually) do not inflict damage to the opponent upon activation. Select characters can enter another form, can access new abilities or otherwise gain a power boost by hitting when they have 50% chakra. State change-exclusive combos on the wiki are typically referenced on their respective character page under their typical combo tree, denoted with a unique symbol.
Tech roll
Typically when your character falls to the ground after taking damage in midair, they'll take extra damage when they land and your opponent will have a tactical advantage. You can mitigate this by doing a tech roll by hitting or just before your character is about to hit the ground. Commonly referred to as an ukemi in other fighting games, this technique allows you to safely roll away and potentially turn the tables. Not only that, successfully tech-rolling adds 25% chakra to your meter as well.
However, there may be situations against skilled players who may correctly judge which way you'll roll and pursue to you follow up into a throw or Secret Technique - so you can keep them guessing by pressing a direction on the Control Stick: and will allow you to roll away from or towards the opponent, and or will allow you to roll into a different directional plane. This input also depends on the direction your character is facing, so keep that in mind.
Quick recovery
Coming soon.
Substitution/Kawarimi no Jutsu (KnJ)
You can open up an opportunity to counterattack your opponent when you're trapped in a combo by hitting or while being attacked. This consumes 75% of your chakra gauge. It's fairly easy to grasp when you're first learning the game, but it's very difficult to execute correctly in higher-level play as a good player knows when you're likely to switch and can react accordingly.
Hitting to Substitute will have you simply reappear behind the opponent, whereas will have you reappear behind the opponent and attack. Depending whether you're on the ground or air, the Substitution has different attack properties.
The way your character teleports and also the way in which they attack differs by character, so to truly master the ninja art of Substitution you'll want to understand the way in which your character does so.
This counterattack mechanic is one of the staples of the Clash of Ninja series and what makes it so unique compared to other fighting games within the genre. It's thanks to this system that true infinites in this game are extremely difficult, if not impossible within typical match scenarios, to perform.
Y-Cancel
Coming soon.
Latent Ninja Powers (Rev3, SP)
When a character's health in Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 and Naruto Shippuden: Gekitou Ninja Taisen! Special drops below 30%, they'll enter a Critical state and begin to glow. This means "Latent Ninja Powers" (or LNP for short) are active - and the exact boost depends on the character. The type of boost given depends on the color of the aura.
More info to come.
Training mode reset
You can hit on the C-Stick to reset the characters' positions, damage, etc.