If you were looking for a satisfying Naruto sidescroller then Naruto Saikyou Ninja Daikesshuu 3 may just be the game to satisfy that fix. Unless you were buried under a rock all your life, you should be quite familiar with Naruto. The story of a ninja that was born with a demon within. The series itself has a huge cult following which ends up leading to many games and merchandise. Most of which aren’t worthy of the Naruto name.

This game in the series follows the gang’s pursuit of Orochimaru and his minions. It really was a short saga, and with this type of game, it becomes even shorter. Although the game does add a bit of extension by allowing you to use a wider variety of characters than were available in the series. What that equates out to is using Hinata to fight. Though not completely accurate with the series, it does make some wicked combinations. Of course side-scrolling action games should never be too accurate. Take for example how many times I’ve come across half-naked men carrying around a ball on a chain.

As soon as you get over the “wow it’s a side-scrolling Naruto game” factor, you soon realize that the game has a lot of repetitiveness to it. But what sort of game is this exactly? It has a fair mix of Mario and Streets of Rage elements, but is more closely related to Mario. Mario with wall jumping and boss fights. Although the game does add a few features to keep it separated from the aforementioned, those features are lacking and aren’t emphasized to the point of satisfaction.

What are the innards?
The game uses a very bland system. All the characters do the same combo, the only difference is that they look different and have different specials. The interesting thing is how the super-moves are pulled off. You activate the chakra meter by pressing L+X, afterwards the meter will appear and you have to spin it as fast as you can. There are three levels in total for the meter and each level corresponds to a super-move. But still the game is a rather easy one and there is not much you need to learn. Boss battles consist of jumping over the boss and hitting him from behind.

However the game as mentioned before does allow the player to choose which team members they can bring along with them. Though the actual characters that you can control is limited to 5, the support-list is massive and includes the likes of Gaara to Neji. But underneath they are all just super-move animations that just inflict a certain amount of points. It’s a very bland system for someone at my age, but I believe that this game was more aimed at a younger demographic, especially evident because of how simple the game is.

Perfect for those youngsters as you have little to memorize, and just need the ability to draw rapid circles on the touch-screen. I guess the super-move animation also appears to children, as they seem to be quite fond of bright flashing animations. I was quite fond of them as well. Now bear with me, another reason I believe that the game is directed towards children is its use of picking the right sign to activate the super-move correctly. After spinning the DS’s touch-screen so hard, you actually have to end up pressing the right sign just like how they do it in the series. But my belief is that the game is trying to promote education among the kids. I could be wrong but I’ll side with myself. As a quick mention, the faster you spin the chakra meter, the less signs you have to touch for the super-move to activate. If you aren’t familiar with Japanese Kanji then you may be stumped at first, especially since you only have a few bare seconds to press the correct characters. Not every move is activated with tapping the signs, like Sasuke for example. To do Sasuke’s Gakkun No Jutsu, you have to blow into the mic to create a large fireball.