Yet the number of such characters are few. Most are easy enough to learn and are merely a matter of play style. There are characters more focused on speed than damage, vice versa and a balance in between. Special moves follow a style more closely resembling Dead or Alive, where interchanging between a strong and weak attack reveal new combos. Indeed, combos are the key to beating your foe into a pulp. There are plenty of additional factors, such as which direction you are pressing while attacking, getting into and out of throws, etc., but the basic structure is executing combos at the right time. It’s also possible to escape combos, but at a high cost of energy that, when saved up, can execute a devastating ability. In the end the player must choose between conserving energy or conserving health.

There are also a variety of game modes available, which is a good thing as the story mode is a chore. The writing is lackluster and the voice work, while not horrible, is just as bland. If you’re not familiar with the show then all of the characters seem uninspired and it’s tough to care about any of them. Yet most frustrating about story mode is the objectives given in battle. Combined with a time limit the player will often be forced to defeat a foe in a specific manner, which can result in running out of time or dying in a vein attempt to conserve required energy or a proper opening to finish just right. In addition, the game tries to get players used to a variety of different characters, including the incredibly hard to use ones. These moments can become brick walls that take a lot of time to overcome, and in the end aren’t even worth it.

In the end the best thing to do is use the points given to the player at the start to unlock all the additional modes of the game. Survival in particular is a great way to burn through fights easily and collect more points to unlock more characters, modes and stages. The story mode takes way too long and offers little reward, and is the weakest part of the game to be sure.

That is, right next to online play. The lag is nothing short of terrible, running everything at what feels like half speed. One would imagine that such lag would actually give players better reaction time, but it only means by time you see an attack coming it’s too late to avoid damage. Players that have learned to deal with the lag will crush any newcomer, and even players of equivalent skill will be frustrated with the slow progress of battle. It’s much better to pull three friends into your home and just play on the same TV.

Be sure to have four GameCube and/or Wii Classic controllers handy, though. The Wiimote settings for the game are pretty weak and don’t function nearly as well as the traditional input methods. Having to wave the wand for every weak attack quickly becomes tiring, and the random controller commands do nothing to add to the experience. Best to leave those controls on the shelf and stick to the tried and true.

Despite these shortcomings, Naruto: CoNR3 is pretty solid. If you’re one of those gamers that has convinced himself of the lie that the Wii has no hardcore games, this title stands as proof to how wrong you are. Whatever your feelings on the show are, this game is enjoyable for just about anyone that likes to pummel their friends into submission. Just don’t expect to be doing that online.