Just recently started playing and Naruto's the only character that really fits me well (I'm a Falco main in PM, they're similar in certain manners). My only complaint is that while dair is cool for movement options, it just sucks. Like, really sucks. (One of my main issues with the game is how many characters have dairs that are basically only good for SDing, I wish they were cancelable somehow.) His recovery is god awful, but I'm not sure what could be done about that, really. Maybe a technique could be implemented like DeDeDe's Waddledashing in PM? He desperately needs help with horizontal recovery.

Otherwise, I'm enjoying pretty much everything else about him. Dude's got some absurd combos, and I love how easy it is to link moves by using side special to drag them back in.

Rasenshuriken helps with horizontal recovery a bit. You slowly descend and maintain momentum.

Yeah, I noticed that, but that really means the only way to recover horizontally is utilizing a charged move... which likely means by the time you're back on stage, you're dead anyways, because you aren't going to be able to charge another.

anyone one know how to use naruto's up and back throws? up throw sends oppents to far to combo from and back throw's knock-back can easily be DI'ed if used as a finisher at high percents. also i wish this guys down throw was faster because it's so easy to tech the meteor smash.

I'm pretty sure upthrow is his worst throw because of that, that pretty much sums it up.

The point of dthrow is to set up tech chases. On some characters you can get an easy regrab follow up by fastfalling, you can use dspec on the way down to cover a roll option better (but it can leave you more vulnerable if they don't roll into it).

Naruto is pretty fun to play, but what frustrates me about him is the difficulty in connecting with Rasengan. If another character gets too close just before you release it, it won't work and you're left very open to punishment. That is extremely annoying, especially against small, floaty characters like Metaknight and Jigglypuff. I would like for Rasengan's initial hitbox to appear a bit quicker and just a little bit larger (reducing Rasengan's “blind spot” at least by a little). Obviously he could still be hit while he was charging, just not when he wasI don't know how that would affect balancing for the character but I feel like it would save people a lot of frustration. I will admit that Rasengan's chance of connecting has greatly improved from before, so maybe just a little more. The inclusion of Rasenshuriken as the fully charged version of Rasengan instead of Odama Rasengan was a great decision because it gives it a bit more range and it's still very powerful, but I would like to see the partially charged Rasengan as more of a way to start a combo and rack up damage. Kind of like Mario's wavedashing in Brawl, so that Naruto can chase the opponent and follow up with a tilt, a smash, or a grab.


Naruto's mobility is great, however, and his shadow clones are excellent for setting up combos and stringing the opponent along. His horizontal recovery, as others have noted, is somewhat lacking, but I think that Rasengan is more pressing. I like to use the side special while in the air to stop edge guarders and try to leap over them.

I don't want to disparage the developers' work; 0.9b Naruto is much better than the shuriken-throwing, air shadow-clone spamming, and far less entertaining Naruto of earlier demos. I noticed Ichigo's marked improvement over even the latest demos, and I hope that Naruto and other characters get a similar treatment. I really want to see SSF2 come out as an amazing and very fun game, and the demos have for the most part exceeded my expectations. I've been following the game's development since 0.1, and it's come a long way over the years. I'm excited for the end. Good job so far, guys! ¡Felicitaciones por su buen trabajo!

Naruto mains: SoldierSunday wanted to show you all how to play an aggressive Naruto, so he demonstrated it in a match against my Peach. It was a close match, but dat 0-death combo at the end tho

This is how naruto should be played, not the campy projectile spam style. Thanks for posting this, I feel like not enough people know how good nair is. Also I like how SS is using uptilts in his combos, I'll definitely try that out. Dat end combo 0-0

He could have DI'ed better to escape that.

Honestly, Naruto is more about mid range Imo. He can use his S-spec to bring the opponent to him and combo from there. His other projectiles can also help in his approach.

Yeah, I know. I'm just not used to people performing long combos on me because they either hit and run or don't know how to. So once he started performing long combos on me, I kinda froze up not knowing what to do. Just got to think of how I play Melee.

Bthrow is for combos at low %'s, killing at high %'s.
Uthrow is a juggle set-up throw.

That was really good.

I've become interested in Naruto's walling game after some (admittedly little) experimentation online. Dropping a clone with up-B near the center of the stage seems to leave Naruto with very good stage control, provided he can perform the up-B safely in the first place.



You can cover vertical space nicely with down-B's angles:



And side-B has effective horizontal control, and allows various mixup options -- standing, short hop, full hops, and your own horizontal positioning allow you to vary your stage control -- for example, a short/full hop side-B could be used to catch an opponent's jump or something if you read it. (This kind of mixup is possible with down-B as well.)




And if you manage to have a fully charged neutral-B after setting up the clone, you have some pretty effective stage control going on.



What I wonder is whether setting up this walling game is feasible and worthwhile in match, due to Naruto's solid rushdown game.

His clones last way too long. His charged B does way too much damage for how easy it is to hit. These things absolutely need fixing before Naruto can be described as anything other than camp incarnated.

Fix'd