Naruto (Super Smash Flash 2)

Naruto is a newcomer starter character in Super Smash Flash 2. His sprites are custom-made and based on his appearance in Naruto: Shippūden and are a heavily modified version for his sprites from Jump Ultimate Stars. His moveset is from the many types of Jutsu he uses in the manga and anime, including his signature moves, the Rasengan and Shadow Clones.

Naruto is currently ranked 29th out of 40 on the current tier list, placing him in the B- tier, a huge leap from his position on the last tier list where he was the worst character. Naruto's strengths include his fast attacks, great combo ability and powerful finishers in all of his smash attacks, higher stages of Rasengan, back aerial, and down tilt. Naruto can also play offensively by rushing down his opponent or defensively by zoning with his Shadow Clone Slash projectiles that can be set as traps onstage or dropped onto unsuspecting foes, strengthening his stage control, combo game, and edgeguarding ability.

However, Shadow Clone Slash covers a poor vertical distance and is predictable, making it easy to deal with if the opponent knows how it works. All of his projectiles can be out-prioritized or reflected, reducing the effectiveness of his zoning game. He has problems dealing with characters who possess disjointed range and great mobility (such as and ). Naruto also has below average weight which allows him to be KO'd very early.

Naruto has a growing player base due to his strong stage control ability and combo game, making him especially popular among low-level players. This led to a lot of hate for the character and calls for him to be nerfed. Despite this, there are few high-level Naruto mains, leading to low representation and mediocre placings in tournament.

Attributes
Naruto can be described as a character with many play styles. He can be played offensively, as a rush down character, or defensively, as a zoning character. Naruto has above average dashing and walking speed, but with poor air speed giving him above average mobility. He has reliable KO moves in his forward smash, up smash, an almost fully charged Rasengan, the Fūton: Rasenshuriken (the initial hitbox stuns the opponent trapping him/her to take the full hit of the attack), his up aerial, back aerial, and his down tilt.

Even though he can rush down his opponents; he can zone or projectile camp with his shadow clone projectiles and leave clone land mines from his Shadow Clone Slash giving Naruto a decent amount of stage control.

His recovery, although covering a poor distance, allows him to deal with edge guarders with the initial hitbox at the beginning of the move and if he presses the attack button during his ascent, he will be able to kick his opponents away. Naruto's down aerial (as long as he is above the ledge) and Rasenshuriken (slows his descent before he throws it) can help him recover horizontally.

Naruto has an amazing ground game with his tilts and dash attack being great tools. His up tilt and dash attack are great for starting combos. His forward tilt is a good spacing tool, while also doing decent knockback. His down tilt is strong which can make for a great KO option.

However, Naruto two very significant flaws, one concerning his recovery. Although it can help him deal with edge guarders, Shadow Clone Slash can be easily edge hogged and his recovery will be shortened if chooses to attack during his ascent, already worsening the move's poor vertical gain. His down aerial can help him recover horizontally, but if he goes to low, then he might not be able to recover vertically. Additionally, if the player is not careful with Rasenshuriken, opponents can easily absorb it, hindering his zoning game, or reflect it, which might knock Naruto further from the stage, if not KO him outright.

All of his projectiles can be reflected or out-prioritized, meaning his stage control can be countered and turned against him if he goes up against characters with reflectors. With the exception of his forward tilt, Naruto lacks range in most of his attacks, leaving him vulnerable to characters with disjointed hitboxes (ex. and ). Characters who posses more priority in their attacks also give him trouble (ex. and ). In addition, he lacks any reliable ways to deal with projectiles and his crouch is not low enough to make it suitable to dodging projectiles.

Adding on to the fact, Naruto has only average survivability. He has below average weight which allows him to be knocked off stage easily or KO'd early. With him also having above average accelerated falling speed, makes him good enough to be combo'ed easily, thus giving him another problem.

Changes and revisions
Naruto was one of, if not the character that has the most buffs in version 1.1. He was buffed in multiple aspects, including mobility, lag, range, and knockback. Below is a list of major changes in the most recent patch.

Tier placement history
In the tier lists for demo v0.6, Naruto was seen as high tier character because he was tied with Lloyd for 4/5 of C tier on the first list and was ranked 4th of B tier on the second list. On the lists for demo v0.7, Naruto's was stuck in C tier on both lists where he was seen as a mid tier character. In demo v0.8b, his tier position jumped up to 5th of A tier where he was seen as a top tier character. However, in demo v0.9a, he was ranked 18th where he is now seen as a mid-low tier character. In demo v0.9b, Naruto jumped up to 6th of S tier where is finally seen as a top tier character again. However, the changes in the metagame made Naruto be seen as a less effective character then he originally was, where he dropped to 9th of A tier and is seen as a high tier character.

Trivia

 * Prior to Naruto's inclusion in this game, it was mistakenly believed that Naruto's side special move was to be the Fūton: Rasenshuriken and his down special move to be the Rasengan Smash, where Naruto slammed a Rasengan into the ground. This became Naruto's down smash in version 0.5a of the demo but was removed in subsequent versions for unknown reasons. Rasenshuriken eventually replaced Ōdama Rasengan as the full-powered variant of his standard special in version 0.8.
 * Naruto is currently the only character in the game to have all of his specials and throws use or involve a projectile.
 * Naruto's current pixel art in Super Smash Flash 2 is similar to his render in his appearance in J-Stars Victory VS..

External link

 * Naruto's page at Smash Flash DOJO!!

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