Ninja Gaiden. What can I say about Ninja Gaiden on the NES? The original NG in the arcades (also available on the Virtual Console) was a beat-em-up in the same vein as Final Fight, in which you played as Ryu Hayabusa, a ninja with an arsenal of three different moves and who could only use his sword for a limited time after grabbing a power-up. Awesome, right?

Tecmo didn't seem to think so either. And so when it came time to bring the game to the NES, which had no hope of ever running a decent post, Tecmo decided to instead make a completely new original game, an action platformer instead of a brawler. The game has a strange resemblance to Castlevania: close range weapon, sub-weapons activated by holding up when attacking, having to hit candles or lanterns to find these weapons and ammunition... even the HUD bears a resemblance. But Ninja Gaiden is a much faster-paced game, and its hero is much more agile: he can run, change direction mid-jump, grab on walls and, if you are dexterous enough, climb them.

The game has a reputation for being balls-hard. The "problem" here is that as agile as Ryu is, the enemies are not limited to close-range weapons and some of them, such as birds and bats, are even faster than the hero. Plus, they respawn immediately should you backtrack even a millimeter when you kill them. But victory is nonetheless possible, if only by memorizing the levels as you get pushed into the omnipresent bottomless pits over and over again.

Oh, I almost forgot: the story in this old NES game is actually worth talking about. Ryu is not on a quest to save a princess from some villain, but is trying to elucidate the mystery surrounding his father's death. This story was told through cutscenes which were simply amazing at the time. They were detailed, well directed, and full of intrigue. Negative Worlders, you may just play through this game for the story.

Then again, you probably won't.


Why not add Ninja Gaiden (NES) or perhaps even Ninja Gaiden: Arcade to your collection, and indicate you are currently playing it?


List of Awesome:
X‑pert74 (beat the game overnight!)
ludist210 (beat the game also overnight? What's going on!?)
TriforceBun
Jargon
Guillaume
anon_mastermind
Paleo_Orca
Rebonack
CPA Wei

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@Jargon

Hm.... I'll try that, i'm not sure if i'll survive though, but I'll try.

Jargon said:

@Paleo_Orca

Don't quit. There is another way: If you can make it to the boss with the spin cut from the first part of 6-3 (bottom right of the stage), you can kill the second form in one hit. Cheap? Maybe a little, but not as cheap as some of the shit the designers pull.

I think if you manage to keep that power-up until the boss, no one can claim you took a cheap way out.

I found it easier to use Triforcebun's method: try to get as much ammo for the Fire Wheel as possible, and take him down that way.

@Guillaume


How the hell did Jargon do it?! The last screen is full of enemies! D:

@Paleo_Orca

Full of enemies that are easily taken down with the spin cut. Just make sure you have 5 ninja power points or whatever to kill the boss. The rest use liberally.

@Jargon

What you you mean easily taken down?! They gang up on me mang!

Sigh... I almost got it though...

EDIT: YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! I DID IT!!!

EDIT: NOOOOOOO!!! Stupid third form, any way to avoid the fireballs easily? just dodge?

@Paleo_Orca The pattern the fireballs take tends to be erratic. I don't know that there is a specific pattern. If you pay attention though, you can tell where a fireball is going to land before it actually gets there, so it requires a bit of multitasking to pay attention to both the fireballs and attacking the boss itself.

Yes! Put me on the awesome list! Iwas getting frustrated with the second form but then I realized how to dodge the fireballs and it wasn't so bad. Then, the third form had me cursing because I didn't realize you had to destroy his tail. But then I got it and fucked him up!

I'm going to take a little break from Ninja Gaiden, but I'm definitely interested in playing the sequel soon. And I don't think I'll be waiting until another Retro Game Club which might be in like 6 months to a year.

I'm up to 6-2, and this f-ing sucks. 6-1 was so short, and then there's this giant pit of doom with those flying guys? Not a fan imo.

@rebonack
Get the air spin powerup and that part is easy.

@anon_mastermind Well, like... you try to jump and grab onto a sign, and maybe you hit it, and maybe you don't. Once you grab onto a wall, you're kind of fucked for mobility. Um... you grab onto walls when you DON'T want to, which can screw you.

Hmm, maybe most of my control issues come from the wall climbing.

There is more though. I'm trying to think offhand like... can you duck? Maybe you can, but I seem to recall places where you almost have to, but can't? Unless I'm going crazy. And the jumping is kind of awkward.

And then combine that with only having "after hit invincibility" long enough to do um... absolutely nothing before you get hit again, wildly respawning enemies, enemies placed on ledges in a way that you almost absolutely have to rely on luck to kill them before they knock you off, yada yada and the whole game just feels sloppy to me.

Fair enough on some of those points, but they're more sloppy design than sloppy control. The only thing about the controls I don't like is the backward jump being useless and screwing me over sometimes because I didn't turn around properly.

You can definitely duck, and while I'm not sure it actually helps all that much, it feels like it does sometimes

Well, it's probably more the design than the controls that I dislike, but whatever the case, I just don't really like this game. And I never did.

Although I did get further in like an hour than I ever did in the past. Either I sucked hard back then, or never gave it much of a chance. Probably both.

You really have to master the art of slashing just as you hit the ground. I'm just about to download Ninja Gaiden II, excite I am!

TriforceBun said:

Now I'm playing through Ninja Gaiden II!

It feels quite a bit easier than the first if you play it right after running through Act 6 a million times. Currently at Act 6 in NG2. Took about an hour, fun game.

Gah! Don't say stuff like that, way to deflate my already fragile ego!

I'm playing NGII as well, and I find it to be no cakewalk. Currently on Act 5-2, and I've used up many continues over what I'm sure is several hours. See triforcebun breeze through these games makes me almost regret ignoring NES games over the past decade in favor of new stuff. I've gotten soft. Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger. Each time I looked around the walls moved in a little tighter...

Ahem. Seriously though, the game's just alright. I don't find the music as good, and the story sure isn't as gripping. It's quite a disappointment on that front. And while it's cool that each stage has its own gimmick, like the wind pushing you around in Act II... it's also quite infuriating and leads to really cheap deaths, even by Ninja Gaiden standards.

So yeah, I'll try to finish it, but it's really not as good as the first.

See, I kinda like the stage hazards. The wind one is kind of annoying since you have to wait for it to blow in various directions, but I thought the other stuff was fun enough and worked alright. I also appreciate how the respawning has been (somewhat) toned down, the fact that you don't lose half your Ninja Power upon dying, how the Fire Wheel (invincibility weapon, as opposed to the "Art of the Fire Wheel" throwing weapon) can now be equipped, and how the new Ryu "clones" really help out with some of the bosses if you position yourself correctly.

What HAS been infuriating to me, especially in the final stage, is the wonky hit detection that seems to pop up whenever you have clones out. It has quite literally caused me several deaths that required some precise slashing, and is freaking annoying. But I persevered and finished; the most challenging section is again the final part, but it's not as bad as in Ninja Gaiden 1. I think players who play NG2 right after the first will have some improved combat skills and will generally not have as hard a time as in the first game. Also, the birds take off one damage instead of 3.

As for the story, I kinda zone out a bit for some of it, honestly. The storytelling is neat but the stilted dialogue and general slowness of it makes me sort of uninterested, whichever game is going on. I do think all three games have some kind of neat twists at some point or another, although I remember NG3's storyline being the dumbest.

I may start on that soon but I've been playing the SNES Harvest Moon lately and it's got me kind of addicted again.

I played the crap out of this game as a kid! And not as a kid...

I agree about some of the sloppy cheapness and I DESPISE the floating/falling ninja stars. But the game is really quite awesome otherwise. I loved it then and I really like it now. I've gotten as far as the final boss (I don't remember which form) several times, but never quite made it. The respawn at 6-1 thing hurts you to the core.

@Cubed777

You still got a solid 2 weeks to play along and complete it before we start another game club!

This game is making me depressed. :c I still can't beat the final boss even if I have a ton of health left. The fireballs are just too much for me to handle.

@Paleo_Orca
Are you fighting the third form? If so, I suggest bringing the Art of the Fire Wheel with you and a healthy amount of Ninja Power (something like 50 should be plenty). Hurl the fire rapidly at the head until it pops off and rolls, then slash like crazy at the tail afterwards. Finally, throw the rest of the fire as fast as you can at the heart. The arc of it should protect you from most of the falling shrimp thingies. When you're out of Ninja Power, jump and slash the heart as quickly as possible and he should soon wither up for good.

With any luck, you should get to the boss with a good amount of life--ideally only 4 or less bars missing. Make sure you don't get hit by birds much on your way to the boss room, they take away 3 HP per hit, and those skinny jumping things do 2 HP.

Made it to act 3, and act 2 was no cakewalk.

Things I like about NGII:

- the music is awesome
- controls feel a bit more fluid
- much more ninja power at your disposal
- less cheap enemy placement

Things I dislike:
- the stage hazard in act 2 was such a bitch! Especially on the boss. Even though I disliked it, it was still an interesting change-up. Can't wait to see the others.