YMMV / Ninja Gaiden 3 (2012)

• Angst? What Angst?: In Ninja Gaiden 3, upon being freed from the mask's control of his mind, Theodore Higgins doesn't seem to be fazed at all by all of the horrible things he was forced to do as the "Regent of the Mask", or the fact his brother and grandfather were the ones who forced him to do it, OR the fact his daughter is serving as the core for a giant monster ravaging Tokyo. Subverted in his last duel against Ryu Hayabusa as Theodore implies he was aware of everything that was going on while he was the Regent. He sacrifices himself not only to allow Ryu to free his daughter, but to receive his "atonement" for his crimes as well.
• Anti-Climax Boss: The Final Boss in Ninja Gaiden 3: not that the fight isn't visually impressive, but 30% of it is fighting Mooks the boss sends at players, 30% are quick-time events with the remaining 40% the actual fight. Furthermore, the latter is fundamentally the same boss fight as the Statue of Liberty boss in Sigma II, which veteran Ninja Gaiden players have no problem against, making this Final Boss arguably the easiest one in the modern trilogy. Averted in Razor's Edge when it becomes part of That One Boss for the game.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: At the end of Day 5 in 3, a colossal Obaba interrupts Ryu and Momiji who are on the way to see Joe Hayabusa via a boss fight. Not only is she and the Black Spider Ninja Clan not connected to the rest of the plot, they're never mentioned after the end of Day 5. Razor's Edge rectifies this by briefly noting the Black Spider are in cahoots with the "Lords of Alchemy" (LOA), yet the reason remains vague. Though dialogue early on in that version does reveal that due to the death of Genshin in the prior game they became mercs for hire.
• Complete Monster: Clifford "Cliff" Higgins at first seems like a helpful scientist working for the Japanese Defense Force. However, Cliff is really working for the Lords of Alchemy, a group that wants to destroy the human race and replace it with new "perfect" god-like beings; he is also the grandson of the head of the LOA. When Cliff's brother Theodore opposed Cliff's plans, Cliff had him killed in an accident. Cliff later decides to bring his brother back to life, brainwashes him and turns him into a terrorist. While under Cliff's control, Theodore launches a terrorist attack on London and murders the British Prime Minister. Cliff's plans come to a head when he uses his technology and hero Ryu Hayabusa's Dragon Sword, to turn Canna, his own niece, into an Eldritch Abomination called the Goddess. The Goddess then proceeds to go on a rampage across Tokyo, and will eventually destroy the entire human race. Later, after a fight with Ryu and a fatal injury at the hands of his brother, Cliff admits he did all this because he was jealous of his brother and wanted to step out from under his shadow, any way he could.
• Contested Sequel: Yosuke Hayashi's drastically different vision for 3 left many fans skeptical. While some players believe it's still a fun Action Game in its own right, if not, on par with the first two games, others prefer to pretend it never existed (interestingly, Hayashi was already involved in another Contested Sequel). Razor's Edge is unanimously considered an Author's Saving Throw, yet it also remains this in its own right, since some feel that while it rectified the shortcomings of 3, others feel Razor's Edge is still a bad game regardless of the improvements. A third group says that most aspects of Razor's Edge are still poor, due to it being built off of a bad game, but say that the combat mechanics are the best in the series.
• Demonic Spiders:
  • Alchemists in Ninja Gaiden 3 has a Ground Pound-like maneuver that, while blockable, breaks guard and is hard to dodge most of the time. Furthermore, they're fast, agile, hurl homing "alchemy projectiles", block and evade often and frequently erect an "alchemy armor" that requires breaking it first before actual damage can be dealt, which light attacks from Ryu's weapons won't usually do; they also have a Grapple Move that not only slowly drains Hit Points, but the ki gauge as well. Finally, in Razor's Edge, the timing to perform a "Steel-on-Bone" Counter-Attack is so exceptionally narrow compared to other humanoid enemies in the game that players will often opt out for dismemberment instead, allowing an "Obliteration Technique" to finish them off; unfortunately, Alchemists are the most resilient enemies in the game to be dismembered.
  • Chimera in the later parts of Ninja Gaiden 3 are essentially faster, more evasive Incendiary Kunai Black Spider Ninja, with the only saving grace is they don't have projectiles. Like Alchemists, they too block occasionally and might get a bead on escaping out of players' attack combos more often than not. The problem with these Chimera comes if they're dismembered: doing so, and they initiate an unblockable Suicide Attack, homing straight for Ryu, forcing players to prioritize on dismembered Chimera for an Obliteration Technique lest they risk a chunk of Hit Points getting taken away. Fortunately, it's easy to note if a suicide-Chimera will begin its strike as they start sparking bright colors; additionally, if they don't reach Ryu in time, the suicide-Chimera will wind up exploding - their effects don't have what an Action Bomb Mook usually does in this series.
• Fanon Discontinuity: The original Ninja Gaiden 3 is usually ignored, and Razor's Edge is seen by most players as the "real" version of the third game; however, that's without considering those who didn't even like Razor's Edge regardless.
• Fashion-Victim Villain: The Regent of the Mask - having an outfit consisting of a red Badass Longcoat, a Cool Mask, a mysterious hood and a gold-plated Gloved Fist of Doom can only make him one. To compliment this trope, he's armed with a Royal Rapier.
• Goddamned Bats: Dogs, the blue bugs and the human-like homunculi (pre-transformation into its "gorilla" or "snake" forms) often act as this in Razor's Edge: while they aren't necessarily hard to defeat, the former two are just as agile as humanoid Mooks, while the latter have more Hit Points than they appear.
• Good Bad Bugs:
  • In Razor's Edge, Kasumi has a version of the "Cicada Surge" technique called "Sakura Madoi", allowing her to evade not only melee attacks like Ryu, but also bullets and missiles, meaning it's possible to use Sakura Madoi to teleport into areas normally inaccessible, and in extreme cases, out of the map. This was fixed when the re-release was ported to the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360.
  • Razor's Edge has the "infinite karma" bug, which lets you access Ninja Skills much quickly and is considered useful for those not too fond of the game's balancing problems.
• Ham and Cheese: The plot and dialogue of Ninja Gaiden 3 are nothing to write home about but James Brinkley is very obviously having a blast as the Regent of the Mask. He's arguably the most memorable villain of the franchise just for how gloriously over the top he is.
• Improved By The Recut: The reception to Razor's Edge is much more positive than the original version of 3, thanks to its staggering amount of game-play changes, difficulty re-balancing and removing the worst aspects from the narrative of the original game. Apart from the addition of several weapons, upgrades, collectible items and playable characters, nearly every aspect of the Ninja Gaiden 3 game-play has been improved, from Combo speed to weapon responsiveness, to enemy AI, to the use of the ki bar and the revamped Steel-on-Bone mechanic, making the game much more technical.
• It's Easy, So It Sucks!: Ninja Gaiden 3 is such a far cry from its punishing predecessors that it would take Razor's Edge to ratchet the difficulty back up to normal, yet it keeps the easier "Hero" mode as a play-style that can be selected at any time.
• Memetic Mutation
  • Why? BUSINESS OF COURSE!^note When asked by Ryu about the cloned dinosaurs in the Day 3 level of Ninja Gaiden 3, the Regent of the Mask over-exaggerates his answer with these words
  • Lovelace Gaga^note An obvious reference to the character Lovelace's uncanny resemblance to Lady Gaga in Ninja Gaiden 3
• Narm:
  • The "don't kill me mate" scene at the beginning of the Day 1 level in Ninja Gaiden 3 is so overdone and theatrical it winds up being hilarious instead of an intended Player Punch. Team Ninja must have taken notes as the scene is removed in Razor's Edge.
  • Ninja Gaiden 3 as a whole is so Anvilicious about its “Feel their pain/killing is bad” message that it crosses the line straight into unintentional hilarity.
• Padding: Day 5 comes off as this. The premise: Ryu goes to the Hayabusa Village to go talk with his father for an idea of how to overcome the Grip of Murder's curse, and some major Dragon Sword call backs ensue. The outcome: Obaba comes out of nowhere (yet again if you played Sigma 2 prior), the Black Spider Clan are bad guys solely for this chapter without much context even in Razor's Edge, and Joe's advice boils down to using Heroic Willpower to survive the curse because he has no actual advice otherwise. Day 6 onwards effectively acts like Day 5 didn't happen, meaning the entire chapter feels like it existed to homage prior Ninja Gaiden games without actually using them for any purpose but throwing a bone to long-time fans.
• Player Punch: Ninja Gaiden 3 goes to great length to make players feel the pain of the enemies they kill, be it the brutal Steel-on-Bone mechanic or the moaning of enemies if they aren't finished off as they crawl helplessly on the ground, bleeding to death.
  Crawling and bleeding Mook: "I don't wanna die...I don't wanna die!"
• Polished Port: The PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 ports corrects the frame-rate drops from the Nintendo Wii U version of Razor's Edge.
• Scrappy Mechanic: The Steel-on-Bone mechanic in Ninja Gaiden 3 was largely unnecessary due to it randomly activating in the middle of striking enemies and can interrupt Combos. Rectified in Razor's Edge where Steel-on-Bone is used as a form of Counter-Attack to prevent enemy Grapple Moves.
  • Golden Scarab Beetle Collectibles are tied to unlocking some weapons such as the Lunar Staff and Kusari-Gama. While getting collectibles are mostly not too hard, it is annoying when some other weapons are just given to you at certain points. Worst of all, collectibles are tied to your rank and overall karam score. If you're playing for rank and want the best, you have to get all of the collectibles. The only saving grace is once you find the collectibles, they stay with you permanently, and any you missed you can replay either the campaign again once it beaten. Or by playing Chapter Challenge.
• Sequel Difficulty Drop: A good part of the bashing Ninja Gaiden 3 received is due to this. The thing is, Hard Mode is still just as brutal as ever, so the jump between Normal and Hard is pretty steep.
• That One Boss:
  • The Regent of the Mask in 3 and Razor's Edge, another Wake-Up Call Boss akin to Murai, except he's also an SNK Boss who blocks almost every attack players do, is less exploitable than other bosses in the game, and can No-Sell attacks. Without careful thinking on when to strike, expect to be brutally punished for it if players don't have the patience to time their attacks correctly.
  • Provided players wish to tackle "Ninja Trials" in 3 and "Test of Valor" in Razor's Edge, Marbus, but for a different reason: due to the lack of a controllable boss camera angle (introduced in Sigma II, but strangely absent in 3), players face him 50% of the time off-screen. Thankfully, Razor's Edge brought the feature back, but that doesn't mean Marbus still isn't as tough as he was in previous installments. Furthermore, he's riddled with glitches, which is noticeable when doing online Ninja Trials with a partner (human or AI).
  • The Final Boss of Razor's Edge, in sharp contrast to its vanilla version in 3: the first phase of it is notorious for being extremely cheap and unfair (never-ending homing projectiles, infinite Mook respawns of Chimera), locks out all other ninpo spells other than "True Inferno" and forces players to grind the ki gauge in order to build it up to unleash True Inferno on the boss, as it's the only attack that will damage it to allow the next phase of the fight to occur. The first phase more or less forces players to resort to overusing the cheapest techniques available in order to pass it.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: What some fans think of Ninja Gaiden 3, from the game-play not changing much since its predecessors, to its tone-downed difficulty to overall game length compared to the others. It stands to reason Razor's Edge was made to correct every criticism inflicted upon 3.