Ninja Gaiden General thread.

For some no thread for this one, and the only other thread is Ninja Gaiden 3. So, I made one. I played the SNES game.

The NES games are bullshit, but the soundtrack and the cutscenes rock.

Well, bullshit only in terms of unfair difficulty. Otherwise, I actually found myself liking the NES titles.

I got a question on that… I got my hands on the original Xbox game and when I got the 50th scarab I was granted the 1st NES game. Great, I thought, I've always wanted to test myself on it! But when I want to play it, the game crashes. And it crashes exactly like an old NES, with the beep, the "white bands" on the sides and all! It's funny, but it would be even more fun I was able to play the damn game… did anybody have the same problem? I'm on a 360, that may be a cause…

As for the Xbox game, I found it surprisingly easy; certainly not Nintendo Hard anyway. I saw tons of complaints on how Sigma had tonned down the difficulty of the original, but… I can't see how the original is any harder, save the horses in chapter 2 and the zombies (since you can't charge UTs). It's quite the opposite overall.

edited 8th Jan '12 2:29:12 PM by Lyendith

The 360 is ass at emulating Xbox titles, and doesn't play ANY of the NES ninja gaiden games. You're screwed on that one unless you play on an original Xbox.

Ninja Gaiden xbox vanilla is harder then you're average game for sure but not impossible, a lot of the difficulty people complain from comes from lack of skill/investment more than anything else, though some parts are pretty enraging/difficult: Alma, the horsemen, using the bow in general, the last stage enemies, spider clan ninja, and worst of all the ghost fish. NG black on hard+ is fairly challenging though.

My dad had the original for the Xbox it wasn't as hard as the SNES ones, I got over half way of it. I couldn't finish it now since the disk is lost now...

edited 8th Jan '12 3:43:09 PM by Oreochan

The 360 is ass at emulating Xbox titles, and doesn't play ANY of the NES ninja gaiden games. You're screwed on that one unless you play on an original Xbox.

D'oh… 7€ wasted :'(

edited 8th Jan '12 4:58:26 PM by Lyendith

I had the original Xbox, but it's broke now.

Or, ya know, you could get an NES.

Be prepared to throw your controller thru the wall and all the way to the moon in sheer frustration. The NES games actually wouldn't be that difficult except for some B.S. penalties for failure (having to replay an entire stage just because you failed at the boss, for example).

If you have a Wii, you could just buy it off of the Virtual Console vendor for 500 points.

Replaying an entire stage because you failed a boss? That's old school for ya.

And then there's the final level.

Died against the second boss of three and now have to face the first one over again?

SAD FOR YOUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!

The bosses are easy. They have patterns, big hitboxes. They are far from impossible.

The goddamn swooping eagles that come out of nowhere and knock you off a cliff for an instant death? Now those are bullshit. Why does this... Uh... enemy group even have all these rocket launcher toting soldiers and cross-throwing zombie priests? They're all obsolete in the face of those freakin' eagles.

(Why are these always called "General" threads? Surely at least one of them has been promoted to Colonel by now)

Depends on the game. Mega Man and R-Type for example were really generous with their checkpoints—including, often, starting you off just before the boss.

Actually, I think that if you defeat one form, it stays perma-defeated so you don't have to fight it again. That's at least one mercy it grants you.

Even so (which is arguable, seeing as the bosses start pulling out the big guns after Stage 2), progressing through the stage itself is a gauntlet. There's a good chance you won't be in good condition by the time you make it to the boss, which is not a good thing. As for the ravens/eagles, I just walk to the very end of each platform to lure them out and then make the jump after they pass by. It's actually a very easy way to prevent unnecessary deaths while crossing over gaps.

Well, maybe I'm wrong on that, but I remember both defeating boss #1, dying on the second, and having to start from the first and beating bosses 1 and 2, dying against #3, and then having to restart from #1.

That sounds needlessly frustrating.

It is.

I'm currently slashing my way through Master Ninja Mode in the 360 NG2 and… in that difficulty you realize how cheap some bosses are in that game… Gigadeath was bad enough, but Zedonius somehow manages to be even worse.

Give him a whole collection of undodgeable attacks, make him constantly summon flunkies that are just as likely as him to kill you, place the whole thing on a tiny platform surrounded by lava, and add a healthy dose of Camera Screws so that the few attacks you can dodge come from offscreen.

I somehow managed to beat him, but I feel this has more to do with luck than me suddenly getting better…

How do people play master ninja? I am seriously asking. I unlocked mentor mode, sure, and... I don't know. The idea of a higher difficulty then that, and the idea that there are harder levels within that difficulty, sorta cause my brain to shut down.

I mean, I'm a damn good player of Ninja Gaiden 2. I'm by far the best player I've ever met. And I can't touch mentor mode. Zedonius made me metaphorically snap my controller in half on warrior. The idea of playing against him on master, when I can't even reach him on mentor... GAH! My eyes are bleeding!

Zedonius was such a pain the ass arrrgh. He was cool though.

Err… I was wondering the same thing.

Mentor and Master Ninja are mostly ultra-hard in the early chapters actually, when you have no upgrades but must go through Macross Missile Massacres or a PTSD inducing Bullet Hell of explosive kunais and arrows. Once you get in the middle of chapter 4 there is a simple tactics: SPAM UTs. Seriously, the double katana, scythe and tonfa UTs are total Game Breakers against dismemberable (?) enemies. Once I got the DCTF, my death rate was at least halved.

The rest is a matter of manipulating i-frames (counters, UTs, guillotine throws, Ninpo) and keeping you LotG as long as possible. I used 1 talisman and 2 LotG to survive That One Fight in chapter 11. Another vital thing to survive Master Ninja is a crapload of luck.

Speaking of chapter 11, Itagaki must have designed that level after being dumped by his wife or something. It's not possible to hate the players that much. I'm a guy who beat Master Ninja mode in both Sigma, as well as Eternal Legend, but there are limits to sadism. ò.Ô 5 rasetsus and a dozen underworld IS Ninja, thank you, really TT___TT

That's why I prefer Sigma 2's Master Ninja mode. I die just as much, but at least when I do I have the feeling it's because I screwed up, not because I was raped by 10 offscreen explosive kunais.

edited 25th Jan '12 12:35:21 PM by Lyendith

I definitely prefer Sigma 2 (I own both despite not owning a PS 3. I'm a bit of Gaiden fan) because it's more "Fair", for sure. Plus the camaraderie built between two gamers suffering through the game at the same time in Team Missions mode is truly epic.

Speaking of Itagaki, am I the only one that sees his departure as not that big of a deal? I remember watching this documentary on 2 and the narration made him out to be a freakin' god of supervision. It felt like the entire development team was paid an extra fifty bucks just to stroke his ego. While I can agree with him on some points (He does provide the page quote for Earn Your Fun) the fact that he left the company after being accused of sexual harassment really alienated me from him, and Sigma 2 ran fine without him at the helm. And the new director is even tying the series back up with its' NES roots! And Devils Third just does not excite me yet.

edited 25th Jan '12 3:46:12 PM by ShirowShirow

It's somewhat of a deal, considering how the guy took the series to a new level and the guy directed a mighty fine action game. I'm not sure how NG 3 will turn out, but that'd determine for me whether or not Team Ninja can do a fresh NG game without him.

I can understand why it's considered important, seeing as he gave Tecmo/Team Ninja Dead or Alive and the new NG trilogy to begin with, but they seem to be doing fine without him at the helm. It remains to be seen how NGIII will compare to the other entries Itagaki oversaw.

edited 25th Jan '12 3:54:33 PM by X2X

Well, the two Sigmas turned out just fine (except that "purple smoke" thing), even if Itagaki himself bashed the first. And Dragon Sword was received pretty well.

Now indeed Hayashi will have to prove he can put his claw on the franchise while conserving its identity. From what I saw, he's on a good track.

edited 26th Jan '12 2:37:38 AM by Lyendith