Spoilers for all 3D Ninja Gaiden games preceding this one, particularly Ninja Gaiden (2004), as well as the Dead or Alive games up to Dead or Alive 4 will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
Ninja Gaiden II is a Stylish Action Hack and Slash game developed by Team Ninja of Koei Tecmo and published by Microsoft. It is the sequel to Ninja Gaiden (2004) and was released worldwide for the Xbox 360 in June 2008.
Following the events of the first game, Ryu Hayabusa is contacted by the CIA agent Sonia. The trip turns out to be a diversion, as the rival Black Spider Ninja Clan assault Hayabusa Village and make off with the Demon Statue they guard. They, along with a new group of Archfiends, led by Elizébet, plan to use it to resurrect the ancient Archfiend, Vazdah. So follows another globetrotting trip as Ryu hunts down the fiends with the help of Sonia.
Ninja Gaiden II introduced a dismemberment system, where various attacks could tear off different limbs on enemies, changing their attack pattern thereafter: a missing arm would force them to use another weapon, while a lost leg would leave them crawling on the ground, reducing their threat — up until they attempt a suicide attack.
In 2009, Ninja Gaiden II received an Updated Re-release for the PlayStation 3, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, which added additional story, stages, a co-op mission mode, a "Chapter Challenge" mode and additional characters in the form of Ayane, Momiji and Rachel. It also adjusted the game's difficulty, reducing the overall number of enemies, while increasing their health. The Sigma version is generally regarded as a drastically inferior version of Ninja Gaiden 2, due to many controversial changes from a new director that heavily impacted the intent of the original title, such as the removal of gore, the drastically reduced enemy count and bloated HP pools, the removal of several weapons, unbalanced gameplay, and many other issues that effectively changed the game from being a very challenging and heavily action focused and bloody title, to something more akin to a more casual, and far easier title. In 2013, Sigma Plus 2 was released on the Play Station Vita, which added a few changes, like adding a bit of gore back, and cutting the frame-rate in half.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 also is included in the Ninja Gaiden Master Collection for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows.
This game contains examples of:
- A.I. Breaker: In Ninja Gaiden II, midair attacks with the scythe. The Y button attack in particular ("Blood Rain") causes Ryu's landing to be delayed nearly a full second — most enemies and even certain bosses will dash underneath you and get hit by the scythe.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Genshin is from the rival Black Spider Ninja Clan who allied with Elizabet to resurrect the Archfiend, and sees Ryu as a Worthy Opponent. After multiple encounters that end with a stalemate, Genshin is formally defeated and reveals he was something of a pawn in the whole thing. Genshin is then revived as a fiend and defeated once more against Ryu with the True Dragon Sword, with Elizabet lamenting his uselessness. Ryu is subsequently enraged he picks up Genshin's sword The Blade of the Archfiend and uses it in conjunction with the Dragon Sword through the remainder of the game (it replacing the weaker twin swords "Dragon's Claw and Tiger's Fang" you previously had). Ryu then places Genshin's sword among the field of the buried warriors.
- Artificial Stupidity: In II, the Werewolf fiends cannot get on a table if Ryu jumps on it. A patch made things even more stupid, with the Werewolf fiends able to get on it but not get off.
- Boss in Mook Clothing: The combat robots appearing on board the Daedalus and in Moscow have lots of health and cannot be taken out by most Ninpo, as well as being resilient enough to avoid an easy limb removal kill as well.
- Bowdlerise: While Sigma 2 brought great additions such as new playable characters, game modes and a multiplayer option to warrant its deserved critical acclaim, it also got some vocal criticism from some due to the direction of removing the potential bloodbath present in the 360 version. Rather than see gallons of blood, dismembered limbs and body parts were turned into purple mist, which creates a rather odd effect because Ryu still performs brutal actions against enemies, only to see them gush out purple-colored smoke.
- Bullet Hell: Ninja Gaiden II, Master Ninja mode. Just… watch.
- Call-Back:
- The Sealed Evil in a Can, Vazdah, came from the corpse of Vigoor from the first game.
- A diary found in the game mentions how Ryu’s path of destruction in the first game ended up bringing about a democracy in Vigoor.
- Genshin’s vendetta against the Dragon Clan is due in part to the death of Gamov in the first game.
- Checkpoint Starvation: Sigma 2 has a few passages where you have to go through several long, tough fights without the possibility to save in-between, most notably the last parts of Chapter 13 (including the very grueling stairway fight), 14 (the graveyard fights) and the first half of Chapter 16 (the very long straight corridor). The latter two have an appearance of Recurring Bosses out of nowhere without the usual auto-save. These passages are stressing in Normal but get really sadistic in Master Ninja.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: In Sigma 2, the bow is aimed and fired with the triggers instead of the face buttons for Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden II. Justified since it allows to throw shurikens even with the bow equipped but it does take a bit of time to get used to it. The opposite is even worse: in II, many Sigma 2 players will try to throw shurikens mid-jump and fire an arrow; it won't work. Same deal with guarding: for the Xbox games, it's on the left trigger; on the PS3, it's L1. Consider the consequences of letting your guard down for one second in II, this can be a problem.
- Elevator Action Sequence: Rachel's chapter in Sigma 2 has one of these.
- Expospeak Gag: In the middle of the "Flying Fortress Daedalus" level in Ninja Gaiden II, the intercom voice suddenly stops being serious for a second."Another intruder has been detected with explosives. A blonde woman. Message to all units: she's hot!"
- Eyepatch of Power: Genshin has one
- Faux Action Girl: Sonia in Ninja Gaiden II, plays the badass CIA agent a little more convincingly. While she manages to get captured and needs rescuing at the start, she repays the favor by showing up like a big damn hero and saving Ryu from a battle against impossible odds, and later by strolling around the Daedalus, casually dispatching ninja mooks with a rocket launcher. Unfortunately, she gets demoted by getting captured again, put into a dress marginally less Stripperific than her regular attire, and fails to do anything useful from that point on (although admittedly, it's kinda hard to do anything in the Underworld if you're not a badass Ninja.
- The Faceless: Kasumi in Sigma 2
- Field of Blades: In II, the last part of the infamous Chapter 11.
- Foreshadowing: In the notebooks you find, a Black Spider Ninja revives another one, which the revived ninja calls foolish and dishonorable. Elizebét revives Genshin when he’s near death by turning him into a Fiend, something that Ryu finds dishonorable.
- Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: While the levels are basically massive gauntlets with endless hordes of cheap mooks, most bosses are surprisingly easy to take down. Even the four Greater Fiends and the Final Boss pose little threat. Sigma 2 balanced things by reducing the amount of on-screen mooks but made most of the bosses harder, improving their AI and health. Played straight in Ayane's chapter in Sigma 2, though; Onibaba is considerably easier than the mooks you have to get through first, particularly at higher difficulty levels.
- Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: In Ninja Gaiden II, the difficulty runs from Acolyte, Warrior, Mentor to Master Ninja.
- Kaizo Trap: The giant armadillo boss in Ninja Gaiden II explodes after death, which kills you instantly. The only way to avoid a One-Hit KO is to hold the block button, which is rather counter-intuitive since no other explosive attack in the modern series can be blocked.
- Lethal Lava Land: The underworld in II, which can be accessed by leaping into Mount Fuji.
- Lighter and Softer: Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 when compared to the original Ninja Gaiden II, graphically speaking. Most of the blood and gore is removed and it uses noticeably brighter color tones and a bloom effect, thankfully the Vita version - Sigma Plus 2 restored all the gore.
- Living Statue: In Sigma 2 you fight a giant Buddha statue as a Warm-Up Boss; a few chapters later, the freaking Statue of Liberty.
- Loads and Loads of Loading: An issue in Sigma 2. For example, you have a loading at the chapter screen, then if you want to change costumes you have another loading, and after you've selected the outfit, you have to go through the chapter screen loading again. twice between two events.
- Ludicrous Gibs: Every weapon in Ninja Gaiden II can dismember and dice opponents, not that this deters them from fighting. Lycanthropes will even pick up stray body parts and throw them at you.
- Macross Missile Massacre: Thanks to some BFG toting ninjas in the later levels of II/Sigma 2, you get to be on the receiving end of these.
- The Man Behind the Man: Vazdah is this to V
- Mercy Kill: One of the developers of Ninja Gaiden II described Obliteration Techniques as this, but considering dismembered mooks still go after you and will occasionally use a suicidal maneveur, "mercy" might be overstating it.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: A minor example in II/Sigma 2 (so minor that Ryu fixes it pretty fast) While escaping Mt. Fuji with Sonia, a drop of Ryu's cursed Dragon Clan/Fiend blood revives the Archfiend Vazdah into its One-Winged Angel form.
- Nerf: Incendiary Kunai in II systematically dismembered enemies the first time and killed them with a second one. In Sigma 2, those used by Ayane are quite effective in normal difficulty, but are about as useful as shuriken at higher difficulties. Sigma 2 also removes the ability to charge arrows. Then again, since projectiles are rendered infinite in use, keeping them as powerful would've turned them into Game Breakers.
- Non-Standard Game Over: You can shoot Sonia dead near the end of Ninja Gaiden II, which will result in this.
- One-Hit Kill:
- Master Ninja Mode's ungodly difficulty in Sigma 2 relies on the fact that the player has very little room for mistake. Several enemy attacks like fire geysers, and any boss grapple or mook suicidal attack will kill you instantly regardless of your lifebar's length.
- In your arsenal, the Inazuma Drop for any non-boss humanoid enemy. The only caveat is that you have to actually pull it off.
- Only a Flesh Wound: A game mechanic in II/Sigma 2, where enemies act differently depending on how they've been dismembered. In some ways, they become more dangerous when they've lost a limb, and will liekly do a grab/suicide attack that's very hard to avoid and heavily damaging.
- Painfully Slow Projectile: Averted in Ninja Gaiden II, where white ninja archers fire explosive arrows so fast you can't possibly dodge them in time; they're also unblockable and can hit you underwater. In Master Ninja Mode, you fight them right at the beginning, waiting for you across gaps or targeting you while running on water. Everyone's got their four-leaf clovers? Thankfully, they are fewer and a bit slower in Sigma 2.
- Perfect Play A.I.: Genshin, essentially the Ryu Doppelgänger from the first game but slightly toned down. Key emphasis on “slightly”.
- Precision-Guided Boomerang: You can throw the Eclipse Scythe like a boomerang as a wall attack in Ninja Gaiden II. Razor's Edge also adds this move as a hold-and-release attack.
- Product Placement: Ninja Gaiden II has some in the New York level, notably for Toshiba. Strangely, you don't see them in Sigma 2, as they’ve been replaced with adverts for DOATEC.
- Recurring Boss: The Tengu Brothers in Sigma 2: you fight one alone in Chapter 5, who flees in the middle before you can finish it off; you fight them together at the end of the same chapter. At the beginning of Chapter 14, you fight the two but one of them escapes. You kill the other, and the one that escaped reappears at the end of the chapter, with a few other ninjas. Finally, the two reappear in Chapter 16. What's interesting is that you almost always have to fight them after going through several long and harsh fights, with no possibility to save between the fights, meaning you'll rarely confront them at full health.
- Recurring Riff: "A Hero Unmasked" in the soundtrack of Ninja Gaiden III
- Refuge in Audacity: The boob-jiggling feature in Sigma 2; you can even do it during cutscenes.
- Scenery Porn: Some of the levels in Ninja Gaiden II are gorgeous. Special mention goes to the chapter taking place atop the Tokyo skyscrapers. The game also has one of the more beautiful game portrayals of central Moscow (albeit the city is never named), going through Red Square, the GUM, the Underground, some nearby churches and buildings, before ending in Spaskaya Tower. St. Basil's Cathedral, unfortunately, is absent.
- Sequel Escalation: Ninja Gaiden Black/Sigma are
Nintendo Hard with moderate gore, playthroughs are done at a relatively slow pace, you never fight more than three or four enemies at once and the strongest techniques are restricted in use. II takes the gore to ridiculous levels, is considerably faster, requires offensive strategies and you frequently fight insane number of mooks. Combos, weapons and Ultimate Techniques are cranked up to the point they would've been absolute Game Breakers in the first game. Sigma 2 toned down the gore and number of enemies, though increased AI and boss/mook resilience, Sigma Plus 2 included all that in addition to restoring the gore. - Stealth Pun: This one's a bit of a stretch, but "Florentine" is both an Italian identity (via its city) and a term used for Dual Wielding. In Sigma 2, Ryu receives dual katanas in the Venice-based chapter (Venice being a city in Italy).
- Stripperiffic: Sonia's outfit in Ninja Gaiden II is just as much, if not more so, to the extent where the diaphanous gown-and-lingerie ensemble she ends up near the end of the game is probably less revealing.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: In the aftermath of a boss fight in 3 (Razor's Edge), said boss would go on a rant of how the humans will be cleansed. As Ryu, your job is to slowly drag yourself there and make him talk with your sword instead. Literally. And it is glorious.
- Swipe Your Blade Off: Will often be done by Ryu with all of his weapons in Ninja Gaiden II. Great: more blood to clean up.
- Taking You with Me: A good deal of any crippled, dismembered enemies in Ninja Gaiden II. As well, the Armadillo bosses explode upon death, killing Ryu instantly if he doesn't block.
- Teased with Awesome: The Blade of the Archfiend at the end of Ninja Gaiden II. Since you get it at a point when only bosses and large enemies remain, you can only use the Underworld Drop (the most powerful combo in the game) during New Game Plus.
- Turns Red: The Armadillo bosses in Ninja Gaiden II turn red and glow when their health is low, becoming somewhat more dangerous. When finally killed, they explode.
- Ryu's adventures in New York end with an animated Statue of Liberty using up its last moments of movement and first moments of freedom extending its hand to helt him escape before sinking into the sea. Rachel's chapter in Sigma 2 sees said statue right back where it should be as the sun rises.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Said word-for-word by Shadow Ninja Rasetsu in the first boss fight of Ninja Gaiden II.
