Ninja Gaiden

[Hazzard]

My friend keeps on hyping about this game, and really makes it sound like it's something extremely special. I've watched one boss fight from youtube, and was impressed by the graphics and fighting skills, but the thing is...I haven't got an Xbox or 360, so I doubt I'll ever get it. So what is so good about this game, and why is it so hard?(like my friend says)

[JKTrix]

You have a couple of other opportunities to play the game.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma comes out for the Playstation 3 in July, and it's mostly the same game as the Xbox Ninja Gaiden. It has a bunch of new stuff in it as well, like an additional playable character and stuff.

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is coming for the DS. You can watch an English video of it being demonstrated here. (Do watch it.) There isn't too much detail on the DS game as far as story goes, but at least it's the same Ryu Hayabusa from the recent Ninja gaiden games.

The console Ninja Gaiden games are awesome. The game is 'hard', but unlike some games where it's hard because of control limitations (Ultimate Ghosts n' Goblins anyone?) the game would punish you if you suck. It comes down to pattern recognition. If you know where enemies and 'surprises' are going to show up, you can strike first and take care of things faster. Y'know, the other Ninja way. (Normally ninjas are stealthy--Hayabusa, not so much.) It's when you allow yourself to get surrounded or when you take a long time to kill someone when it gets hard.

The controls are about as tight as a good fighting game. The guys who made it made Dead or Alive (which Hayabusa is also featured in), which some people might consider the opposite of a good fighting game, but DOA is pretty tight regardless. There are multiple weapons you can use, each with their own particular styles, and most of them can be upgraded to more powerful forms. The upgrades changes the look and power of the weapon, and also allows you to use stronger and flashier moves.

I remember the first time I played the game on the Xbox in '04, it took me almost an hour just to kill the first boss (2nd hardest boss in the game). When I finally completed the game, I really felt like I had achieved something, and it raised the bar for action games for me. Prince of Persia (which seemed to steal at least one move from NG) was alright, God of War was ok, DMC3 was pretty cool, but to me they just didn't match the level of satisfaction of Ninja Gaiden.

Concluding, if you have the ability to play it on a regular basis, please do. Try not to get too frustrated with it, you get better at it if you really *try* to get better at it. I mentioned it took me an hour just to kill the first boss on Normal mode when I first played (There was no such thing as Easy Mode). I downloaded the PS3 demo for Ninja Gaiden Sigma last month and blasted through the demo stage (first level, including boss) on Hard mode in about 10 minutes. Though I did try it on Very Hard and got killed right before I got to the boss--but anyway, I hadn't played it for at least 2 years, and I was able to defeat that boss without a scratch. If you can finish Ninja Gaiden, it likely will increase your action gaming skill. Just try not to break any controllers in frustration.

[Dreddz]

Ninja Gaiden isnt a breeze but anyone who primarily discusses the difficulty of the game is overexaggerating. Like JKtrix said, once you've spent a good time practising with the game is becomes less of a bother. I found when I got to Chapter 5 the game became less difficult. But difficulty should never put you off a game, truely hardcore experiences are my fondest memories of gaming, not from the controller snapping side of it, but the satisfsction of kicking a games ass when its throwing everything at you. And just the intense rush throughout.

Ninja Gaiden was tremendous fun, I dont actually own the game, when I played and beat the game it was from borrowing a friends Xbox and copy of the game. Now I own a 360, I could buy it cheap. Or rather wait and buy Sigma for the PS3. Im split between the two. But Im not really in any position to buy either cause im broke.

I remember the first time I played the game on the Xbox in '04, it took me almost an hour just to kill the first boss (2nd hardest boss in the game)

Admittedly not the easiest battle but he is cake walk compared to Alma and her latter form.

[JKTrix]

I remember the first time I played the game on the Xbox in '04, it took me almost an hour just to kill the first boss (2nd hardest boss in the game)

Admittedly not the easiest battle but he is cake walk compared to Alma and her latter form.

Hence 2nd hardest boss :P I had the most trouble with Human Mukai (spoilers?) and even more with Alma. I'm not even sure I'll be able to beat her as easily when I fight her again on the PS3.

Funny thing with Alma, I spent almost an entire day tring to kill her. I even took my Xbox to the local collage where some 'more experienced' gamers hung out, and spent about 4 hours passing the controller around trying to get people to kill her. No luck.

After getting home about an hour after that, I set it up to try one more time and beat her on the first try. After watching them, some of them got pretty far in the fight, but ultimately died. I guess I noticed the stuff that worked, and managed to put it all together. But I can't remember for the life of me what I did.

Tip for Mukai though, when you get there:[spoilers]Use the Walls. Run on them to get away, and attack while jumping off of them.[/spoilers]