Chapter 5: I hear japan's equivalent of Vanilla Ice is named Yellow Snow.
Chapter 6: Fire in the hole!
Chapter 7: A Castle Darkly
Chapter 8: Shoguns use swords? Total misnomer!
So, hypnos agreed to suffer through Battlemaniacs if I suffered through this. Being in the mood to drink some delicious aussie tears, I decided to go for it.
Q: Wait, this isn't the same game as the NES one.
A: Exactly why it's being played here. For the record, there are several games in the series called simply "Ninja Gaiden"
Q: How many?
A: FIVE. Seriously. Namely, the original Arcade game, the NES game, the Master Sytem game (played here), the game gear game, and the Xbox game.
Q: Wait, I don't recall Ryu's village getting burned before...
A: That's not a question, but sure. It's not present in the NES trilogy, but it's a cliche Tecmo latched onto quite firmly AFTER that. Ryu's village getting destroyed is the latter game equivalent of "shadowy government agent type showing up and telling you what to do in an enigmatic manner". You'd think the Dragon Clan would be extinct by now. Oh well, that's alternate continuity for ya.
Q: So, what's different here?
A: Wallclimbing is gone, hand over hand climbing is gone, the supporting cast is not present, the game is more grounded in reality, and the way various attacks/abilities work has somewhat changed a little. It'll be a lot more obvious in motion.
Q: So, how good is this?
A: It's not especially "bad", but compared to the NES games, it's not that good either. History has forgotten most games outside the trilogy, up to the previous gen. It's a worthwhile play, and I am having fun with it. And compared to, say, the arcade game? It's damn good.
Q: Difficulty?
A: Lower end of the spectrum. Cheapness and easy deaths are there, but it's dialed back quite a bit some of the other games.
Scroll Lock: Bushido For Dummies! (Or: Ray Plays Ninja Gaiden for the Master System)*
