Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (NES) - Guest Post

Tired of my shallow bite-sized posts, looking for something more substantial? Guest poster ZXLink takes a long look at NES classic Ninja Gaiden II, a.k.a. Shadow Warriors II. 

Ninja Gaiden II for Xbox 360

Nah, the old one on the NES. Released in 1990, it takes place a year after the events of the first game. There's a nice cutscene before the title showing some mysterious dude with a badass looking cape that has some nice scrolling and lightning effects, at least for the NES.

Mysterious dude has a conversation with a commando looking guy stating that everything is going according to plan, and that Ryu is a non-factor. We are introduced to the characters:

Our hero, Ryu Hayabusa.

Irene, his, er, love interest? Hell if I know. She shot him in the first game.

And Johnny Cage as Robert T.S.

We're then treated to a nice close-up of the mysterious cape guy, apparently named Ashtar, who has plans for world domination (SHOCKER!). Gotta say, the music for the intro was pretty nice, like most of the music from the first game.

The game then moves on to the title screen, which is a hell of a lot nicer looking than the first game. After starting the game proper, we get an "Act" screen much like in the earlier game, only this time instead of Ryu it's his lady friend.

We're now in Act 1-1, in the city. Ryu looks much the same, though the status bar now palette cycles, which is kinda nice looking and tends to remind you to look up there a bit more. He starts with shurikens this time, leading to me to believe that Ryu is perhaps somewhat more competent this time.

This level goes by fairly easily, but it is a damn sight more difficult than Act 1-1 in the first game. Along the way I discovered that Ryu HAS in fact been improving in the year that has gone by, as he can now climb up walls rather than just clinging to them and jumping back and forth. He can also use his ninja weapons while on walls, and fire to the left or right. Moving right on...

Huh, apparently he's been watching Naruto, as he can create orange shadow clones of himself by picking up powerups along the way. In the shot above, you can see one of those annoying "rolling" enemy types from the first game.

This guy's easy enough, he slowly lumbers towards you and then charges, you can damage him much more effeciently than he can you, though if you really felt the need you could easily dodge the charge attack. Act 1 complete!

Cutscene time, this is the only cutscene I screencapped this time around because, well, I got tired of watching them. They're really well drawn, and quite impressive for the NES, but I wasn't playing the game for the story. Gives you something to look forward to if you decide to give it a whirl, yeah? Anyway, on to Act 2!

Act 2-1 takes place on a train, it's fairly straight forward and honestly not bad, I don't think you can actually fall off the train here so death via gang-rape is your only concern. Most of the enemies in the game so far are from the first game, it seems.

I didn't get many shots here because it's essentially the same train car over and over with different enemies on top, and that's not very interesting to look at. I passed it on the first try, and I expected Act 2-2 would be much the same. As it turns out, I was mistaken.

Act 2-2 begins, and immediately you see something falling from the sky. Not sure what it's supposed to be, the grass looks WAY too green for it to be snowing, so maybe it's really fat rain. The gimmick here is that it's an indicator for the wind direction. The wind will switch between blowing left, blowing right, and stopping dead. It doesn't show up well in screenshots, but it's there.

HOLY SHIT IT'S JASON OH GODS HE CAN'T BE KILLED RUN LIKE YOU STOLE SOMETHING!!

Nah he dies as easily as anything else, seems to have replaced the football players from the first game. Apparently someone on the dev team actually watched Friday the 13th before the second game and realized that they'd given him the wrong weapon.

Also, that giant red orb up there? In the second game, that's where all your powerups come from. My thinking is that people got confused by the fact that they changed every level last time around, sometimes looking like background objects or even obstacles, so they wanted to make it clear that good things happen if you hit them this time.

By the way I died a couple of times due to the wind and me being hasty before reaching this point. I jumped to the right, the wind started blowing left, and I died, forcing me to restart the level.

Ryu looks lonely without his buddy Naruto.

I managed to make some more progress, after dying several times. Like the first game, you have infinite continues, and you always continue on the level you died on. You start the level from the beginning (2-2, in this case) if you lose all your lives, but as long as you have an extra life you will continue from any checkpoints you've reached (unless you die at a boss in which case the game sees fit to throw you back to the beginning of the level for being such a loser).

So far the level is annoying, but not too bad. The wind tunnel effect coupled with groups of enemies ends with a lot of cheap deaths, and this time around the game seems to REALLY punish you for going too fast. This level must be hell for speed runners, as it involves a lot of "stand here and try not to fall off or get pushed far enough to spawn any enemies."

Eventually I meet a new enemy, Jello blobs that stick to walls and shoot crap at me. They're kind of annoying, and they jump back and forth between the walls.

Moving along, I make it to the boss. He kicks my ass first time around. He'll just stand on top of that platform throwing spiders at you unless you climb the wall to the right. Their coloration matches the background really well, so if you're not paying close attention they're easy to miss. There are 4 of them in this shot.

He killed me again and I died twice re-doing the level (My fault for trying to go fast, I guess). Anyway, third time's the charm, and Spidey goes down in a fiery explosion like all the other bosses.

After another cutscene, we're on to act 3! It's... oh... it's a forest level. The gimmick here is that the level is pitch black until lightning strikes, making it easy to miss-time jumps or fall in holes you can't see.

The jello things are back, and we encounter bats for the first time along the way, luckily nothing too bad so far, and then we meet another new enemy - fire! They spawn in and move towards Ryu. Luckily they're slower than birds, unluckily they tend to show up in groups, and almost always in places where you will be knocked in holes.

The fireballs did a number on my health, and I don't make it far before I die again. On the next life, I find Naruto again and get an old favorite ability, the fire wheel.

There's another one of those damned rolling enemies that bounces all over the place when you get too close. He had a friend, but Ryu has a friend AND is on fucking fire, and his miserable existence was quickly ended.

Son of a bitch... died again. At least the music is good. Restarting, I make it farther this time, to a portion of the level with narrow platform to jump on, seems like it should have been harder than it was, but there were no cheap enemy spawns right around here. SUCCESS! 

Ryu and Naruto make it through the level and enter some kind of castle. At this point I believe the game starts throwing out cutscenes after every segment, which is cool, but again, I skipped them. By this point I was making a lot of stupid mistakes due to my frustration with the cheap deaths I'd suffered at the hands of flying enemies, projectiles, and botomless pits. I die once more on the way to this point.

It doesn't look bad from here, but there are more of those platforms, bouncy guys, birds, and all manner of crap to send Ryu falling to his death up ahead. I forgot to screen cap it because I was too busy dying repeatedly and screaming obscenities at the game to remember to hit the SS button. 

Many deaths later, I meet this guy. He has some kind of flaming boomerang sling that he throws out. It's easy enough to dodge, but he takes 3 hits to kill, so I just jump over him and keep going.

I make it to the boss with little issue. Said boss proceeds to kick my ass because I only have 5 health left. I did manage to chip away some health using my diagonal fireball attack, but I ran out long before he was ready to die. His pattern is simple enough, he flies back and forth shooting blue orbs at you and you're supposed to hit him. I kept getting hit while attempting it. When you do hit him, he drops to the ground, and that's when you do your real damage. He'll launch off a missile attack (I honestly have no idea what the hell this guy is supposed to be, he looks like a robot skeleton with a jetpack), but it won't hit you unless you're airborne to begin with.


Several failed attempts later (most of which were attempts at REACHING the boss)...


SUCCESS! Just barely though. Again, he dies in a fiery explosion, though I suppose it makes more sense with this guy, since he seems to be some kind of cyborg undead xenomorph. Suddenly, a cutscene appears! I skip it, and upon entering the level, I kind of wish I hadn't.

Whatever happened in that cutscene, it apparently involved Ryu going to hell, where those damned frog-things from the first game have been waiting. The fire is animated and pretty cool looking. As you can see, Naruto was waiting down here for Ryu as well. BELIEVE IT!

Anyway, some new obstacles are presented here, in addition to the classic "slowly plod back and forth across the platform making it sort of a pain in the ass to move quickly through the levels" enemies.

To the left, it's this level's version of the birds I've grown to hate so much, some kind of wyvern or mini pteradactyl. To the right, amidst the flames, is a hunk of molten rock that explodes and launches smaller flaming rocks at Ryu, and on the platform, red shirt #3258 just waiting to die.

By level 4, the game has officially stopped fucking around, and even the ladder climbing areas that serve as checkpoints now have enemies in them. I died several times with the combination of the wyvern things, exploding lava rocks, and bouncing frog bastard enemies. Eventually, I make my way to a section with thin platforms I have to jump on, and there's an exploding rock jumping up between them. The way the thing is placed, the shrapnel will land right on top of Ryu unless he's standing on the left edge of said tiny platform.

Much to my surprise, Tecmo decided against having these things jump up between every set of platforms, and it only happens a few times. When it does happen it seems to be easily avoided, and there are no enemies that I can recall during this segment, so I breeze through for the most part, and reach the end of level 4-1.

Another cutscene that I didn't watch, and... shit. That water is moving really fast and it's going to push me around, isn't it?

Indeed it is. This alone isn't too bad, but the coming screens are full of bouncing enemies and guys that can run faster than you. Eventually it gets the best of me, and I have to restart 4-2. The first game seemed to rely heavily on the player's reflexes and some memorization, whereas the second game seems to take a more "Contra" approach and expects the player to play over and over, making progress a few screens at the time. As always, enemies respawn until you pass a certain point on the screen, but this time around there seem to be fewer surprises brought on by enemies spawning well past their spawn point, or at different locations on screen. 

This time the game just seems to throw a bunch of shit at you at once and expects you to deal with it. Here, for example.

I have to make the jump down to the right, but that guy spawns right there and there are 4 fireballs the come at you from different directions. If you jump back to the left to kill them, they respawn instantly. If you jump down to the right, you'll probably hit the redshirt down there and be launched 30 feet backwards into the pit (Ryu can take a fair amount of damage, but getting hit sends him flying like an unbuckled child in a head-on collision). If you stand still long enough for the guy to move, you get hit by fireballs and fall into the pit, unless you're damn lucky.


A long while and many failed attempts later...

WHOO BOSS TIME!

And then I was immiediately pushed into the pit by the current because I forgot to hit jump.


Hours pass (maybe 15 minutes, I forget which)...

BOSS FIGHT... AGAIN! This one's pretty easy, you hit the head in the middle where the water comes out, his claws spawn alternately on the left and right (If only giant enemies would learn to use both hands at once, most video game heroes would be fucked!), you jump onto the platforms, slash him a few times, jump back to the wall or to the other platform, repeat until death.

I took a fair bit of damage because I was hurting him much faster than he was me, and I just took the hits because I was feeling rather impatient.

Either way, I won, another skipped cutscene later, and we're on to 5-1, which looks exactly like 4-2 minus the water, at least at first.

Then I climb down a ladder and...

Those are some really damn big spikes... and is that some kind of mutant lobster? Oh and walls of fire coupled with jello things. Still, no big deal so far, though I did lose a life on the way down here.

Until I got here.

Jason Vorhees is back, and he's pissed that I sent him to hell, but he's still not of particular concern, at least not by himself. Redshirt #52584 has been replaced by a skeleton at this point. Not a huge concern, but I make a stupid mistake, get hit by something and knocked into the fiery death pit. Luckily it's not insta-kill, unluckily I still don't make it out alive.


One restart of 5-1 and a few deaths later...

I'm back, and this is my next obstacle. It would be imposing had I not played so many Mega Man games in the past, and also if it required you manoeuvre in the least.

The red orb there contains a 1-up. I've neglected to mention it thus far because I was hoping to have a clean shot of one, but apparently I don't. As far as I know, there weren't any 1-ups in the first game, you had 3 lives, and you had to beat the level at hand within those 3 lives. Early on, it's not a big deal, but as the game progresses, you start to die more often, and starting from the beginning puts additional stress on you when you die immediately after reaching a checkpoint. This time around they also have a healing item that restores about half your lifebar and you can normally find them near bosses or tough sections. Finished 5-1, onto 5-2!

Dammit, an ice world. Yes, you slip and slide all over the place, and yes, coupled with the assault of enemies you face at this point it feels incredibly cheap. Also, the bug where you would stick to the inside portion of a wall is still around this time, as you can see. It doesn't happen much, and it doesn't seem to affect you any more than the fact that Ryu sticks to any wall he touches while airborne like some kind of moron. Overall the game is really polished, but it does opt for some cheap Castlevania-style pit deaths.

Progressing through the level, I find Naruto again, and we make it to a ladder, which I climb down and then drop off of into a pit on the next screen.

Shit. Luckily I respawn right on the ladder and drop gently to the right this time. More progress, bouncing enemies and birds everywhere.

Cutscene, then it's time to d-d-d-d-duel! The Dark Magician of Yu-Gi-Oh! fame appears.

Actually it's that Ashtar dude from the opening. His attack pattern is disappearing, then reappearing and summoning fireballs from offscreen into a circle around him. He then launches them back outward. He kicks my ass, I restart, die several times during the level, and plod my way through enemies with Naruto in tow.

This time I have Naruto's help, and together we spam him with fireballs until he explodes!


One more skipped cutscene later...

Level 6-1 begins. Here's a level showcasing a fundamental flaw of oldschool game design; putting foreground objects in front of enemies and platforms. Were it not for the bats and wyvern things, it wouldn't be bad, but damn.

Several failed attempts later, I reach stage 6-2, where a whole bunch of nothing happens... (I'm trying to wrap this up, this is long enough as it is)

Hey I remember these guys! I fought them in the first game! They're... marginally more difficult here, which is to say you might actually die if you are down to half health and don't have any ninja magic... or if you forget you have it.

I did die, then went back through 6-2 (took one life, if that says anything about how uninteresting it is), and soundly beat them using giant magic shurikens with the help of Naruto.

Stage 7-1 has an emerald green water background and a lot of opportunities for cheap deaths.

Those snake things shoot projectiles, I believe there was an exploding rock, and of course the ninja's only natural predator, a bird. I can't express how cheap the birds are in situations like this, they spawn in just as awkwardly as other enemies, but they home in on you and move damn fast. You know how the US military can manage to hit a third story window with a bomb with little to no collateral damage? These birds are those bombs in video game form.


About 20 minutes and several failed attempts later...


Success! Skipped cutscene! 7-2 is full of annoying crap that I was apparently unable to take shots of because I was too busy dying in a pit 200 times. Eventually, I reach the end boss (I assume), and am greeted with a cutscene.

Here's the boss in question.

What the christ is that? I have no idea. Supposedly it's Jaquio from the first game. He just floats around and shoots fire at you, no big, I managed to kill him on my first life, though I did have only one health left. Another cutscene reveals that his blood seeps into some kind of demon sword on an altar, and he turns into this:

Ehhh... so the idea here is to hit the head while dodging the fireballs he spits and the acid(?) that is dropping from the ceiling. Sounds easy enough, and it's not hard to dodge until you have to get close enough to hit him. As you can see, Ryu and Naruto are staring at each other in confusion as to how they're going to kill him with only 1 health remaining. Needless to say, I die, and am sent all the way back to the beginning of Act 7... oh, it's Act 7-2 this time! Guess I'll keep at it, but I don't think I'll manage to kill them both on a single life. Worth a shot though!


Several increasingly frustrated attempts later:

Oh hey, I don't have to fight the first form again. Awesome, but I still die. Out of 30 or so attempts I make it to the boss only 4 times, and never with enough life remaining to survive. So one final screenshot for you all:

I haven't given up entirely, but I needed a break. The first game is notoriously hard, but I think most of that comes from the end-game. Here the end-game is marginally more forgiving in exchange for the overall difficulty of the game going up, resulting in less "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU" as the difficulty goes from hard but fair to "You'd better be lucky."

The graphics are nice (you can almost always tell what something is supposed to be), the controls are tight, the music is fairly awesome, and the cutscenes were well ahead of their time. The game will curb stomp your mother though, so don't pick it up unless you enjoy a challenge.