Ninja Gaiden (1988)

Ninja Gaiden

The last couple days have been prettycrazy and the next week looks to be getting crazier. I'm officiallymoving into my dorm room and starting freshman year at UC San Diegotomorrow! Among the crazines, I found time to play NinjaGaiden,a personal request from a friend (and a whole lot of you viewers). Ihave heard of this game and seen people play the newer versions onthe Playstation consoles, but I have never actually played a gamefrom the franchise. From what I saw and what people have been tellingme, I was getting ready for a game that could rival Battletoadsin difficulty.

GameCommentary:As the I started playing the game, I noticed a lot of similarities toCastlevania,except the platforming was much smoother and I found myself enjoyingit much more. I found that I was expecting something much moredifficult than what I was playing, but I think the developers made iteasier on purpose so that the player could experience the(surprisingly entertaining) storyline. This is the reason I thinkthat modern games use to justify being so much easier than these NESgames. The “current gen” games focus so much on storyline that itwould be awful for business if most of their players couldn'texperience it because it was too difficult for them.

A Ninja Star Boomerang - One of the many secondary weapons

Nowthat doesn't mean this game isn't difficult. Anyone that has playedthis will tell you that 6-2 is completely ridiculous. Similar toCastlevania,the first Act was relatively easy only to get exponentially harder each Act. Around the 3^rdAct, the game introduces these swooping birds that simply destroyedme (if you've played this game, you know exactly what I'm talkingabout).

There were several times during the game where the plot threw me for a loop, especially during the last couple minutes of the game. There were so many twists in the plot that I felt like I was watching the end of a movie. Overall, an awesome ending to a really enjoyable game.

Apparently Ninjas can throw fireballs out of their hand

WhatI Loved: Thefighting in this game was awesome. I loved running around slicing upbaddies. The platforming was very fun and challenging (I would often find myself tense up when finishing some crazy sequences). The types of enemies varied enough that you had to start incorporating whatever secondary weapon you have to make it past some parts. The bosses were awesome and all made me think of some very unique and inventive ways to kill them.

WhatI Hated: Thoseswooping birds *shudder*. They are worse than the Medusas andHunchbacks combined. Also it would get frustrating sometimes when youwould unintentionally grab the sides of walls.

The man with the sword is the least of your problems

MyGeneral Impression: Iloved this game. It is my favorite NES game I have played so far. Theaction was awesome, the story was engaging and has a couple twists at the end, the platforming was challenging yet fun, and thedialog was so cheesy I found myself laughing out loud several times. There secondary weapons were really fun to mess around with (the fire was the best in my opinion) and worked really well with the sword. Overall, Ninja Gaiden is one of the best games I've played in a long time