I finally found an opportunity to try out Ninja Gaiden today at my friend’s house, including several of the harder stages on his save file. It was a let down.
For a long time people have been trying to convince me that it’s on par with Shinobi in terms of difficulty. Having collected every Oboro Coin, beaten Super Hiruko and conquered the hidden stages, I had my doubts. I was correct.
Shinobi is a game in which an absolutely flawless final boss run in super mode will leave you surviving by a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent. To be blunt, Ninja Gaiden is a challenging game, it’s about as hard as the Onimusha series and that’s very respectable, but Shinobi has it by the fucking testicles in terms of difficulty.
My overall impression of Ninja Gaiden was a good one, though. I love the combo system and the ingenuity of some of the stunts. The atmosphere could use a little work, but it was decent. The backstory was a chore to read, but I didn’t mind it too much because the game wasted little time getting to the action and let me skip most of the other time-flushers. The controls were awkward at first because the X-Box controller is a piece of festering shit, but I eventually got used to it.
The only thing that spoiled it for me was the obviousness of it’s Onimusha and Shinobi ripoffs, such as the charge slashes that were coincidentally powered by floating yellow orbs much like Hotsuma’s charge slashes were powered by floating red orbs, and the way you collected said orbs by holding a button that draws them toward you. Even blocking with the trigger was a rip, however subtle. Oh, the shitty auto-targeting was also a problem, but the wide slash radius made up for it.
Bottom line: Ninja Gaiden is a great game.
Bottomer line: Not as great as Shinobi.