Ninja Gaiden 4 & Ninja Gaiden 2 Black

[BlackaneseNiNjA]

I know that Razor's Edge gets a lot of heat but I love that game so much. It's the easiest of the three games and I don't think Team Ninja knew what they were doing without Tomonobu Itagaki helming the project but I still think it's hella fun. It has issues but at the end of the day, i enjoyed it very much. Working on unlocking costumes for the extra characters in the Switch port of Razor's Edge.

You’re not alone on RE There’s a lot of us who still love and play the game. Cicada Surge to Steel on Bone tech opened up a lot of curious players to the game back in the day:

 

[douglas]

Currently on chapter 5 in master ninja. This is the first girl chapter and honestly, it's not fun. This character just feels sluggish and clunky to play and now that the enemies 2 shot me, the deaths don't feel fair. On mentor these girl chapter were alright distractions I guess, but now they just fucking suck. Not really encouraging me to continue this run when Vanilla NG2 is installed on my console.

 

[BlackaneseNiNjA]

Currently on chapter 5 in master ninja. This is the first girl chapter and honestly, it's not fun. This character just feels sluggish and clunky to play and now that the enemies 2 shot me, the deaths don't feel fair. On mentor these girl chapter were alright distractions I guess, but now they just fucking suck. Not really encouraging me to continue this run when Vanilla NG2 is installed on my console.

The female chapters in an initial master ninja run of NGS2 can indeed be a little frustrating due to the jarring differences in gameplay and combat attributes. Additionally, the female MC chapters have limited resources and essence drops to content with, so it’s not always possible to simply abuse healing items to damage boost through tough encounters.

However, just like with Ryu, the female MC’s have abusable tech that can trivialize their chapters regardless of difficulty.

Momiji: Abuse her double jump into UT. Though the kill rate is low, the delimb that comes from the level 1 or 2 UT is valuable. When essence is not available on the battlefield, using “XXY” to fish for a de-limb chance can also be key.

Rachel: She’s ridiculously OP and can coast through pretty much every encounter by abusing her easy “XYY” izuna style combo. If there is any kind of distance between her and the enemy, feel free to abuse her ability to shoot her machine gun via the third-person over the shoulder mode (L2+R2, if I’m not mistaken); the machine gun has infinite ammo and can easily outright kill enemies from a distance due to the bullet’s ability to stunlock enemies. Her on-landing UT is also viable up close.

Ayane: Simply abuse her flying swallow style attack constantly. The decap rate on this move is enough to see to it that enemies fall much faster lol

Overall, even compared to Sigma 2, NG2B has been the easiest master ninja run of the mainline series so far (aside from Ninja Gaiden DS) due to the regained ability to upgrade weapons sooner via essence at Murasa Shops, starting players with izuna drop by default in chapter 1, reduced enemy health, and the reduced amount of boss encounters overall compared to NGS2. Another huge change is that dogs in NGS2 were capable of instant kills from any unblockable bite-grab attack; mercifully, this is no longer the case in NG2B as their grab attack can be escaped now without triggering an instant death. This makes all encounters involving the dogs much easier to fight through and the entire master ninja run much less frustrating as a whole.

With all of that said, oddly enough, all of these changes are still magnitudes easier than NG2’s master ninja mode with it’s constant infinite rockets/explosive arrows that bombard you constantly through walls and incendiary shurikens that explode instantly on wall contact, boss battles that feature additional incendiary shuriken spamming enemies, etc etc

 

[BlackaneseNiNjA]

There’s a patch incoming to add additional features and balance changes. I hope this is the return of the proper staircase fight lol

x.com

x.com

 

[douglas]

With all of that said, oddly enough, all of these changes are still magnitudes easier than NG2’s master ninja mode with it’s constant infinite rockets/explosive arrows that bombard you constantly through walls and incendiary shurikens that explode instantly on wall contact, boss battles that feature additional incendiary shuriken spamming enemies, etc etc

Yeah, without a doubt. The first 2 chapters of Master Ninja in NG2 on a fresh run are some of the most bullshitly difficult levels I've ever subjected myself to in any game ever. After that, the difficulty evens out as I got more upgrades and especially maxed out wind blades. Still utter nonsense though. NG2B is far more tame and is a much more balanced experience, outside of the pace breaking female levels.

Thanks for the tips on the girl characters. I feel like these should absolutely be made optional. Very excited for the "balance patch and addition features". OG mode incoming?

 

[Taiso]

So playing through Razor's Edge again in a variety of modes and I'm noticing a few things:

• Steel on Bone is a neat idea but not very well implemented. It makes the game super easy as a crowd controlling mechanic and isn't hard to pull off at all on any difficulty if you understand the flow. I DO like the idea of it but it's far too abusable. I think that Team Ninja compensated for it being OP by having enemies relentlessly attack you, which doesn't really do all that much to prevent it. If you know how to play this game, you know how to exploit Steel on Bone.
• But then, some enemies and bosses all but require Steel on Bone in order to defeat them. Some of the monsters, and even human enemies, are damage sponges that take forever to kill and don't get in the way of each other when they're attacking. So I end up rushing down enemies to trigger the vulnerability, only to have to wait for them to pounce and then punish them because otherwise I'm there for an hour trying to defeat two foes. Ultimately, Steel on Bone needs refinement. So much of this game was lifted from the first two (good) but then the tweaks to the combat to incorporate Steel on Bone don't work so well as implemented. Still love this game but I understand why it's divisive.
• I miss using items. Resource management was a huge part of the first two.
• I hate how some of the costumes are locked behind karma paywalls or stage grinding in Challenges. This game's replayability isn't so high that I'm willing to play the same 50 missions four times over to unlock the two costumes per character. And also, making one of the costumes cost 1.5 mil karma in story mode is FUCKING GAY.

I still love the plot and consider it the 'essential' Ryu Hayabusa story. Ninja Gaiden is a hack and slasher but never forget that this series became populr on the NES not only for its brutal difficulty as an action platformer but because of its (at the time) visionary anime style cinematics that gave us something to chew on beyond the nuts and bolts of the game. Ryu Hayabusa is cooler BECAUSE he is a character and not just an avatar for the player. And Razor's Edge asks the question of what it means to be chosen, or fated, by the universe to deliver justice to the evils that good men can't defeat. He's also my idea of what a hero is: show up, kick ass, defeat the bad guys and then go away until the next time.

 

[neo_mao]

I love all the 3D Ninja Gaiden games, including Razors Edge. Well, Yaiba sucked.

But playing the first one on Xbox for the first time is one of my favorite gaming memories. They just nailed the transition to 3D so perfectly.

 

[Taiso]

Yaiba is gay and playing it will make you gay if you do it too much, even with the borderline jailbait waifu scientist in it.

 

[Hattori Hanzo]

But playing the first one on Xbox for the first time is one of my favorite gaming memories. They just nailed the transition to 3D so perfectly.

The game I bought an OG Xbox for.

 

[BlackaneseNiNjA]

The game I bought an OG Xbox for.

Same.

 

[BlackaneseNiNjA]

Let's smash some controllers out of pure nerd rage:

Not gonna lie. I’m almost at the end of my master ninja run on NG2B, but I have to admit, nothing quite matches the combat rush of the original release. This is my old store display and my original copy of the game that Tomonobu Itagaki signed for me back when we were in japan back in 2010 (he was at Valhalla Game Studios at the time).

 

[Average Joe]

Made it to Chapter 6 last night.

That Chapter 3 boss took me way too long to figure out (I refused to look up tips.)

 

[douglas]

Not gonna lie. I’m almost at the end of my master ninja run on NG2B, but I have to admit, nothing quite matches the combat rush of the original release. This is my old store display and my original copy of the game that Tomonobu Itagaki signed for me back when we were in japan back in 2010 (he was at Valhalla Game Studios at the time).

View attachment 82466

so fucking cool

 

[Average Joe]

I'm starting to get the groove of this.

It's weirdly kind of like real sparring.

Getting all tense and worked up just leads to you flailing around like an idiot and dying. Actually slowing down your moves to make sure you're getting out what you want yields better results. Interesting game for sure as it definitely aims to make you all stressed and pissed off by design.

 

[BlackaneseNiNjA]

I'm starting to get the groove of this.

It's weirdly kind of like real sparring.

Getting all tense and worked up just leads to you flailing around like an idiot and dying. Actually slowing down your moves to make sure you're getting out what you want yields better results. Interesting game for sure as it definitely aims to make you all stressed and pissed off by design.

This is the way

 

[Taiso]

I'm starting to get the groove of this.

It's weirdly kind of like real sparring.

Getting all tense and worked up just leads to you flailing around like an idiot and dying. Actually slowing down your moves to make sure you're getting out what you want yields better results. Interesting game for sure as it definitely aims to make you all stressed and pissed off by design.

It is a different kind of patience that you need to have to play these games, especially on the higher difficulty settings.

Even to this day, there is nothing else like this series out there.

 

[Average Joe]

It is a different kind of patience that you need to have to play these games, especially on the higher difficulty settings.

Even to this day, there is nothing else like this series out there.

I definitely can't play this in the way I can play a Souls game--in those games I can hammer away for hours and not get pissed off even if I keep dying, while this game requires me to take breaks.

Might even just have to pair it with something else more relaxing and play it every other day to save my brain.

 

[Taiso]

That was literally me with Alien: Isolation: I still don't, to this day, know how I platinumed that game. It was too intense at times.

 

[jro]

Black 2 is so much better than it has any right to be. I downloaded the Gamepass version, like wtf 96 gigs I guess that's Unreal 5 for you, then started it thought Jesus these graphics are shit, turned off all the tweaks and it was a little better, then played through it in three days, paid for the PS5 version that looks a LOT better, finished that in two more days and now have to start up a harder difficulty.

Oh and then I also tried 1 Sigma on XSX from the Master Collection and was dumbfounded at how bad it is.

Anyway, 2 Black is a really cool reminder, IMO, of where Team Ninja came from and how they stood alongside From in pioneering the Souls genre.

 

[Taiso]

Where is Tomonobu Itagaki these days?

 

[neo_mao]

Where is Tomonobu Itagaki these days?

There was a time he could do no wrong. As much as I loved the Ninja Gaiden games, I also loved DOA 3 and Ultimate almost as much.

I never heard his name again after that Wii U game Devil’s Third. Never played that one…the protagonist seemed like he would annoy the shit out of me, so I never gave it a chance.

 

[neo_mao]

And yes, I have the volleyball games

 

[Taiso]

There was a time he could do no wrong. As much as I loved the Ninja Gaiden games, I also loved DOA 3 and Ultimate almost as much.

I never heard his name again after that Wii U game Devil’s Third. Never played that one…the protagonist seemed like he would annoy the shit out of me, so I never gave it a chance.

I actually bought Devil's Third and never opened it. For a while, it was highly collectible due to its rarity so I ended up selling it for, like $150 on eBay.

I initially bought it because of Itagaki's name. Then I saw the reviews and, like you, the protagonist seemed annoying to me. And the game wasn't really reviewing well, not even in the circles I normally trust.

At least I made some money.

EDIT: I love the volleyball games too. They are not really 'games' but video game versions of 'gravure idol' fetishism. Taken for what they are, there's nothing wrong with them. I can't play them for more than 15 minutes at a time without getting bored but they are nice to look at.

People that judge video game gooners are weirdly puritanical about these things.

 

[BlackaneseNiNjA]

Where is Tomonobu Itagaki these days?

Though out of the limelight, he still keeps contact with and consults with his former teammates at Soleil (Samurai Jack, Valkyrie Profile Elysium, Wanted: Dead). He did express interest in working with Microsoft after he established his new game studio, but unfortunately, no projects came to fruition.

合同会社板垣ゲームズが解散　それに先立ち株式会社板垣プロダクションが板垣ゲームズに社名変更　事業停止ではなく事業集約を目的としたものか | gamebiz

ゲームクリエイターの板垣伴信氏が設立した板垣ゲームズ合同会社が解散したことがわかった。本日10月7日に掲載された「解散公告」で判明した。登記簿謄本の記載によると、同社は、板垣伴信氏が2020年6月に設立されたゲームスタジオ。なお、これに先立ち、2010年9月に設立され、板垣氏が代表を務める「株式会社板垣プロダクション」が2024年9月に「株式会社板垣ゲームズ」に商号変更しており、こちらは存続して…

gamebiz.jp

 

[Taiso]

Microsoft supported his efforts for a very long time so I can understand him wanting to work with them for so many years.

I honestly wouldn't mind a remaster of the Dead or Alive games on modern consoles. The DoA Ultimate compilation for XboX remains one of the best releases for that system. I imagine that if they ever did it, they'd have to take out the Aerosmith song since licensed music seems to have a difficult time migrating to other platforms along with the games they're featured in. No big loss. I always felt J Rock would have been a better fit. But what do I know? I'm not Tomonobu Itagaki. Clearly.