It feels good finally beating the first two Ninja Gaidens on the NES.

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mbd36
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It feels good finally beating the first two Ninja Gaidens on the NES.

Postby mbd36 » August 12th, 2015, 3:27 pm

I'm in my late 30's and have been playing these on and off since I was a kid, but never beat them until now.

I used an emulator but didn't resort to save states.

What makes the first NG so hard is that you're back at 6-1 whenever you die on the final bosses. In order to beat the game you must get good at act 6. Jaquio is the worst part. I cheaped out and used the jump & slash weapon to defeat him. The other two bosses aren't so bad.

NG2's stages might be a little tougher over all, but it's much easier to beat than the first game. The last level (which is still insanely frustrating until you get used to it) and final bosses are more forgiving. I managed to beat it in a couple days of playing. I think that the graphics are quite a bit better than the first game, the stage designs more interesting, and for some reason I really dig the music.

I tried the third game and the Critic is right that the difficulty really ramps up on the second stage. I might just take a break from NG for now.

Sut
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Re: It feels good finally beating the first two Ninja Gaidens on the NES.

Postby Sut » August 13th, 2015, 10:27 am

Never had the pleasure of playing these classics. To be honest the stories of brutal difficulty has always put me off so congratulations on having both the tenacity and skill to complete the games.
Have you played the Master System game ? Would be interesting to get your thoughts on that one. Does anyone know if it's as brutal as the NES games ? I do own it but like a lot of my library I've yet to give it a good go.

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velcrozombie
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Re: It feels good finally beating the first two Ninja Gaidens on the NES.

Postby velcrozombie » August 13th, 2015, 8:08 pm

A couple of great games that I've never legitimately beaten - I've only beaten the first one using save-state abuse. I played the first one a lot about 3-4 years ago as a way to take breaks during a large project for college. I got to the point where I could get to 6-2 pretty reliably without having to continue, but that level has got to be one the hardest in any NES game. I'd actually like to go back to it and give it another go - I've watched a number of speedruns since then and I probably have a better idea of how the game is supposed to be played. As with you, Jaquio was my biggest obstacle. The key seems to be not just dodging his fire, but also getting multiple hits on each opportunity. If you press down at the same time as you slash your sword in the air, you will cancel your current slash, allowing you to do another; you can do this repeatedly if you're good at the technique, allowing you to quickly rack up damage.

I haven't played NG2 nearly as much and I don't remember ever passing the fourth level. I've heard that it's actually easier, in part because of how you can use the Ninja Clone power-up and (if I'm remembering correctly) repeatedly use the Fire Wheel.

The closest accomplishment I have to this is beating Contra and Super C back-to-back in an evening.

Den
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Re: It feels good finally beating the first two Ninja Gaidens on the NES.

Postby Den » August 14th, 2015, 2:15 pm

Ninja Gaiden is one of the few games I'm an expert at. I've finished the game without losing a life, and I also have a speed run of about 18 minutes (which is on YouTube, if anyone wants the link... ).

It took me many weeks to perfect the timing on Jacquio.

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Rev
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Re: It feels good finally beating the first two Ninja Gaidens on the NES.

Postby Rev » August 16th, 2015, 12:41 pm

Congrats on beating these two tough games. I've taken cracks at them before and both games are definitely in the legendary "Nintendo Hard" category. They require a lot of memorization and quick reflexes. Congrats.

mbd36
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Re: It feels good finally beating the first two Ninja Gaidens on the NES.

Postby mbd36 » August 16th, 2015, 2:54 pm

Rev wrote:Congrats on beating these two tough games. I've taken cracks at them before and both games are definitely in the legendary "Nintendo Hard" category. They require a lot of memorization and quick reflexes. Congrats.


The first two "Ninja Gaiden" games are surprisingly doable with some practice. At first they seem cheap and unfair, but they are carefully designed so that there is a way to get through every section. For example, there is an infamous part in stage 6-2 in the first game where you have to creep forward until the most annoyingly placed enemy disappears and then duck under the eagle that comes at you. At first that jump seems impossible, but once you know the tricks you can get past it every time (or almost every time).

The toughest Nintendo games like "Silver Surfer" and "Battletoads" still hand me my butt. I wish I could beat those.

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Gentlegamer
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Re: It feels good finally beating the first two Ninja Gaidens on the NES.

Postby Gentlegamer » August 16th, 2015, 3:06 pm

Seanbaby of EGM told a story on a podcast how after his friend finally beat Ninja Gaiden he nailed the cart to the wall.

Voor
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Re: It feels good finally beating the first two Ninja Gaidens on the NES.

Postby Voor » August 16th, 2015, 7:05 pm

Id be interested in seeing the speed run on YouTube.

Bootsy from "James and mike Mondays" recently beat battletoads and silver surfer. It did not look easy, and he's in the process of completing a "how to" video.

snakeboy
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Re: It feels good finally beating the first two Ninja Gaidens on the NES.

Postby snakeboy » August 19th, 2015, 10:20 pm

mbd36 wrote:I tried the third game and the Critic is right that the difficulty really ramps up on the second stage. I might just take a break from NG for now.


Since you are using emulation, you should try Ninja Ryuukenden III, which is the Famicom version of Ninja Gaiden III. It's quite a bit easier than the game we got in the U.S. There are fewer enemies, the amount of damage inflicted on you is cut in half, the checkpoints are more generous, and if that all isn't enough, there is also a save password.

mbd36
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Re: It feels good finally beating the first two Ninja Gaidens on the NES.

Postby mbd36 » August 20th, 2015, 2:56 am

snakeboy wrote:
mbd36 wrote:I tried the third game and the Critic is right that the difficulty really ramps up on the second stage. I might just take a break from NG for now.


Since you are using emulation, you should try Ninja Ryuukenden III, which is the Famicom version of Ninja Gaiden III. It's quite a bit easier than the game we got in the U.S. There are fewer enemies, the amount of damage inflicted on you is cut in half, the checkpoints are more generous, and if that all isn't enough, there is also a save password.


That's a good point.

The first two Ninja Gaidens are classic action games that are a blast to play. I wanted to grind away at them until I eventually beat them legit. There's a lot of trial and error but you get to keep trying.

NG3 has been tedious and I don't enjoy playing it as much. As I understand it, the difficulty was increased as a reaction to game rentals in the U.S., not to make it more entertaining. I'll give the more forgiving Japanese version a try. When I get good at that one, I might go back to the American version.


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