Let’s talk a little bit about Ninja Gaiden. It’s pretty popular and almost everyone knows what it is. However, I found motivation to write about these classic games after another bored session of Omegle. I was telling someone about the various games I play, and I said, “Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden, Super Mario Bros, Castlevania... classics.” I figured I should go with famous titles. If I said, “Sparkster, Klonoa, Journey to Silius, and Secret of Mana,” a lot of gamers wouldn't know what the hell I was talking about, especially more modern gamers. However, his response proved his “modern gamer” status all on its own. “I love Ninja Gaiden.” Knowing what was probably coming next, I asked, “On what system?”
“PS3.”
Chances are he didn’t even realize there were old Ninja Gaiden games. While I hear the new games are good, and I really would like to play them, the classic NES trilogy should not be forgotten, as they are some of the finest examples of platforming from their time. There’s one simple thing about these games that stands out for me in terms of excellence and, in my opinion, withstands the test of time. It’s not the cutscenes, as obviously those have done nothing but evolve since their humble beginnings in games like Ninja Gaiden. It’s not the difficulty, though these games still prove to be immensely challenging. Even the excellent soundtracks are not what I would consider the highlight of the series. What is it then that stands out so much in my mind? The control. These games are fast-paced, but thanks to tight controls, there actually are ways to avoid the game’s many seemingly impossible deathtraps. Nothing against Castlevania, but if Ryu controlled like Simon Belmont does, Ninja Gaiden would likely be impossible.
However, you may have noticed that at no point have I said that these games are “fair,” or that “every death feels like it could have been easily prevented.” Oh no, I’m not saying that at all. You will die, and you will die a lot. You have to learn to go around the game’s problems such as infinite respawning of enemies and the pitfalls that are rampant throughout the entire series. A particular section of 5-3 in the first game stands out distinctly in my mind. There’s a pit in front of you and a bat coming at you… what do you do? 1st attempt: Kill the bat and jump! You kill the bat, he respawns over the pit, you hit him, and fall to your death. Care to try again? Wait for the right placement, jump the bat carefully, and BAM! A cheetah comes from nowhere and knocks you back into the pit. While these deaths can and will be prevented once you learn the level, there’s literally NO WAY you could possibly react to these death traps the first time you encounter them. Not to mention 6-2 of the first game, don’t even get me started on that crap.
What’s that, player? You haven’t had enough of this? How about sending you back through the hardest section of the game when you fail the final boss just once? How about creating stage hazards in the second game to trip you up? How about throwing you back multiple sections every time you die, AND limited continues in the third game? You still want to play, player?
If any of that doesn’t sound fun, you might be on to something. These games are excessively hard and they’re going to punish you every chance they get. So am I some crazy masochist for wanting to finish all three of these games? Possibly, but I would have given up long ago if these games didn’t all have such excellent control. Still, these games push the limits of what a hard game should be. They all have to be done in one sitting, no battery backup or passwords, and in the case of Ninja Gaiden III, you get limited continues. It should be noted that both of those problems are remedied in the SNES compilation, "Ninja Gaiden Trilogy," but there the music sounds considerably worse and I'm not fond of the controls. I understand it uses the exact same button scheme as the NES games, but using Y as attack and B as jump would have made more sense on an SNES controller than using B and A. The NES versions are the way to go.
All in all, the Ninja Gaiden series stands out as 3 fast-paced, viciously hard, and immensely satisfying games on the NES. I'm not going to pretend that these games aren't frustrating, because every one of them frustrated the hell out of me, particularly 3 with it's even more punishing difficulty. If you go into them expecting to repeat levels a lot, however, you may find yourself with some masochistic tendencies, and enjoying the games a lot. Or... you could, you know... use an emulator and save states like everyone else. You don't HAVE to be as stubborn/dumb as I am.
(Final note: that line still makes me laugh. "Ryu, u sexist?")
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