r/ninjagaiden

now hear me out, i haven't finished the dmc netflix anime but i watched a few episodes while i was playing ninja gaiden 2 black and thought "what if netflix (or any anime studio) made a show for ninja gaiden?

now i heard the story for the dmc anime was shit but the animation and action looks fire and i think it'd fit ninja gaiden but try to not mess up the story. they can make the show a separate universe from the ninja gaiden games or related to the games. eitherway, i think it's a cool concept. let me know what you guys think!!!

So, oldschool NG head here, and while I'll always personally prefer the more grounded approach to the combat from previous entries, I've also been pretty clear that I still do really enjoy NG4 as it's own game.

I've been messing around some more with Master Ninja difficulty in the main story mode. Like the other games, I do really appreciate how this game still keeps heavy enemy aggression at it's core. Just because you can do all sorts of ridiculous combos with active weapon switching, doesn't mean the game will sit back and let you, which I'm happy about. Granted, I REALLY dislike how the hitboxes are handled in this game. I can't tell you how many times my life bar drains from attacks that don't visibly even come close to touching me. It's made even worse by the lack of recoil your character has to being hit in the first place, so it's really hard to tell sometimes. However, I've learned to avoid a lot of those attacks a bit more consistently with practice.

At any rate, where I think I've found the most fun in NG4's combat loop is in the sense of momentum. To elaborate, if NGB's combat is akin to a very tightly choreographed dance, and NG2 and 3 are like an old-school Jackie Chan film where it's a constant back and forth of offense and defense between you and your opponents, then NG4 when played optimally is like classic Bruce Lee where you steamroll deadly opponents. While I think adaptability is still important in this game and you do utilize defensive options, mostly you're constantly on the attack and giving your enemies as little chance as possible to retaliate.

In particular, when I mentioned a feeling of momentum, a lot of that has to do with how you can actually play very liberally with your Bloodbind meter, and as long as you keep up heavy aggression with base attacks in-between, you will keep refilling your meter incredibly fast. It's a cycle that goes in quick succession. In particular, that's the main use for longer air combos over being stylish or doing damage. It's a more reliable way to keep your meter up and at the same time take some aggression off you, while still not being completely safe (which is a good thing). Stuff like the DDB's Gleam heavy attack or Kage-Hiruko's Bloodraven jumping light attack are great and reliable instant launchers that you can easily combo out of. That's where weapon switching is also extra useful since it keeps you airborne longer.

Basically, NG4 to me is primarily about keeping constant pressure on your enemies as opposed to surviving the pressure the enemies put on you. Playing well you really try to not even give them the chance, which ironically enough puts another form of pressure on you since if you make one single mess up they will punish you hard. You can go from dominating an encounter to being put on your backfoot in seconds.

It's not at all about combo creativity. The loop is about constantly smacking the shit out of something and cashing out that meter with well-placed power attacks based on which ones work best for the situation. For example Magatsuhi's hammer is great for bigger, singular targets, while Solitaire is great for catching a cluster of human sized or smaller enemies, and so on. The Bloodraven/Gleam attacks can be used in rapid succession if you aren't ever really letting up on your offense in-between, and this leads to landing multiple OTs and killing enemies in rapid succession. This is even moreso the case when you use Chain Link to finish off base combos with the Bloodraven version of the last hit of the string. That's where this particular combat system circles back to that core NG staple, even if it does it in it's own unique way, and I really do respect that approach, even if it's not my personal favorite style.

At any rate, I replayed and SSS ranked a few Master Ninja chapters this weekend, and it felt really good blitzing through each fight and shredding through deadly enemies like paper. There are definitely a number of things I think that NG4's combat could still improve on (as could previois games, for that matter), but overall this is where it has managed to really click for me, personally. While you can get away with UT spam in this game like in NG2, just like with NG2, mixing that up with ALL of your useful options is just way more fun and arguably a more practical and effective way to play.

I think being able to play similar to what I see in those vTenchu videos is my personal goal with this game at this point.

It just feels like I am just grinding out (killing enemies to clear rooms in general but with UT etc) just to get enough items to make it through.

It isn't really all that hard, if you just grind and max out your items

Posting this in case someone wanted a new way to make their game more challenging, but mostly hoping this reach some challenge run youtuber or streamer and they make a video on it.

As for me, I'm still building up courage to beat the game on normal.

Hello! It's a pleasure to meet the Ninja Gaiden community!

I have a question. I absolutely love games like Sekiro, Devil May Cry, and Metal Gear Rising, so I was thinking that the Ninja Gaiden series might be right up my alley.

Which game would you recommend I start with? Right now I'm considering Ninja Gaiden Black or Ninja Gaiden 4, but I'm open to other suggestions if you think there's a better entry point.

Thanks in advance!

I made a post earlier that did well calculating Ryu’s age but I want to correct some stuff and fix where I think I was wrong. The main change is the placement of Ninja Gaiden 3 and Ragebound/NES/OVA. After reading the bios in DOA 5 and 6 they imply Jo Hayabusa is in fact still alive in those games, and therefore Ninja Gaiden 3 can in fact take place between the DOA games and not before. This would be consistent with his outfit shift from DOA Dimensions to DOA 5. https://www.reddit.com/r/ninjagaiden/s/rMebGi1fij that was my original thread.

With these changes the timeline seems way more plausible with more space between many of the games that were originally crammed all into 2 years of Ryu being 22/23.

Anyway to start the timeline you have the Nioh games which are known to be in the ancient past of the Team Ninja world.

Nioh series (Ryu has not yet been born)

Ninja Gaiden Arcade is probably the beginning of the series, as it is referenced later in Yaiba and doesn’t have the caveats of the NES series that push it forward. I can’t say for sure when this takes place, there is a cult in it called the cult of 1999 that prophesies a king will come in 1999, but it doesn’t say the game itself takes place then. The NES series states it occurs in a retro-futuristic 1988, and placing this entry in 1999 would force it much later in the list and would only make sense if Ninja Gaiden 4 indeed takes place 20 years after NG2, which would make Ayane 35 and she does not look 35 in that game. So for now, this game is the start of the series.

Ninja Gaiden Shadow is not referenced in any other games and is supposed to be a prequel to the NES trilogy, set 3 years before. However the NES trilogy has been shuffled around the timeline multiple times by retcons. Still Ryu’s outfit in this game resembles the outfit he begins with in NG1/Black/Sigma moreso than the arcade game, so there’s that. So it would probably go here unless someone disagrees.

Ryu is 21. Judging by the trees in the first mission in Sigma this game begins in the Fall. Ryu dawns his Legendary Black Falcon Suit and encounters his most powerful enemies yet, the Fiends.

(fall) Ninja Gaiden Black/Sigma (Ryu is 21, Ayane is 14)

6 months later brings us to Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, so logically Ryu would now be at least close to 22 given his birthday is June 15. This is also the first time Ryu defeats the Dark Dragon, which is mentioned in Ninja Gaiden 4.

(spring or summer) Ninja Gaiden DS (Ryu is ~22, could still be 21 if spring. Ayane is still 14 because her birthday is august 5th which probably hasn’t been passed yet)

6 months later yet again brings us to Ninja Gaiden 2. Ryu is still 22 but it is towards the end of the year again. Ryu also defeats the Dark Dragon a second time, also mentioned in Ninja Gaiden 4 (it says he defeated it a total of 3 times, the third when its husk would poison Tokyo before NG4). Since the Dark Dragon is only in Sigma 2 and 2 Black I’ll assume 2 Black is the canon now.

(fall) Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (Ryu is 22, Ayane is 15)

So now is where I break with orthodoxy and say the next chronological game is DOA Dimensions. DOA Dimensions combined the stories of DOA 1-4 but put Ryu in his Black Falcon Suit (the version he wears in the first 2 games but not 3). Ryu has established himself as a legendary fighter but Jo Hayabusa is not yet dead in Dimensions unlike the original first 4 DOA games which reference the NES games as his origin instead of the 3D games where he has his Black Falcon suit. Ryu is stated to be 23 in Dimensions and Ayane is stated to be 16, fitting our timeline perfectly.

(summer) DOA Dimensions (Ryu is 23, Ayane is 16)

Now is where I believe Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge happens. While it could have happened after the next DOA games I’m going to assume the release order of the games would point to when they take place given they don’t contradict otherwise. Also in DOA 5 Ryu is 25, giving us age 24 to place Razor’s Edge.

(fall) Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge (Ryu is 24, Ayane is 17)

After defeating the League of Alchemists and their schemes, in the process inadvertently destroying the Blade of the Archfiend, Ryu is dragged back into the world of DOA in DOA 5, where it is stated he is now 25 and Ayane is 18.

(summer) DOA 5 (Ryu is 25, Ayane is 18)

Next we have Ninja Gaiden Yaiba Z, which was released in between DOA 5 and 6. It fits fine in here as a side quest for Ryu in between those games. As Ryu is still 25 in DOA 6 he is still 25 here.

(fall) Ninja Gaiden Yaiba Z (Ryu is 25)

Next is DOA 6, the conclusion to the ongoing story threads from DOA 5. Ryu and Ayane are still the same age, so this year was just a busy year for everyone. It should be noted that in the character bios for Ryu in both DOA 5 and 6 it mentions Jo Hayabusa being alive training in the mountains, meaning this is still before Ragebound, where spoiler alert, Jo dies.

(winter) DOA 6 (Ryu is 25, Ayane is 18)

The next game chronologically is of course Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, where the events leading to Jo Hayabusa’s death finally arrive. As this game seems to begin in early summer we can assume Ryu is either approaching his next birthday or has passed it, but it’s unclear how long this would take place after DOA 6; however, since things seem to happen fast for this young ninja lets say it happens next year.

(spring or summer) Ninja Gaiden Ragebound (Ryu is ~26)

Now we have the NES games which seem to have already been partially retconned by Ragebound at least regarding Ryu’s outfit, so we can assume other aspects of it can be altered to fit the modern timeline, such as the ages of the characters, but the main thing here is Jo Hayabusa finally dies and Ryu, as a result, eventually becomes the head of his clan as we see later in Ninja Gaiden 4. Since there is a year time skip between NES 1 and NES 2, these games take place over the course of at least a whole year. So:

Ninja Gaiden NES trilogy (Ryu begins at ~26 and ends at 27)

Next we have the OVA series, again requiring some head canon to fit. But in it Ryu begins a shop with his new gf Irene in America. He must have realized eventually the world needed him though and returned to his duties and ended up back in Tokyo for NG4, but we just have to imagine about that.

Ninja Gaiden OVA (Ryu is 27 or 28)

Finally we have Ninja Gaiden 4, which tells us it takes place “multiple decades” after the Black Spider Clan attacked the Hayabusa Village, seemingly referring to Ninja Gaiden 2. But Ayane is in this game and she still looks relatively young. If it took place 20 years after NG2 that would make Ryu 42 and her 35. This is plausible but the designs of the characters suggest something more like 10 years, with Ryu being 32 and Ayane being 25. But we will probably have that question answered in DOA 7, which seems to take place around the same time.

But anyway there you go, if you want to play the games in chronological order with the full story it goes:

Nioh Series [ancient past]
Ninja Gaiden Arcade
Ninja Gaiden Shadow
Ninja Gaiden Sigma
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (DS)
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black
DOA Dimensions (DS)
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge
DOA 5
Ninja Gaiden Yaiba Z
DOA 6
Ninja Gaiden Ragebound
Ninja Gaiden NES trilogy
Ninja Gaiden OVA series
Ninja Gaiden 4
DOA 7?

Hope you enjoyed this.

Hi guys

I played Ninja Gaiden Black back on 2003 and managed to beat Very Hard mode before my Xbox console got damaged. I didn't have a chance to play Master Ninja difficulty mode since then.

Last month I heard about Xemu and successfully played Ninja Gaiden Black again on my PC after so many years, but spending months going from Normal to Master Ninja will be time-consuming, since I have job to do.

So if there's anyone who has the save files, or snapshot of this mode, I'd be appreciated.

View Poll

Honestly, I'm enjoying it far more than NG4 and I expected to be the other way around being a massive Hack&slash fan.

But I have way too many little nitpicks with NG4.

Though, I know they're different kind of games.