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Ninja Gaiden - Unlockable Classics, Difficulty Worries?
Thanks to IGN Xbox for their hands-on look at Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox, as the eagerly-awaited ninja action title got an updated showing at the Tokyo Game Show. As well as what GameSpy call the "beautiful and frenetic action" of the main game, the developers showed off the NES Ninja Gaiden games that were recently announced as unlockable features, found "...hidden inside of a random chest. After finding it, series creator Tomonobu Itagaki directed us to a rundown arcade cabinet in the corner of the [in-game] room. Suddenly... we were playing the original Ninja Gaiden in all its 8-bit glory." Intriguingly, Itagaki was concerned that the new Ninja Gaiden was too easy, and "...said many Japanese gamers don't really like challenging games, and that he wanted to make sure the American fans were pleased and found the game challenging enough."
I'd like him to define too easy, because compared to the original, "too easy" might just mean that you DON'T have to cheat or be nigh-superhuman to beat it (save-state in an emulator doesn't count)!
Mind you, that was one of the wonderful things about the original - it was so hard to beat.
Easily one of the hardest, if not THE hardest game on the NES.
Dark Nexus
"Sanity is calming, but madness is more interesting."
Really, I'm not a huge fans of ninjas, but I love DOA and I love Ninja Gaiden, and I am SO excited about this game!
Normally I don't get worked up like this, but Itagaki hasn't let me down yet.
"Come on, let's go drink till we can't feel feelings anymore."
I thought that they should have done that with the new Mortal Kombat (include prior versions of the game), but alas they didn't. For those of you not familiar, there are well over 200 unlockable items in the game that you get from "buying" them with credits earned from doing battle, etc. You can even unlock the box from Mortal Kombat 3 but not the game!
We all know there's enough room on the DVDs for this stuff to start becoming more commonplace.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those with loaded guns, and those who dig.
It's all about memorizing patterns.
As soon as you get the patterns down, assuming you have the capability to react, you should be able to beat the game.
Its kind of interesting that the arcade version of Ninja Gaiden lacked all that made the NES version cool. Its like they made the arcade game and thought "Hey we could attach a pretty cool story onto this"
"I am a kernel in the linux army"
They need to make an original NES or Sega Master System controller for the Xbox so we can get the complete experience, thumb blisters and all.
Ninja Gaiden was the only game I remember where I had to bleed to beat it!
"...said many Japanese gamers don't really like challenging games, and that he wanted to make sure the American fans were pleased and found the game challenging enough."
Oh, how times have changed. I seem to recall a decade or so ago that the U.S. was getting Doki Doki Panic instead of the real Super Mario Bros. 2, because it was too hard. Of course, we also got Final Fantasy II "easytype" with lots of good stuff dummied out.
This is the NFL, which stands for "Not For Long" if you keep making those bulls*** calls.
If you're going to be a nitpicker about names, you might as well get it right and remember things like the secret programmers room where you could get the book of porn which was taken out for the North American and European releases.
Remember, kids -- if you're an obsessive/complusive nerd who corrects people on Slashdot about the name to a game which we were clear on, at least get your facts straight.
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Considering that the majority of the changes is easytype were monster strengths, and considering that the "original" was merely longer than easytype because it took longer to level up before the boss fights, rather than require actual strategy..
:)
Most of the gameplay in the Final Fantasy series can be summed up as, "if you're enjoying it, you can play more." You can spend more time leveling up, more time playing with items and spells, more time talking to people in towns. Your reward for doing all this is more game time, easier encounters (because you keep leveling up), etc. Essentially it's a matter of you having the time to beat the game and sit through it, rather than you beating it using strategy.
I'd argue that the easytype changes in the FF translation was just trimming off pointless gameplay, not making it easier
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~You know who.
First, "Ninja Gaiden" is actually the name of two different games produced by the same company. It was originally an arcade port (a brawler, I believe), but Tecmo created a game with the same name but mostly different content for the NES. This is not the first time this has happened: the original Rygar and Astanynax were also arcade games with little to do with their NES counterparts. (But I admit, my memory is a little fuzzy concerning these.) The arcade version of Ninja Gaiden eventually got a port for the Atari Lynx, but because of the massive installed base for the system and its pioneering use of "cinema scenes," e.g. cut scenes, most people remember the NES version now.
I'll admit to having played through both Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden 2. (The last game was 3, at which time the company announced it'd be the last game.) At the time I played them eagerly, and beat them both on a single rental. Now, I have to admit, I consider them poor imitations of Castlevania. They both have the same side-scrolling, stage-oriented, hit-candles-for-stuff, sub-weapon-based, boss-infested gameplay. Castlevania was a much slower (though just as hard) game, but at least when you took a hit you could see how it was your fault. Latching onto some of those wall things in NG really annoys me to this day.
The first Ninja Gaiden game is incredibly annoying in places, and the second isn't much easier. I think I remember them making improvements to the core game as the series progressed to try to limit the annoyance factor. But I have to say, I still regularly play the original Castlevania and Castlevania III, and have gotten to where I can beat it on one credit, but I'm not similarly taken with the NG games.
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