Have you ever beaten Ninja Gaiden?

[MaximRecoil]

Ninja Gaiden is the only NES game that I specifically remember buying new when I was a kid, and back then I never made it past the stage 3-3 boss.

 

I recently got an Everdrive and I "beat" Ninja Gaiden by abusing save states. But now I want to beat it legitimately. I'm still using save states but only at the start of the game's actual continue points, so I'm not gaining any gameplay advantage from using them that way; it just lets me turn the console off and come back to it later (otherwise I'd have to leave the console on for as long as it takes me to beat it, or until I give up trying).

 

I'm stuck on stage 6-2, which is a miserable stage. I haven't been able to get past the point in that stage where you're on a platform with two eagles attacking you and you have to jump to the next platform which has one of those hammer-throwing enemies on it. I know the key to beating that stage is to get and keep the jump/spin/slash powerup, though that's easier said than done. I'd need to memorize which of the items are "spiritual strength" and only get those, avoiding the ones that give me a different weapon that won't help. One of the problems is, it's hard to selectively avoid collecting items when using the spin slash jump.

 

Here's the main thing that makes me doubtful that I'll ever beat it:

 

Quote

The game contains a feature that was originally a glitch but was left in the final game intentionally, according to Masato Kato; having lost to any of the game's last three bosses, the player is sent back to the beginning of the sixth act.

 

That's absurd. Normally when you lose and continue in this game you get sent back to the beginning of the sub-stage that you died on. For example, I've died dozens of times on 6-2 now and continuing always starts me at the beginning of 6-2, but because of a glitch that they decided to keep, if you lose to any of the final three bosses, you get sent back to 6-1, and at that point I'd probably call it quits.

[MaximRecoil]

By some miracle I just got past 6-2, and then it only took a few continues to get past 6-3 (a lot easier than 6-2), which leads to the bosses. I beat the first boss and lost to the second, and of course it sent me back to 6-1.

 

I did make some save states at the start of each boss, and after I lost to the second one I went back and beat him on the third try and beat the third/final boss on the fourth try, but that doesn't count for anything. The only way I can legitimately beat this game is to continue from 6-1, which means making it through the ridiculously difficult 6-2 again. To hell with that (for now).

[mbd39]

As a kid, I could never beat it, but I learned how as an adult. I've even no-deathed it sword only. Took a ton of practice.

 

The part about being sent back to 6-1 is extremely annoying until you have act 6 memorized.

Edited November 28, 2022 by mbd39

[MaximRecoil]

10 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

I've even no-deathed it sword only.

That's incredible.

 

You may already know this, but if you don't, there's a guy who recently beat it without taking any damage at all, which had always been thought to be impossible, because the hit you take from the final boss' head rolling onto the floor was thought to be unavoidable. But it turns out that the head can be killed, which makes it disappear before hitting you, but it's very hard to do. If I remember right, you have to hit it 5 more times after it falls off to kill it and you only have about 1/3 of a second to get those 5 hits in.

[Razzie.P]

Yeah, I beat it quite a few times as a kid and then returned to it when the XBox NG came out and could still do it after some practice.  I know what you mean about stage 6, though.   As a kid, I got to where I could breeze through the entire game with little effort, until 6, and that one was just a royal pain.

 

I didn't know that "start you back at the beginning" was a glitch, though, I just always thought the developers decided to be dicks at the end.   Luckily, like mbd39 mentioned, the bosses "stay dead" so that helped a lot.  If I had to beat all of 6 and the last 3 bosses without dying, I think I would have given up long before I got to the point where I could beat it consistently. 

[bubufubu]

On 11/28/2022 at 11:37 AM, MaximRecoil said:

You may already know this, but if you don't, there's a guy who recently beat it without taking any damage at all, which had always been thought to be impossible, because the hit you take from the final boss' head rolling onto the floor was thought to be unavoidable. But it turns out that the head can be killed, which makes it disappear before hitting you, but it's very hard to do. If I remember right, you have to hit it 5 more times after it falls off to kill it and you only have about 1/3 of a second to get those 5 hits in.

 

This simply isn't true.  Where the hell do you get your information from?  Though, that particular broadcaster and that community (for whom you seem to be shilling) are not exactly known for their research of other gamers/runs.  Some of the most ignorant people you'll ever come across.  I take it you just followed along with the pack and decided to spew what everyone else was typing, yes?  If that's the case, then no surprise there.  It was known, back in 198-fucking-9, that the head could be destroyed using the Jump & Slash Technique subweapon.  Still with me, tiger?  Terrific.  It was also known, close to a decade ago at least, that the head could be destroyed without using a subweapon or taking damage.

 

Be sure to enthrall us all with a novel of Epic Fantasy length, sans complexity, to prove how much you suck at this game.  Bonus points for mentioning your friend Mike.

[MaximRecoil]

6 hours ago, bubufubu said:

This simply isn't true.

Yes, it is.

 

6 hours ago, bubufubu said:

Where the hell do you get your information from?

From watching the video of the guy who did the no-damage run, obviously.

 

6 hours ago, bubufubu said:

Though, that particular broadcaster and that community (for whom you seem to be shilling) are not exactly known for their research of other gamers/runs. Some of the most ignorant people you'll ever come across.

What particular broadcaster and community are you talking about? Also, your risible attempt to redefine the word "shilling" is dismissed. Nothing I posted is even remotely related to "shilling." I didn't even mention anyone's name because I don't remember the name of the guy who did the no-damage run without looking through my YouTube history to find the video I watched a while back.

 

6 hours ago, bubufubu said:

I take it you just followed along with the pack and decided to spew what everyone else was typing, yes?

What "pack" are you talking about? And what do you imagine that they were typing? No one was typing anything in the gameplay video that I watched. The guy described what he was trying to do and why it hadn't been done before and then showed the gameplay footage of him doing it.

 

6 hours ago, bubufubu said:

It was known, back in 198-fucking-9, that the head could be destroyed using the Jump & Slash Technique subweapon.

Is that a joke? There's no way to even have the Jump & Slash Technique subweapon when you reach the final boss in a no-damage run. You can have it for the first of the last three bosses (by getting it in, and keeping it through, stage 6-3), but it's automatically taken away from you after you beat him, so it's impossible to have it for the second and third (final) boss in a no-damage run.

 

6 hours ago, bubufubu said:

Still with me, tiger?  Terrific.

No, because you don't know what you're talking about (see above). Save your risible stab at condescension for a situation where you're actually right.

 

6 hours ago, bubufubu said:

It was also known, close to a decade ago at least, that the head could be destroyed without using a subweapon or taking damage.

Knowing that something is theoretically possible, and proving that it can be done in actual, legitimate gameplay by a human rather than in a TAS, are two different things. A no-damage TAS has been around for quite a while but it was still believed to be impossible during legitimate gameplay. It was only fairly recently that someone demonstrated killing the head legitimately with no subweapon (which is the only way that matters in the context of a no-damage run), and then someone else incorporated the method into a legitimate no-damage run through the game.

 

6 hours ago, bubufubu said:

Be sure to enthrall us all with a novel of Epic Fantasy length, sans complexity, to prove how much you suck at this game.

If your idea of a "novel" is something like "See Spot Run," then yeah, lots of my posts are "novel" length. In reality though, few, if any, of my posts on this forum would even fill both sides of a single page of a typical novel. If reading something longer than a Twitter post isn't your thing, you know that simply scrolling past a "novel-length" (by your standards) post is an option, right?

 

6 hours ago, bubufubu said:

Bonus points for mentioning your friend Mike.

Mike who?

Edited December 1, 2022 by MaximRecoil

[NE146]

Yes. I bought NES Ninja Gaiden at launch after waiting for it after reading the preview in Nintendo Power. I was in college at the time and could not stop playing it (while my ex watched me the whole time annoyed. ). I believe I beat it that very first week.

 

Anyway because of all those hours I got pretty good to the point I could finish it (and later NG2) anytime I wanted to. It's funny because I don't remember the thing about going all the way back with the final 3 bosses at all. I guess at the time I just rolled with it... It probably just gave me more hours of practice anyway. But yeah I thought I was 'good' but of course not to the level the crazy speed runners are today, but they have the benefit of all these decades of people analyzing the game etc. vs I was just kicking back in 1988 enjoying a state of the art video game for a home console trying to get to the end