Ninja gaiden general discussion

I'm playing sigma on normal for the 2nd time, just doing chapter 3 now. Already better than first time, I'm most familiar with ng2. Spandex ninja ahoy.

Stopped at chapter 17, out of all action games I play I'm the worst at ninja gaiden. It always perplexes me, the combat, movement, controls and enemies baffle me. I can't quite place it but I simply can't make sense of ng compared to any other action game I've played, even god hand makes sense to me and that shits unconventional to say the least.
I'm not so bad it's getting used to controls, namely attacks;The inputs confuse me I think it's how you have to hold a direction for a certain move, I tend to have a stick in a direction by accident and generally get confused which input is which.

Also how you can't cancel out of animations to the degree you can in bayo/mgr/god hand, its very stiff and the animation commitment is something I have trouble with(shuriken cancel I know). It's something that makes you have to be more pragmatic with strikes, as in only use what move is needed for maximum spandex efficiency(do you think ryu gets gassy? Maybe not due to something something wind ninpo haha).
Still good fun, I always found ng to be a bit weird to me, maybe something to do with the bosses also, they don't have that appeal that dmc/mgr/god hand bosses do, I think due to how many states to manipulate those other bosses tend to have.

What do you think of ng1 bosses?

Also Ive only played sigma once before and ng2 a lot and ng3 yrs ago. I like how you can cancel out of a bloke in 2. Does 3/razors edge add any more cancel options?

Roy could you add a Nioh page please? I've been watching your nioh vids, I am interested in Nioh but I want to circumvent the levelling and stat nonsense as much as possible while not being gimped due to it somehow. I seen you use and mention white weapons, is that something to do with damage levels? God I hate spreadsheets.

Ninja Gaiden plays a lot different compared to other action titles which is why it is so loved, it is all about knowledge and dedication. You can't get too flashy but are forced to be efficient. The first two games have some leeway though as you can already hold block during numerous attacks and still block and a lot of attacks are filled with i.frames. It wasn't until 3 that this really started to disappear, which was really wooden in its combat and really forced you to dedicate.

The first two titles were heavily held back by their over emphasis on Ultimate Technique though which was a darn shame.

Bosses are really a Dark Souls like affair (or the other way around I should say), you hold block and dodge until an opening arrives and you punish as hard as possible. That's it.

On Nioh. I quit. Mostly because of just how much gear and stats mattered. It just got tiring.

That's something I noticed about the bosses, same goes for devils third which is why they seem so cheap I guess as most don't know how the bosses are designed and now you are supposed to play. Ironic given souls is so big but shares the same core boss design.

On nioh; that sucks, all the the sake of the supposed role playing eh?. Why are stats/levels=RPG and not the ya know....role playing? Where Team ninja forced to put RPG stuff into nioh?
They make action games same as platinum but both keep putting superfluous stats into a genre they know can't compute with.
It's so sad to see team ninja try to court another market again and not its fans and action game routes, souls is such a low standard for nuanced action games. Great action game devs are making games that's are ruined by rpg stuff and then ff and others are not great action games with role playing stuff; no one wins. Sorry this belongs in another thread haha.

Sigma: I do like how different ng1-2 are, the non linear connected areas of ng1 was an interesting choice and works well, allows for some sneaky placed items and more adventure take on action games. It has a nice flow to it where you have to traverse various areas and solve simple puzzles and unlock new areas.

On Nioh. I quit. Mostly because of just how much gear and stats mattered. It just got tiring.

You lasted way longer than I did lol. Sad because I love Nioh's combat. Do you think they'll really just raise all caps for the final DLC? I can't believe they can't see how bad that is. I hope the final DLC changes something that makes me get back into it.

EDIT: I moved this post to the nioh page don't know how to delete posts.

You lasted way longer than I did lol. Sad because I love Nioh's combat. Do you think they'll really just raise all caps for the final DLC? I can't believe they can't see how bad that is. I hope the final DLC changes something that makes me get back into it.

The second DLC was the final nail in the coffin for me. You had to farm all new gear again and beat the whole campaign again on a new difficulty setting. It just got so...boring. I sometimes play it online with a friend but outside from that I'm not touching it again.

@gabriel, they had to inplement RPG elements as that's a trend now. It sells. Dark Souls is insanely popular as is the Witcher, both action titles with shovelware RPG values. The annoying part about it is that skill is second to stats. With enough skill you can win everything, but it just takes so darn long. A highly strong built character can beat a boss in seconds by mashing Square. Yet a skilled player with bad gear needs to play perfect for nearly thirty minutes. This also goes into the damage, as on the highest setting everything is an instant death unless you are geared properly. All and everything is about the gear which just hurts.

Hey guys it's our favourite ninja man in his next big debut:



The Irish fella came along too, nice to see the Irish represented in games...Japanese ones...musou....game.(god fuck me if this is ryu's last game outing, RIP sweet ninja prince)

Anyway I'm tired of being so bitter about the state of action games, life and such for now, I'll get back to ng2.

So what are the notable chances from black to sigma? I was watching bicks black/sigma guide when I first played sigma to note the differences.

Sigma I like the level design it's more non linear adventure with puzzles and platforming than ng2-3.

How is sigma hard mode? Normal kicked my arse in places but I managed well enough.

Both Sigma and Black change item locations (including key items) and enemy setups per difficulty, some difficulties also introduce a new boss here and there (some being exclusive to Master Ninja).

> Changes of Black - Sigma
Just to name a few:

• Sigma added the Rachel chapters for one, which can be a drag.
  
• Sigma removed all costumes and added new ones
  
• Sigma has a few changed encounters
  
• The game is a tad less difficult
  
• You can now shoot arrows from the air and shooting with the bow is generally made easier
  
• Increased visuals
  
• Some chapters got small changes in terms of lay-out, but nothing special. Especially Chapter 1 was changed, for the worse.
  
• You can now 'quick-use' potions, but it is finicky and should be avoided.
  
• Some underwater segments were removed.
  
• The Doku fight underwent some changes
  
• Chapter 2 has a Doku bossfight now and a few added encounters
  

Honestly if you could skip the Rachel stages Sigma could have been the 'ultimate version' but they had to ruin things. The game is "1 step forward, 1 step backwards" with every decision.

My favorite is still the original 2004 version. Just such a good game.

If anyone is up for some fun, massive NG slander going on in this topic. Looks like another frothing at the mouth, elitist DMC fanboy.

Any time I hear someone go on about DMC being 'the king of action games', (or any game really but these guys are the worst) they are instantly discredited in my eyes.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/691087-playstation-4/77278782

The slander is very weak. It just sounds like someone who hasn't played much NG. Just giant generalizations from a casual player. You can say the same thing about every game in existence. There are always ways to cheese games. I could say that DMC is just red orb grinding, item spam with braindead enemies. You can absolutely play the games like that, but no one does, because it's not fun, and it completely misses the point of why the games are loved in the first place.

Why do people still use GameFAQs? Everytime I look at a thread on there it's just people having 30 page long arguments with no substance. That stuff is way too negative for me. Life is too short to get into shit throwing contests about games. I'm guilty of it as well, so I know how pointless it is. Nobody convinces each other of anything, and both parties just walk away angry.

You're 100% correct.

Yet we keep visiting that hole.
Sometimes I just feel the need to defend an action game (like I had to do with Chaos Legion and Knack 2 recently) not because I want to have arguments (hate them actually) and want to get the last word and all that shit, but because I feel it's what little I can do to hopefully prevent the genre dying and get at least someone seeing the light on whatever game is being trashed.

It's rare, but sometimes I'll get a PM from someone who's seen my posts, wanting to know more about CL or others I've argued for.

To be honest, I'm no better lol I still visit some subreddits even though I know they'll annoy the hell out of me. The Yakuza one has me dissapointed right now. The fanbase is so damn entitled. Years ago the series was considered dead, now we get 3 games, a bunch of new merch, one PC port with another on the way, and a Western announcement for an upcoming title with a high budget English dub AND two different subtitle tracks ALL IN ONE YEAR (not to mention all the goodies we got last year), and people are still like, "But where's the HD collection? Where's Kenzan and Ishin? What the fuck is up with the PC port? God Sega is so inconsiderate of the fans!" Great games, terrible fanbase. I feel so bad for the people working their asses off to get these titles to the fans.

I know what you mean about feeling the need to defend a game. I did that recently with NG2, but it was pointless because the guy I was arguing with admitted to only playing the first or second difficulty mode (despite the fact that most of his complaints centered on a mode he hadn't experienced), kept exaggerating minor problems for the sake of getting a foothold, and ignored several of my arguments multiple times (worst thing, even after I brought up the fact that he ignored my points, he kept ignoring them.) I have no problem with someone disliking something; you don't have to have hundreds of hours in a game to know you don't enjoy it, but this guy tries to trash NG2 all the time when he has little to no experience with it which is very frustrating because the fanbase is so small, so I would rather people NOT spread shit about games they don't have much experience in.

NG2 is a game that for a lot of people isn't immediately brilliant like the first one is. It can take some time and experimentation on the part of the player before it clicks, which is why I think a lot of people don't get it (aside from the lack of polish). Don't get me wrong, the game has a lot of problems, anyone who loves this game can utterly demolish it, but if you can get past the annoyances, there is something so special there. Similar to what you said, there are some instances when people are friendly and willing to listen, and they get their mind changed about the game and learn to enjoy it.

I think my 2019 resolution will be to play this series. I've only played a little of the first game and that was only recently.

Great resolution. I haven't played many other action games since I got into NG. I can never pull myself away from the series. I really want to try Godhand or Shinobi next.

Do you have the Xbox versions or the PS versions?

I have the first NG on the original Xbox.

Black would require a US import, but the rest of the games are pretty easy to get here.

Gamefaqs is a unique place. If you see a topic with more than 4 pages you know that it is just people yelling at each other. I've seen topics with a very valid question or other forms of relevancy immediately dissolve into a swarm of bees shouting about pedohila, politics, favorite colors and Japan. That said it is also probably the best video game forum for niche games.

If you're on the bigger boards, it is hell. Just a swarm of people en-mass throwing their opinions badly worded into a void. But on the boards of smaller games, or singleplayer games a few months after release, those are a joy. Just a group of 10-20 people usually talking, discussing and more. Some of course go down into porn, like Death by Degrees' board (rip). But some like the Vanquish, Metal Gear Rising, God Hand, Ninja Gaiden etc boards were fantastic in their prime. Met a lot of people I still talk shop with there, including Birdman. Strangely it is always the Playstation forums btw, the Xbox forums of multiplatform games always run dry fast.

Sometimes I do get a PM like Birdman noted, but it is rare. For every person like you guys you meet there, there's 30 BehemothBlades.

About the sub-reddits, I avoid most of them now. Ninja Gaiden's is pretty decent barring GraveVoice's consistent trolling. Yakuza's is as you mentioned a bit entitled, but honestly that's also mostly new fans I feel. The 'old guard' is probably blessing the ground the localisation team is walking on.

> discussions online
Rarely works I feel, because it is so easy to ignore points and just go on a bender. You could make 20 great arguments, but they'll just easily ignore it all and focus on that one point you made a typo in.

> NG2
Just look at me, it took me nearly 10 years to get going with that game. I loved NGS2, bought an Xbox soley for NG2 and hated it. I tried for such a long time to like it and it took up until my girlfriend going on a holiday for me to actually get into it.

> versions
If you can Birdman, play Black. While NG1 is excellent, it is more for veterans who want to see where it all started. I know you have limited game-time and a huge backlog, so I'd say stick to Black. It is also on the online-store, both on X360 and X1 for easy accesibility.

Question: I'm considering getting the digital versions of NG1, NGB, NG2 and NG3RE. Do save-files carry over? It's a small investment to make to not constantly have to swap discs and I assume they might load faster? Any takes on this? Cheers.

Didnt know Black was on the store. Will look into it

NG2 is 360 only and Sigma 2 is on PS3 right?
Should I play the original or Sigma? Which is objectively better? Or are they different enough to warrant playing both? Thats something I'd do anyway if I end up liking them to invest another portion of my soul into.

I didn't really consider niche games but you're right, GameFAQs is good for that. The DOA boards were hilarious a few months ago. Just back and forth about people who like TnA vs people who are "above such juvenile things". A lot of "You're an SJW!", "You're a right wing nazi!" Blah blah.  The fanbase is a little silly sometimes, like they act like DOA isn't any more fanservice focused than Taki in SC despite the fact that only one of the two series has a fucking beach volleyball spin off where you can oil up the chicks, pull their panties down and stare at them on the beach. Like, guys come on, there's a reason why DOA is known as the Cheesecake Factory compared to SC or KoF lol. I want to play DOA6, but I know if I buy it they'll come out with 5 other versions down the line sooner or later so...

Funnily enough, Gravelvoice is actually the twit who I got into a non-argument about NG2 with! Weird dude. I blocked him recently  because his trolling was annoying, and now the subreddit is back to being a pleasant place. No reason to put up with annoying people if you don't have to!

Speaking of ignoring arguments in favor of a typo rant, I said NG2 had like 6 water sections, then I corrected it to 8 in another post and he wouldn't let it go for most of the argument. Like, it's a 12 hour game, where you have to spend 3-4 minutes dealing with water sections, none of which are difficult in the slightest. Get over it. He blew everything way out of proportion. Remember the part in your article where you say something about how player aggression makes the enemies a bit more passive? He would take that, then spin it into, "Wow what an awful game. The enemies just sit there and do nothing?" Then he complains about explosions, even though he's never played Mentor or MN. I accuse him of having little experience with the game several times, I even bring up the fact that he's ignoring me, AAANNND low and behold, he ignores me again and quickly ends the argument. Thank you for proving me right. And he makes uneducated claims like "No one plays NG2 without using UTs and Spamming", then I provide him with about 5-6 examples (including your recent BotA challenge run, no response to that. It goes on. A completely useless endeavor. Add that to his unfunny trolling, and yeah, I don't think his input is required anymore. I don't think he even likes the series at all.

NG2/Sigma2
True. It gets old having to defend NG2, but it's worth it. So much to love. Shame more people can't enjoy it.

Playing Sigma 2 again on Mentor by the way! It's literally easier than NG2 on Acolyte. BOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG. I don't think I would be going too far by saying it's the worst game ever made. I dare you to name a game worse than Sigma 2, it's impossible. How did you play this game for so long without falling into a coma? They should give this to insomniacs, they'll be put to bed right away. The dev team must have constantly been falling asleep while working on the title. In fact, I'm getting drowsy just writing this. I may jyst fall... aslesflkoafdbhk

Wow! I was out for 5 hours! Let's change the subject before it happens again!

Versions
I agree with Roy, play Black if you can, although IMO Sigma 1 isn't a bad substitute if you can't get your hands on it. If you don't mind me asking, where are you from?

Question
The save files will carry over Roy, but I don't think the loading would be too different. Well, actually it may help for Black, but if you have 2 and RE installed it probably wouldn't make a difference there. I thought NG2 got taken off the store though? Think I heard that somewhere.


EDIT: Ayy baby I'm a C-Rank on Stinger now! Moving up in the world.

New Zealand.
I've seen 2 and Sigma 2 in bargain bins now and then.

So original NG2 seems to be the better version.

From what I've seen of New Zealand, it's absolutely beautiful. Do you like it there?

And yes, NG2 is by far the better version. Sigma 2 is... some strange science experiment on NG2. I exaggerate how poor it is when talking to Roy though. Just for funsies.

NZ looks nice, but there's a lot of complete shit going on under the surface.

I know you're joking, but I do feel it merrits a response. Sigma 2 was my very first real action game, so there's that. I started out with Bayonetta and then Vanquish, but I Killgore'd my way through the former and the latter is very different. Sigma 2 was lent to me by a friend and I quit at first (got stuck on Warrior on the twin Tengu fight). Eventually beat it and loved it on Mentor. Finished it a total of 36(!) times on in the spam of a few months. I was sometimes doing nearly a MNM run per day at one point (note: I was bedridden at the time due to my back injury).

You have to imagine that I didn't know anything either. No shuriken cancels, no OLUTS, didn't know how UTs or OTs really worked, essence dragging, what weapons were good, that 360T had i.frames up the butt. Had to figure it all out by my lonesome.

Lastely, the co-op. That is the real meat of Sigma 2 I feel and where the real challenge is. Ninja Gaiden 2 is difficult, as is Razor's Edge, but nothing comes close to Sigma 2's Ultimate Ninja Challenges even to this day for me.

> GraveVoice
I know him from Gamefaqs sadly, where we've had many an argument before. He's worse there since Gfaqs has no karma system. He's basically what we described just now.
"YOU CAN ONLY PLAY WITH UT"

"YEAH BUT HE GOT HIT THERE SEE"

"ITS STUPID THAT PART RIGHT THERE SEE THAT STUPID"

I know it is almost a meme at this point, but these people all remind me of DarksydePhil, anyone here remember him?

> NG2 or NGS2
I think Charlie, ironically, said it best. They are just two totally different games. You can enjoy both to equal degree depending on your taste in games. I will say that NG2 is absolutely bonkers in every way. I think it is best to start with NG2.

> under the surface
Without getting too political, what do you mean?

GraveVoice
Sounds like someone we know.

NG2
Yeah the way he described how much of a 'game' it is, which is exactly what I want.

NZ
*Insane domestic violence and child abuse.

*A justice systems that panders to the offenders and is getting worse. Our govt doesn't believe in punishment.

*Indigenous people getting on board with the white privilege thing so they don't have to take responsibility for their actions and get a job or any form of self improvement because they can just say we stop them and take everything which is a total lie. Govt panders to them too.

*The govt sweeps all issues under the bed and is only concerned with NZ's 'clean, green' image.

*Housing is impossible to afford and the govt allowed this to happen.

*Everything is ridiculously expensive. The govt recently put a fuel tax on us then later blamed the fuel companies for being greedy lol.

*The people can be good, but largely I don't gel with them. Very resistant towards difference, lazy, and can be racist and very ignorant.

The good?
*Low population, though crime getting worse.

*Safer than other larger countries, but not as safe as advertisements will have you believe.

*Environment looks as good as whatever you've seen in advertisements though you'll have to go to the countryside to see it. It's never too far away though. I drive through such areas to see clients, and it's like a green ocean.

Will just leave it that. From those brief descriptions you can probably imagine the political nightmare it is lol.

Got NG2 for $8. Doesn't have its original case but I just want to try it and for that price who cares?

Did the first fight and remembered I've actually played this a little before on PS3 so it must have been Sigma 2. I remember the useless blonde woman with the pistols getting defeated instantly.

Anyway I beat the first group and get introduced to the save statue, so I go to save, and it says 'Cannot save when not signed in'. What???

I forgot my password years ago because I never touch this thing. I thought it was on auto because I played Alan Wake not that long ago but it's not accepting it. I might have it written down somewhere, but I'm not looking or going through the recovery process now. Maybe on the weekend.

That's very strange, I don't ever recall that happening. I think it has to do with your offline account (user) since I only went online with my X360 once in my life. Fun fact: that woman is actually a diss from Itagaki on Dante.

I'll sort it out on the weekend.

I plan to dedicate a few hours as a test to see how I like it.

I really need to get used to blocking and not trying to dodge cancel everything. It doesnt work or at least I dont know how to make it work.

Makes me scared to use any of the strings because even on warrior they attack often and throw shit.

Shorter strings are the best most of the time. Also don't forget you can cancel some animations by throwing a shuriken. Using the throw (Jump + attack while in the air) to throw foes against walls is a godsend too to open the combat up somewhat. Windpath (Jump + attack while on the ground) auto-aim jumps to a foe. Use and abuse this.

For your starting moveset, running X is a great move to delimb with, as is XXYshurikencancel. Otherwise X HoldY is good too with a shuriken at the end.

You know I don't really play Ninja Gaiden that much but I am really starting to enjoy it! I'm disappointed that the nunchucks can't be upgraded but it was so much fun. I haven't played Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge in a long time too.

The nunchucks are, ironically, one of the strongest weapons in the game! Mostly due to the Armlet of Potency which gives it a small buff, but due to a bug the Vigorian Flails outshine it eventually (Armlet gives a unrealisitic boost to its >YYY attack). But attacks like XYY from the Nunchucks, paired with Flame Wheel, melt bosses. Such a cool weapon, fun sound effects too!

Glad to hear you're enjoying it! What difficulty are you on?

Normal but I am think I should have gone on Hard. Then again, I also want to get the collectibles and Scarabs on Normal difficulty.

Note that the scarabs aren't too hard to get, and only a few are permanently missable. The rewards vary per difficulty, on Normal the early rewards are really good and the latter ones are crap, while in Master Ninja it is the reverse - with the 50th reward being a unique weapon.

Interesting. Edit: I am at the city where there is multiple gates and a shop.

Good luck, what difficulty are you playing on? If you have any questions or want tips, let me know :)

I wish I had more time to master this series. I managed to beat NGB on MN last year and it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Wanted to get around to just replaying it and getting better but that didn’t happen. Started NG2 again and am close to the end of Normal, but it’s going to go on the back burner unfortunately. With Ace Combat, RE2, and KH3, it’ll be a little bit before I get back to this.

It’s interesting to me how divisive these games seem to be among fans. I see a lot of comments along the lines of “NGB is god, NG2 is terrible”. They’re obviously quite different in their approach to things, but the number of comments like this I see still surprises me.

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It is mostly because the games are all so different, at least in vision. The whole of Ninja Gaiden 1 is defense based, NGII is offense based, NGS2 was defence based again but with NGII's playstyle, NG3 was story-focused, NG3:RE was a mixture of defence and offense and the games also all had varying qualities in terms of framerate, graphics etc.

Ninja Gaiden Black is the most 'perfect' of them all though, tons of content, lots of weapons, no lag, no real glitches. NGII meanwhile is this wildly unfinished mess of a game that features the best combat system (imo) in any game ever made, but you really have to drag through the mud numerous times to get there. And the learning curve is also nuts.

For NGII, please do yourself a favor. Grab a calendar, look up the releases you're interested in and find a 2-3 month gap in that gaming calendar where nothing is coming out or still on your mind. Sit down, and play NGII for those 2 months. I did, and I never regretted it :)

>NGB
One of my favorite things about this game is actually the level design, which is something I value even in an action game. The game has this really excellent mix of superb combat and actually being on an adventure. I also don’t know of another game where going up through the difficulties gave me so many surprises. I booted up Sigma afterwards and not being able to skip cutscenes(unless you actually can?) really annoyed me and the Racheal missions feel so pointless.

>NG2
I plan on it! Hopefully after I’ve put in some serious time into Sekiro I can really get into this. Maybe it’ll be my summer game haha.

>NG3
I don’t really remember vanilla because I haven’t played it since release but I enjoyed RE for what it was . My biggest issues with the game from what I can recall were the enemies’ health and constant dodging, and the enemy compositions that got recycled constantly. Maybe these things aren’t accurate, I haven’t played it in a while...

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> NGB
I can understand that man, badly. Action games rarely have good level design or even good art-direction and this game has it all, I think that's mostly because it was made to be a good adventure game that just happened to be made by a fighting game director.

> skip cutscenes
It's there.

> difficulties
It is so sad that this isn't more of a trend, but instead is a dying trend. I love how some titles mix it up. 007 Golden Eye gave you extra objectives, NGB gives you new enemies and remixes item locations etc. Painkiller removes health orbs and demon-form. Bayonetta remixes foes and removes witch-time. Just fantastic ways to make a game more challenging other than "lol they hit harder now bye".

> NG3
The vanilla game, the less said the better (though I'll cover it eventually). NG3:RE is heavily built around steel-on-bone and cicada, if you don't abuse those fights will drag on and on and on with tons of waves and enemies with high HP. On the one hand I can commend it since it gives good players something to flex on (killing rooms fast) but if you're not on your a-game or just learning the game can be a huge drag as a result.

How much worse is NGS and NGS+ when compared to NGB? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing NGS+ main differences with NGS are the lolop costumes/accessories and locked 30fps right?

I really never had the chance to play NGB and at most I had the experience of playing Vanilla NG under normal settings aeons ago. I didn't really touch the series until a few years ago when I got NGS+ on vita for free thanks to psplus and despite the locked 30fps I thought the same ran just fine unlike the mess that was NGS2+.

It is a significant step backwards, but only if you really get into it. Sigma mostly dabled into the details too much since it's a complete remake from the ground up. So a lot of tech that was part of the engine just got lost or little details the team put in were ignored or simply: unknown to the new team.

The biggest changes:
- the whole adventure aspect is gone, Black had puzzles, backtracking, collecting of items like Ore for the smelting pot. It isn't too bad this is gone, but the game feels emptier as a result;
- Berserkers can now be parried, but their AI now also attacks off-screen;
- dual katana's are added, their UT wrecks early game;
- you can now fire the bow in the air, negating the tank boss all together;
- some hidden weaknesses, like Marbus' weakness to IS, are gone;
- fights are considerably longer with most fights containing 3-4 times as many foes (in waves);
- karma runs are 'impossible' as none of the timers were changed to accomodate the extra enemies;
- ninpo requires shaking to share;
- Rachel chapters;
- less costumes;
- Masakato no longer has a horse-less phase;
- lots of skips are removed;
- dodge-animation is different, screws with some stuff;
- quick-bar for potions;
- you don't start with lunar/nunchucks on Master Ninja
- due to a bug in the PS3 enemies are much, much more agressive if you update to a certain firmware.

Those are off the top of my head. Sigma + indeed adds the lolop costumes, some challenge modes I believe and 30fps.

My play order, in terms of discovering the titles was:

Sigma 2 > NG3 > Sigma 1 > NG3:RE > NG1 > NGB > NGII.

Right now I'd rank them:

NGII > NGB > NG1 > Sigma2 > NG3:RE > Sigma 1 > NG3

Favorite moments with dealing with the enemy? Also how do you get the ticket to get in the bar in Imperial City Infiltration? I talked to Muramasa in the Clock Tower and he doesn't give me one.

You need to buy something from him :)

Ooooooooh. Thanks.

There was also something on my mind for some time. I'm still at the city. If you go to the nearest door and walk for a while you'll see a cracked gate with a blue aura. What do I do?

You'll find out in the future, don't worry too much. Ninja Gaiden isn't too complex in its exploration :)

Say what you want about NG Sigma, but I think the game looks fucking amazing, even today.

Any of the Ninja Gaiden games, of that time, look fantastic. Great art design goes a long way, but they also had great color usage (especially Chapter 1 in Sigma1). Gorgeous. Also loved the look on Ryu's outfit.

I finished NGS on normal some days ago. What a fantastic game! I love almost everything of it. I'm doing hard mode now and it's even better. Rachel is one of my few complaints, why did Team Ninja decide to create another character? She's way inferior to Ryu, it seems it was a last minute decision to develop three chapters for her. I know she was added in Sigma but still... it's so strange to use her after Ryu. Other than that I think aquatic sections weren't a good idea. I hope there won't be powerful foes under water on later difficulties haha. The last save point was poorly placed. Platforming section before the final boss? Not a good idea. I won on my third try, but it's just normal, it could be a bit frustrating later on. For now I don't think there are other major problems, the action is deep, different and engaging. I really like the Vigoorian flail and the Dragon sword, but I need to learn other weapons too. I wish I could play NGB right now but in the future I'll definitely buy it with an Xbox.

Sigma really is fantastic, the first version of that game I played honestly. Most of your complaints are why people like the original better, the Sigma version really drops the ball in those little details.

Rachel really felt shoehorned in to have something marketable as an extra. The aquatic sections got a bigger emphasis with new foes, Black just had some swimming around and that's it. The platforming section in Black can be skipped before the final boss (press start when you pick up the Dark Dragon Blade to immediately start the fight).

The biggest yay/nay in Sigma for me is the lack of puzzles, they removed a lot of them in Sigma. Black had a ton of puzzles and item hunts that were just removed, which is cool on the one hand but also removes all sense of pacing.

Funnest weapon for me was the Kitetsu, mostly because there isn't anything like it in other games in the series.

Glad you had so much fun man! Will you be doing a Hard run?