[rollingstart]

After finishing it on normal, im gonna go through it again on hard and hopefully that fixes my issues with the game, but in general going through normal it was pretty good. My problems after finishing normal is that fights against normal enemies make this seem like a combo game instead of each enemy being an awesome fight like in Ninja Gaiden for Xbox/PS3. I never once needed to use ninpo or anything special nor did my health ever drop below 3/4th full. Boss battles were also very easy, every single one except the 3rd to last was finished without getting hit more than once, several of them I avoided all damage without using ninpo or anything. The story in general was really lame, but I dont remember any of the story from console game and it was never the reason I liked Ninja Gaiden. Touch controls were a good choice, but there were still tons of issues I had, especially durring boss fights when the perspective would change. Still it was a pretty awesome game and I hope hard makes it better and a bit more engaging like the console game was.

[darkpaladinmfc]

I beat it this morning and I must say it was better than I thought it would be. My only gripes are the length and difficulty. I'll probably start Hard later after I beat some other games in my backlog.

[a Master Ninja]

The ending was the worst part for me... I got to see Ryu without his mask (ugh)... now I can never unsee him =S

Yeah, I'm not a fan of many of the looks he has in DOA either.

Getting this for MAH BIRFDAY soon. Hope TeamNinjaGAF hasn't lead me astray.

It's a fun portable game. As long as you have reasonable expectations you'll enjoy it.

[Extollere]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of many of the looks he has in DOA either. It's a fun portable game. As long as you have reasonable expectations you'll enjoy it.

female hairstyle for the win??

ergh...

[Narag]

Not a bad idea, but you don't need to farm essence in the game. Muramasa doesn't have a lot of items in the game and they're all one time purchases. You can do a chapter, then the fiend challenge after the chapter (by going back into a portal that you have beaten) and have enough for all the items.

Completely forgot about the fiend challenges. Thanks. =)
This is the first NG since the NES ones that I've put any time in even though I'm ready for NGII and have Black just sitting here.

[botticus]

Anyone have some tips for the Chapter 10 boss?

I can pick up his patterns alright, but avoiding them (especially doing so enough to kill him) seems rather difficult. The one time that I somehow managed to have a Ninpo charge available, I was able to get him down to a quarter life, but otherwise I've been lucky to get him below half. UTs seem to be relatively useless, though I guess in my experience so far, so is everything else.

Edit: Phew, finally beat him... spamming explosive arrows for the win!

[sevenchaos]

Game arrived in the mail as I was leaving late for work. Got a crack at it a few hours later during my break. I'm impressed. It controls beautifully. It looks greats. In love I am.

[borsdy]

This game is priddy fun once I got the hang of it.

Either this game isn't selling very well or not many people are using the leaderboard feature yet :/

[Vai]

I am on Chapter 13

How the hell are you supposed to kill the dragon? I keep getting hit when trying to run out of the way of it's attacks, and when it falls down it is still hitting me with it's feet which it doesn't look like you can avoid?

nvm I got it, didn't even get hit once :S

[beelzebozo]

i'm glad this thread popped back up, because i wanted to say that i just bought it yesterday and it kicks total fucking ass. the controls are amazing.

please buy it and encourage more developers to put action games like this on ds.

[botticus]

Realized I've been going about the first fight in Chapter 13 entirely the wrong way. Let's see if I can be a bit more success with an alternate method.

[siamesedreamer]

On chapter four and I'm starting to get the hang of the moves.

Not much into the technicalities of a action fighting game like this, but I get a real kick out of some of the stuff I can get Ryu to do. It looks cool and I feel like a bad ass doing it. Awesome...

[Mamesj]

please buy it and encourage more developers to put action games like this on ds.

:D I would love for that to happen.
Wish there were more ambitious/talented devs like Team Ninja.

[Shiggie]

the last boss is hard as fuck >:(

here goes try #8
turns out it wasnt the last boss... here comes CH12 lol.

[beelzebozo]

:D I would love for that to happen. Wish there were more ambitious/talented devs like Team Ninja.

it would be insane to see mikami and a team do something as true to resident evil 4 on ds as team ninja has done for ninja gaiden.

insane.

[Narag]

the last boss is hard as fuck >:( here goes try #8

haha attempt #1 was enough for me to put it down for a while

[Llyranor]

This game is awesome. Fantastic use of stylus controls. Through and through good design.

I just finished chapter 7, and yes, it's easier and shorter than the Xbox version. Though I wish this did have more challenging battles overall (yet I did die a few times here and there). On the other hand, it doesn't suffer from any of the bad design that plagues the Xbox version (awful camera/platforming/archery among other things). As a whole, I might like the DS version more - it's more polished.

If NG2 focuses more on hard battles rather than clumsy platforming/puzzles, then I'm all for it. The pacing in NGDS so far is how I'd like to see it going.

[vesp]

picked it up today but gonna follow the 1upshow's advice and have my fiance beat it on normal first so i can just start on hard.

[Shiggie]

i beats the bitch:D
took me 4 tries lol
EXCELLNT MFing game:D :D :D

[Narag]

Just finished it myself. A fine punishing yet fair last boss. Its a good year for fans of the action genre.

[Llyranor]

Finished the game last night. Excellent game through and through. The difficulty did pick up in the later chapters, especially bosses. I think I clocked in about 8 hrs, but the game seems to record time spent dying and reloading as well. I've spent close 30+ mins against some of the bosses. Particularly tough ones were the fire dragon, first sister (maaan, I had to suck it up and go buy some life of a thousand gods items, which I had planned on not getting - the irony being that I didn't even need the extra life when I came back to mop the floor with her), and the real final boss. Easily one of my favorite DS titles. Bring on more DS games, Team Ninja. Head Ninja diff time!

[Llyranor]

Okay, after many tries, I finally unlocked the new gamemode. Details within (1st paragraph re: how to unlock it, 2nd paragraph re: what it entails).

You basically have to survive the fight with Ryu as Momiji, then defeat the first boss (in Head Ninja difficulty). That bugger took forever to defeat. I eventually developed a good way to take him out without taking any damage. Essentially, double-jump + flying swallow seems to do the trick.

As for the actual mode you unlock, it's Master Kunoichi. You basically play as a female ninja named Rin. You're not actually Momiji, but you look exactly like her but with red pants and with your face uncovered. The moveset seems unchanged as well. It doesn't seem like the story changes at all, either. In cutscenes, you're still Ryu. At chapter prologues, you're still referred to as Ryu. People refer you as Master Rin in-game, so I guess that's something. At this point, I haven't played enough of either modes to know if it's supposed to be harder than Head Ninja. I'll be playing through the latter mode first, though. That will have to wait, as I'll focus on other games in my backlog first. But the game warrants at least 2 other playthroughs from me.

[Evilink]

I just bought NGDS and I must say, this game is ultimate awesome.

I can understand how some might feel being a Ninja in Dragon Sword is reduced to scratching willy nilly on the touch screen... but with effort, simple, concise strokes do the job so much better and make you look or feel less silly. All it takes is a little finesse, via some practice to really nail it.

Love the anime style artwork and cutscenes...Ninja Gaiden and Zelda PH are the two biggest reasons to own a DS IMO, of course Axing, MK, Trauma Center, and a few chosen others are great...but Gaiden and Zelda truly shine, just freak'n amazing.

[∀ Narayan]

Man, FUCK these cheaters. They go all the way to rank 39 in Head Ninja mode.

I'm ranked 40. So far, I'm pretty sure my rank is in the top five legitimate scores, if not the highest in Head Ninja mode.

ON TO MASTER NINJA MODE!

[Llyranor]

Wait, there's a second unlockable difficulty level after the first? Awesome!

[Dr.Acula]

After watching the 1up show, I took the advice of Ryan, and lent the game to my brother so that he could breeze though it and unlock Hard mode. I'd figure he'd have it back to me in a day or two, cause he's pretty hardcore into these games, he even managed to beat DMC3 on a rental.

So he's telling me he's having problems with this boss, and is completely stuck, has been for three or four days. I decide to pick up the DS and play it for a minute, just to see what's it's like. I select his save file, and he's only a little more than an hour in, and on chapter 2. So I enter this area, and whole bunch of monsters spawn. I'm trying to figure out the controls on the fly, but it turns out I'm playing pretty well. I'm just scribbling all over and I manage to rack up a 60-hit combo. Just as I'm figuring out how to dodge with the shoulder buttons, the boss spawns. I'm kicking its butt, but I'm down to about 1/3 health, its energy bar is almost gone, but I figure it has one of those triple-layer health bars. Nope, it dies. Then I think it has another form. Nope, cut-scene.

"Hey bro, is this where you are? It says chapter 2."
"No, the boss is at the end of that chapter."
"Oh, so after I kill this boss, I have to go to another chapter, go though it, and kill a boss at the end of that chapter?"
"No, they have regular save points."
"Wait, the cut-scene is advancing, it says chapter 3."
"Hold on, are you playing my savefile!?"
"Yeah, I thought I'd give it a look."
"That boss you just beat..."
"It was like this purple dragon thing."
"And it sprayed fire, jumped in the air and flew around?"
"Um, yeah."
"You $!%$@! YOU %&^#@! YOU %$%#ing %^%$*! HOW THE %$^@ DID YOU BEAT THAT ON YOUR FIRST TRY?!"

Ahhh, good times!

[Proven]

After watching the 1up show, I took the advice of Ryan, and lent the game to my brother so that he could breeze though it and unlock Hard mode. I'd figure he'd have it back to me in a day or two, cause he's pretty hardcore into these games, he even managed to beat DMC3 on a rental. So he's telling me he's having problems with this boss, and is completely stuck, has been for three or four days. I decide to pick up the DS and play it for a minute, just to see what's it's like. I select his save file, and he's only a little more than an hour in, and on chapter 2. So I enter this area, and whole bunch of monsters spawn. I'm trying to figure out the controls on the fly, but it turns out I'm playing pretty well. I'm just scribbling all over and I manage to rack up a 60-hit combo. Just as I'm figuring out how to dodge with the shoulder buttons, the boss spawns. I'm kicking its butt, but I'm down to about 1/3 health, its energy bar is almost gone, but I figure it has one of those triple-layer health bars. Nope, it dies. Then I think it has another form. Nope, cut-scene. "Hey bro, is this where you are? It says chapter 2." "No, the boss is at the end of that chapter." "Oh, so after I kill this boss, I have to go to another chapter, go though it, and kill a boss at the end of that chapter?" "No, they have regular save points." "Wait, the cut-scene is advancing, it says chapter 3." "Hold on, are you playing my savefile!?" "Yeah, I thought I'd give it a look." "That boss you just beat..." "It was like this purple dragon thing." "And it sprayed fire, jumped in the air and flew around?" "Um, yeah." "You $!%$@! YOU %&^#@! YOU %$%#ing %^%$*! HOW THE %$^@ DID YOU BEAT THAT ON YOUR FIRST TRY?!" Ahhh, good times!

Awesome.

Also, to the earlier post, how are people cheating on wifi?

[Narag]

Awesome. Also, to the earlier post, how are people cheating on wifi?

I'm assuming pro action replays to jack up their karma scores then submitting that as their results.

[Mamesj]

I'm assuming pro action replays to jack up their karma scores then submitting that as their results.

bingo.


<3 the Wi-fi connection.

[a Master Ninja]

I think I'm missing something here; what are the inputs to consistently pull off a "flock of swallows"?

[Narag]

I think I'm missing something here; what are the inputs to consistently pull off a "flock of swallows"?

Just continue horizontal strokes while you're airborne. You'll continue doing flying swallows until you land for each stroke iirc. It wasn't obvious at first how to do it.

[Jimmy Stav]

Can someone tell me what you get for beating that dragon in the beginning? I died pretty quickly my first time through, assuming that you were supposed to die, but I read you can get something from killing it.

[Narag]

Can someone tell me what you get for beating that dragon in the beginning? I died pretty quickly my first time through, assuming that you were supposed to die, but I read you can get something from killing it.

Surviving Ryu and beating the dragon unlocks the Kunoichi mode iirc.

[Llyranor]

You unlock an extra gamemode IF you're playing it on Head Ninja, ie. NOT your first playthrough.

My trick was to double-jump + flying swallow constantly. Seemed to work easily.

[a Master Ninja]

Just beat the game on the default difficulty. I would have beat it sooner, but I don't technically own a DS, and instead had to use the DS I bought for my girlfriend. The only problem was I bought her Professor Layton on the same day, and could only pry the machine away from her long enough to complete a chapter a day. Well, there was one other problem...
[IMG]http://i25.************/2ykfe3k.jpg[/IMG]
...UGH. :(

Anyway, I enjoyed it. I actually died on some of the bosses, so I didn't think it was a waste to play it on the easiest difficulty or anything. The controls got the job done. The storytelling was pretty decent (for the franchise). Made me think that fleshing out Kureha in the Xbox game was a missed opportunity. The rehashed environments, enemies, and bosses were a bit disappointing, although I hope that beach makes it into NG2. Dragon Sword is not perfect, but it is a unique enough experience (experiment?) that I'd still consider it a "must play" for DS owners. Just be careful with that stylus...
[IMG]http://i28.************/6q9qhv.jpg[/IMG]

[RBH]

Picked this game up a little over a week ago. The first time I played briefly through the first Chapter and actually wasn't really feeling the controls. But the more I've played, the more that I love the controls. Doing the Izuna Drop for the first time felt so fucking satisfying. :D

I've only had time to beat the first Chapter, but I can tell that I'm going to really enjoy this game.

[blu]

caved in, despite my reservations toward scratch fests.

reached chapter 3 on my first sitting, and formed some (possiby) unbiased impressions: the game is a technical delight, from the buttery animations, to the tension progression and difficulty ramp. overall gives me the feeling of dmc on a handheld - you can play it mad-mash-style (and do ok on normal difficulty), or you can try to develop some tactics & skill. which is a sign of a good action game.

i'm getting a screen protector for this one though (have been doing without one till now).

[Ninja Dom]

Play-Asia shipped my copy today.

How would you say this compares to God of War on PSP?? I finished that in 5 and a half hours.

[Ken Masters]

Just beat the game, took be about 5.5 hrs



On normal the game is too easy, I may have died 2-3 time the entire time, and the bosses being so easy took most of the luster away from them

[EmCeeGramr]

Youre sopposed to destroy the boulders withe the lightning right? I cant get it to work. Am I standing too close?

[Proven]

Youre sopposed to destroy the boulders withe the lightning right? I cant get it to work. Am I standing too close?

Just tap on the rock repeatedly. It takes two or three lightning blasts.

[Chris Michael]

I bought and beat this game a few weeks ago, and it's one of the very few games that I'm actually replaying through several times. It's a really fantastic game with unlimited potential. I posted my full impressions (of the game and of the potential that comes with it) on my blog... I'm pretty impressed with it and I really do think it could be a revolution in action games for the DS if it's used more in the future.

Would it be obnoxious to copy/paste it? (long read)

So I got this game (and beat it in a little under 6 hours, very short game sadly) and I'm simply blown away by how well it works. It is truly Ninja Gaiden on the DS. Not some revival of an old NES game from 20 years ago, this is bloody Ninja Gaiden as you know it on the Xbox (and soon Xbox 360). Now before I go on to praise the game's concept, let me comment on the game itself. It is a very good game, simply put. It's the first of its kind, and it works wonderfully. It is easily the best action game on the DS to date (unless Bangai-O would like to rival that). It's not a game without flaws however, and one of the flaws I believe is a pretty huge flaw in terms of the general concept of the game. But again, I'll comment on the game itself. One obvious flaw is the length - I breezed through the game on my first run-through in about 6 hours. I felt like I played half a game. The game was subtly announced at E3 2004, when the DS was first revealed - I kid you not, they've had almost 4 years to develop this game. It really should have been a little longer in my opinion. But hey, those 4 years brought us a potentially revolutionary control scheme that I sincerely hope other developers take note of. Another personal problem I have with the game (and this is a pet peeve I have with other action games, like Viewtiful Joe) is that once you beat the game, you're ultimately unable to go back to the little town hub that you started out in. Because of this, if you want to play through any of those previous levels again after you beat the game, you're gonna have to start a new file and play through it all over again. Oh, and the last boss is an asshole. I've heard other people say they have issues with the difficulty (too easy on Normal), but I honestly suck so hard at games that I have no problems with it. Now, there's another issue I have with the game, but it's not just an issue with the game itself; rather, if anyone makes another game like this, it would be seriously wise to fix it. That issue would be... the jumping mechanic. To jump, you slash up. Simple as that. However, there's a big problem with this. I don't know if this is only an issue with pre-rendered environments or if it can be fixed in 3D, but it does need to be noticed. When you jump, you can only jump forward. Period. There is no way you can jump towards the screen, or jump to the left, or jump to the right. You can only jump forward. In relation, you can only perform a Flying Swallow (a jump dash slash) to the left or to the right (however, favorably, you can only dash forward with a Flying Swallow when in a fully 3D environment - even still, 3D or pre-rendered environment, you can only perform Flying Swallows in limited directions). Now if anyone makes another 3D action game like this for the DS (and I truly hope they do), these directional controls will have to be fixed, no exceptions. Other than this, the game has great controls and it's really the only way you can make a 3D action game on the DS. Even Devil May Cry would be possible with this scheme! (pretty sure it would have to be all 3D though, and these issues would definitely have to be fixed) Other than that hopefully fixable flaw, though, playing this game has made me realize that so much is possible on the DS with this control scheme. These controls were slugishly represented last year with Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, but it really didn't belong in a game like Zelda. While Zelda should be left the way it is, so many other existing IP's and definitely original games could work with this scheme, three ideas I can think of at the top of my head. 1. Capcom's Devil May Cry Probably the most obvious choice. Gunning would obviously be done in the same way that arrows and shurikens are thrown in Ninja Gaiden DS. Jumping (slashing the screen up) would hopefully be fixed for a DMC DS. I personally believe that if a DMC DS were made, it would have to be fully, polygonally 3D - somehow they would have to find a way to fit a reasonable amount of enemies in a fully rendered 3D room for the little-system-that-could DS. Ninja Gaiden DS had one fully 3D level - I thought it worked pretty well, and there were still enough enemies on screen to sort of keep me on my toes. Unfortunately, the maker of Devil May Cry has made fun of Itagaki for his efforts on making a 3D portable action game. Not only that, but Devil May Cry hasn't exactly found a home on Nintendo systems. I doubt we'll be seeing Devil May Cry on the DS any time soon, folks. Either way, Capcom should seriously consider making a 3D action game to rival Ninja Gaiden on the DS. 2. An action-adventure game by Square Enix Another very small disappointment I have with Ninja Gaiden DS is that it's pretty much a straight forward action game with a few overtly simply puzzles here and there. Controls like this would work fantastically as a huge, open-ended action adventure game, not unlike Zelda (I know I said these controls don't belong in Zelda... and I still mean it. They don't. Keep this shit out of my Zelda, but feel free to make a completely original action adventure IP with more focus on action). With an inventory full of varied weapons to use, a huge world to explore, sidequests, and the whole shebang, it would really be a fantastic game to put on the DS. But wait... why Square Enix? Their action games haven't exactly been the best games ever these past 10 years... Well, let me ask you this. Do you remember all the pre-rendered goodness they put on the PSX? That stuff was truly beautiful. Whether they be CG or hand-drawn pre-rendered backgrounds, an action adventure game by Square Enix in the vain of NGDS would really be one of the most beautiful games ever made on the DS. Even if Square Enix decided to take a fully 3D route ala Kingdom Hearts for the PS2, it would still be one damn fine looking game - pretty much all of their 3D stuff on the DS has been the best 3D put on the system; and besides, Kingdom Hearts was pretty beautiful, no? Square Enix is full of artists, and they simply know how to work with pretty graphics. Likelihood: you never know. Square Enix seems to be mildly keen on putting original properties on the DS, as seen with The World Ends With You and the most recently announced Sigma Harmonics. I would absolutely love to see it. 3. A traditional JRPG with arena-type battles, ala Tales of You know I can't go along with a blog post without mentioning JRPG's. The boss battles in this game, like previously said, are in full 3D in arena type settings. The game still plays well in 3D, despite some issues. These types of battles could work in a JRPG just like how the Tales series deals with Street Fighter-like battles. Hopefully an RPG like this would also have something like Final Fantasy XII's gambit system for party members. Because of the DS's limited capabilities, there could probably be only 3 party members at a time, including yourself. I honestly don't mind, just as long as they manage to fit a reasonable number of enemies in each battle. Hopefully they would make the bosses huge and epic, not unlike Ninja Gaiden DS's final boss. Oh, and put in some Japanese techno. I was listening to Japanese techno while fighting some of NGDS's bosses, it was some pretty hardcore epic shit. I'd also like to mention that a game like NGDS would work absolutely perfectly as a statistical RPG - by this I mean it would work brilliantly with hit points, magic points, offense/defense points, experience points, leveling up, weapon customization, et cetera; your typical JRPG stats. I love my stats! Thus ends my longest blog entry to date. I walk away ultimately impressed with Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword's gameplay ideas, and I hope with every fiber of my being that companies like Capcom and Square Enix follow suit with such a revolutionary control scheme.

[Bebpo]

I'm at ch.6 and there are blue flames that seem like I need to put them out with the whirlwind ninpo. The only problem is that I have like 100 souls (been buying other stuff) and it costs like 3000.

So basically the game is making me grind for money? If you need something to progress in the main game you should obtain it in the main game dungeon. Requiring purchased items is pretty lame.

Is this going to keep happening where I need to buy a ninpo to proceed and have to stop actually making progress in the game and just run back and forth in a room killing guys until I have enough money?

[Llyranor]

You can do Fiend challenges if you step back into portals of chapters you've already done. Lots of yellow orbs that way.

[Mrbob]

I'm at ch.6 and there are blue flames that seem like I need to put them out with the whirlwind ninpo. The only problem is that I have like 100 souls (been buying other stuff) and it costs like 3000. So basically the game is making me grind for money? If you need something to progress in the main game you should obtain it in the main game dungeon. Requiring purchased items is pretty lame. Is this going to keep happening where I need to buy a ninpo to proceed and have to stop actually making progress in the game and just run back and forth in a room killing guys until I have enough money?

Getting money is easy. I got about 25,000 extra souls right now with nothing to buy in chapter 11. Do what you can always do, spam the bats for big money. Use your ultimate technique over and over in the bat rooms where you wall jump. Easy money.

Also Fiend challenges give you big money as well.

[Chris Michael]

I'm at ch.6 and there are blue flames that seem like I need to put them out with the whirlwind ninpo. The only problem is that I have like 100 souls (been buying other stuff) and it costs like 3000. So basically the game is making me grind for money? If you need something to progress in the main game you should obtain it in the main game dungeon. Requiring purchased items is pretty lame. Is this going to keep happening where I need to buy a ninpo to proceed and have to stop actually making progress in the game and just run back and forth in a room killing guys until I have enough money?

you just blow into the microphone... you don't have to buy anything.

[Case]

Has anybody gotten to Master difficulty yet? I just beat the first dragon boss and that shit was freaking hard as hell. Took me like 6 tries. The dragon is much faster and stronger and likes to combo you. I don't even want to think about how hard the spider fiend boss is. This game is so hard and deep on Master difficulty. Very satisfying/

[Proven]

I'm at ch.6 and there are blue flames that seem like I need to put them out with the whirlwind ninpo. The only problem is that I have like 100 souls (been buying other stuff) and it costs like 3000. So basically the game is making me grind for money? If you need something to progress in the main game you should obtain it in the main game dungeon. Requiring purchased items is pretty lame. Is this going to keep happening where I need to buy a ninpo to proceed and have to stop actually making progress in the game and just run back and forth in a room killing guys until I have enough money?

you just blow into the microphone... you don't have to buy anything.

I'm going to add here that there's another point in the same level where you have to blow into the microphone to spin a pinwheel.

[Mrbob]

I'm at ch.6 and there are blue flames that seem like I need to put them out with the whirlwind ninpo. The only problem is that I have like 100 souls (been buying other stuff) and it costs like 3000. So basically the game is making me grind for money? If you need something to progress in the main game you should obtain it in the main game dungeon. Requiring purchased items is pretty lame. Is this going to keep happening where I need to buy a ninpo to proceed and have to stop actually making progress in the game and just run back and forth in a room killing guys until I have enough money?

NM I read that quickly.

Blow into the mic. ;)

[a Master Ninja]

I'm going to add here that there's another point in the same level where you have to blow into the microphone to spin a pinwheel.

:lol
I wasted ninpo on that stuff.