REVIEW: Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos 1990 NES
	By: Tecmo Type: Platform Players: 1 Difficulty:Medium

    Ryu Hayabusa is back as the Ninja Dragon in Tecmo's sequel to its 1989 hit game, Ninja Gaiden. Tecmo improved on key areas in this adventure pitting Ryu against Ashtar, the master of evil who controlled Ninja Gaiden big bad guy, the Jaquio. Ashtar has even raised the stakes by kidnapping Ryu's favorite CIA agent and love interest, Irene Lew. With help from Robert, a US Armed Forces Specialist, Ryu must battle through city streets, windy cliffs, and even an evil tower to get Irene back and settle the score with Ashtar. Ninja Gaiden II, like its predecessor, summons skills of jumping and slashing along with the help of some special powerups in order to find out what happens in each successive Act, which is again illustrated by sharp cinema scenes. Can you help Ryu save Irene? Will Ashtar triumph? Is this game worth buying? Read on, fellow gamers, and let's see...

    Graphically, this game is a bit better than the first Gaiden. There is a bit more color and animation, both during the cinemas and during the action scenes. Again the programmers and game designers have paid attention to detail, such as flowing streams during some levels. There is also a notable addition of a special powerup that allows Ryu to summon dopplegangers of himself to shadow and fight alongside him. Animating up to three Ryu characters at once, along with the onscreen enemies is impressive; doing all that with no slowdown is even more impressive. The cinema scenes are again drawn very well and help to convey the story accurately, giving faces and personalities to the names you read in the captions. There is a bit more animation in the cinemas this time around as well, which is a testament to the improved skills of the programmers after a year had passed with Ninja Gaiden.

    Sound effects are again slightly better than average. There is the standard slash sound effect, and there are also effects for jumping and obtaining power-ups. There is still little to no speech in the game, and by this time, digitized speech was becoming prevalent in most higher quality NES games. Musically, the game is even better than the first. From the opening, haunting prelude to the pumping music during the action scenes to the ever-changing music during the cinema scenes, the music is very good, and in some cases, even memorable. Tecmo even built in two different music tests to sample these great tunes. As with the first game, the music never gets annoying or intrusive to gameplay, and always seems to complement gameplay or set the stage for what is happening.

    There are few games, even today, that have the degree of playability that Ninja Gaiden II has. As with the first game, Ryu is very easy to control. Even for novice gamers, a few gaming sessions will give everyone enough experience to venture deep into the game and see what Ashtar has in store for Ryu. In addition to the original powerups in the first game, Ninja Gaiden II incorporates dopplegangers in to assist Ryu. This powerup is great; it works very similar to the Option powerups in Gradius. It basically gives Ryu more range and firepower on the screen. Again, like Ninja Gaiden, there are some tough spots, such as surprise enemies during jumps. There is even wind in one section of the game which affects the distance of your jump. With practice, however, most gamers will be able to overcome those sticky spots. The difficulty of this game is neither too hard nor too easy. It allows gamers of all skill levels a realistic chance to beat the game and see the ending. Playability rarely acheived this kind of nirvana before Ninja Gaiden II, and rarely did again afterwards. The game, like the first, does have unlimited continues; however, also like the first game, there isn't a password feature. Players must beat the game in one play session or start from the very beginning.

    This game is the best of the Ninja Gaiden Trilogy and is highly recommended to gamers of all skill levels. The graphics and sound are well above average, and the game handles like a new sports car. It's really too bad that Ninja Gaiden III didn't continue the same level of excellence. This game, along with Tecmo Super Bowl, really showed just how important Tecmo was to the success of the Nintendo Entertainment System. The Ninja Gaiden Trilogy and the Tecmo Bowl series really propelled Tecmo into the limelight as far as game development was concerned, right up there with Konami and Capcom. The bottom line is this: Buy this game. Do it now. Ryu is calling out for help again, and how can you let poor Irene down?  - Peter J. Skerritt 93%

Key to the reviewing system]

Design and content is copyright Marcus & Mattias Liedholm 1997-2004. All rights reserved. No part of the contents on this website may be reproduced without written permission. Products and game characters mentioned at the web site may be registered trademarks of other companies.            NintendoLand is not in any way connected to or sponsored by Nintendo Inc. We are no retailers of Nintendo's products and we are not offering services like technical support.     Further info: VGF Legal Statement & Terms of Use. Privacy policy.