Look, if you’re a veteran player of Ninja Gaiden or Ninja Gaiden Sigma, you likely know where I’m going with this one before I even get there, but for those of you who haven’t played Team Ninja’s classic game, allow me to set the scene for you: Ninja Gaiden is hard.
Alright, that’s not exactly a world shattering announcement, but it’s the truth. Ninja Gaiden is a pretty tough game to conquer, even if some “git gud scrub” chads are going to fill the comments with tales of how they managed to beat the game on the hardest difficulty without getting hit while using a DJ Hero turntable that’s slightly submerged in lukewarm water. Good for you, pal. The game’s still hard.
I’ve played Ninja Gaiden 2 and 3/Razor’s Edge before, but the recent Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection gave me a chance to conquer the first game. Well, the Sigma version of the first game at least. Still need to play Ninja Gaiden Black for the true masochistic experience. Trying to make my way through the game’s nineteen chapters on even just normal difficulty (no hero mode for me) felt like a herculean effort. Most games start out easy enough before escalating in terms of difficulty, but Ninja Gaiden Sigma’s difficulty begins at “curb stomp” and just steadily climbs from there. By the latter stages of the game, you’re blindfolded in a room with six hired goons getting the crap beaten out of you.
After scraping and clawing my way through the game, I’d reached the end of Chapter 18, a two-stage whammy of a boss fight against two unholy demons that will kick your ass all the way back to your last save if you’re not careful. After a couple of bad tries, I managed to break through the barrier and send those pricks back to hell. I just had to use all my health items to do it.
That was my first mistake.
A couple of loading screens later, I’m on Chapter 19, the final chapter, where lead character Ryu Hayabusa is trying to escape a cavern that’s imploding all around him. As soon as you spawn in, there’s a Dragon Statue that players can use to save their game, the last save spot in the game. Without thinking, I immediately saved my game, overwriting my previous save.
That. That was my second mistake.
You see, aside from a parkour platforming section, Chapter 19 is just one boss fight against a souped up ninja who will body you into the middle of next week if you’re not careful. This was a boss fight that I’d just blundered my way into with no healing items. No lifelines, no support and no crutches with which to rely on when trying to take down this demonic douchebag. My only options were either a) brute force my way through to the credits, or 2) restart the entire game because “wah, I’m a big baby”.
Through constant failure and regret, I was led to the thought of save rotation, the act of using the multiple save slots a game can provide in order to ensure you don’t end up in a “point of no return” situation. I’ve always considered it to be a smart practice, but then I’ll just keep overwriting my one save like a bloody idiot. Here I am again, paying for the consequences of my own actions.
Fortunately, after about 15 tries, I was blessed with a lucky run and managed to get the best of the final boss, shockingly without spamming the flying swallow attack. I did throw out Ninpo attacks as much as possible, though. That brief invulnerability was a damned lifesaver. Still, perhaps the biggest victory of them all was the knowledge that rotating those saves might have saved me an hour or so of grief. At least now I’m playing Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and oh my god, it’s so much better.
READ MORE: The History of Ninja Gaiden: The Resurrection
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