Whenever anyone brings up Ninja Gaiden on the internet, you will more likely than not hear them talk about the original, or maybe the modern games (and maybe even Dead or Alive if you are one of THOSE people). Which is a shame too, because the other Ninja Gaiden games, for the most part, still hold up pretty well, even if they may not be as good as the original, at least, in terms of the original series.

After the success of the original Ninja Gaiden on the NES (and not so much the arcade version), a sequel, Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, was released two years later, and I am happy to say that it is a great follow up to the original. I wouldn't say that I like it more than the original game, because that one I have more memories with, but on an objective level, I would say this game is better than the original, but only BARELY.

The story is once again pretty complex for an NES game, once again helped out by the cinematics, which are just as great as the original game, the graphics are still pretty good, even if they are practically identical to the original game, the music is once again a banger, the control is practically the exact same as the original, and the gameplay is more of the same fantastic, fast, and frantic ninja gameplay we come to expect from this series.

If I were to describe this game, I would say it is Ninja Gaiden again, except with more stuff to mess around with. Not only are there more stages, bosses, and different level hazards to put the player to the test, such as wind, flashing lights, and ice (by the way, fuck ice physics), but there are also new weapons and power ups that you can mess around with, such as one where you can make up to two clones that follow you around and attack things at the same pace as you. All of this make the game much more enjoyable, fun, and yes, difficult then the original game.

This game, in terms of difficulty, is even more difficult then the original. Not by much, but it is a noticeable increase, and once again, it can get annoying, but not enough to make me give up. And again, like the last game, whenever you die at the bosses in the last act, you get sent back NOT to the beginning of the act, but the second part, which isn't as bad, but considering that the final act has five parts, it is basically the same punishment. So it is good to see that nothing has changed between installments.

Overall, while I still prefer the original over this, I would consider this a fantastic follow up of the original game that in some instances is even better than the original, with plenty of threats and challenges to take on that the original made so iconic.

Game #55

Ninja Gaiden 2 is a sequel like any NES Mega Man sequel would be, in the sense that it doesn't innovate in practically anything and the only thing it does is to have better graphics and new powers, however, something that makes it totally superior to the first one is that the level design is now good.

Although there really isn't much to talk about since my first paragraph sums it all up very well, I'll talk about this game in detail anyway.

For starters, let's talk about the story. The intro is great and the background music raises the hype a bit. But in general, the story of Ninja Gaiden II is just as good as the previous title because of the way it's told and how it tries to emulate a movie, however, I think that also works against it a bit, since it feels like they're trying to repeat the story of the previous game instead of creating something new. Also, I'm not sure, but I liked the pixel art portraits of the first Ninja Gaiden better.

The levels are very good, especially because now the positioning of the enemies and the platforms make Ninja Gaiden 2 a more balanced and reasonable experience, plus the addition of the shadow clones and that now you can climb on any wall and not only those with ladders, there are even what I call " trap rewards", I mean, there are items that are obtained in a very difficult way, but many times they are not worth it, so yes, many times it is very convenient not to try to destroy all the lamps and see what they drop, sometimes it is better to ignore. On the other hand, perhaps something that could be considered bad is that this game is not very friendly to beginners, as it waits for you to know how to play Ninja Gaiden, or that's how I perceived it, because from the first levels the difficulty is somewhat demanding, but if you are familiar with controlling Ryu it won't be much of a problem. I liked how some levels implemented some gimmicks, and it's something that makes this game never feel too repetitive and makes the levels more remarkable and distinguishable from each other.

Conclusion
I think it's too ironic to say this, but Ninja Gaiden II is one of the best platformers for the NES, and the only thing it had to do different from the first one was to have better level design, since from the first Ninja Gaiden the good gameplay was already there.

I can see myself replaying this game possibly in the future as it was an enjoyable experience, well, only until just before you get to the final boss fight, as it's too difficult for my liking and I would recommend avoiding it. But outside of that, the other 95% of the game is genuinely one of the best NES platformers due to how frantically paced the game is and how great it plays, I mean, very few NES games accomplish this.