Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (NES, 1990)
Graphics-8.5 Sound-8 Control-7 Challenge-8 Story-6
Level Design-7 Frustration-9 Fun-7.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
You can climb ledges (sort of) by jumping backwards (doesn't always work but at least you can see where it won't)
No more climbing to the next screen problem
You can now climb any wall
Better balanced weapons system
Fixed checkpoint system
Good variation
Some good bosses
Less frequent enemy respawning
Ninja shadow clones (helps with overwhelming enemy attacks and bosses - though it makes the final boss pretty easy)
+/-
Unforgiving hit detection on sword slash
No weapon inventory
-
More birds
Ryu automatically uses special attacks while climbing (no ammo = no attack while climbing)
Broken checkpoint system (if you die in a level you're taken back to the beginning of the sub level, but if you die at the boss (later on) you have to replay the entire level!)
Cheap hits (unavoidable attacks from jaquio and axe throwers)
Trial & error (enemies popping up out of nowhere, enemies standing at the other edge of pits, fast fliers)
Some flicker (because of the ninja shadows)
Somewhat dumbed down AI (but not as buggy)
Many tedious parts (level 2, 3 and 5 in their entirety - 2 has annoying wind currents and lots of pits, three has the screen blacking out for several seconds, five is an ice level with lots of birds)
Controls are still nearly as primitive (poor jump control - can't adjust height, Ryu auto-grabs walls even in the background)
Rehashed enemies and bosses (final boss)
Somewhat sloppy hit detection
Sometimes hard to tell if you're damaging bosses
Pretty lame plot compared to the first one (Ryu acts like a retard and some american steals the show, then sacrifices himself for no reason?)
Level Design-7 Frustration-9 Fun-7.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
You can climb ledges (sort of) by jumping backwards (doesn't always work but at least you can see where it won't)
No more climbing to the next screen problem
You can now climb any wall
Better balanced weapons system
Fixed checkpoint system
Good variation
Some good bosses
Less frequent enemy respawning
Ninja shadow clones (helps with overwhelming enemy attacks and bosses - though it makes the final boss pretty easy)
+/-
Unforgiving hit detection on sword slash
No weapon inventory
-
More birds
Ryu automatically uses special attacks while climbing (no ammo = no attack while climbing)
Broken checkpoint system (if you die in a level you're taken back to the beginning of the sub level, but if you die at the boss (later on) you have to replay the entire level!)
Cheap hits (unavoidable attacks from jaquio and axe throwers)
Trial & error (enemies popping up out of nowhere, enemies standing at the other edge of pits, fast fliers)
Some flicker (because of the ninja shadows)
Somewhat dumbed down AI (but not as buggy)
Many tedious parts (level 2, 3 and 5 in their entirety - 2 has annoying wind currents and lots of pits, three has the screen blacking out for several seconds, five is an ice level with lots of birds)
Controls are still nearly as primitive (poor jump control - can't adjust height, Ryu auto-grabs walls even in the background)
Rehashed enemies and bosses (final boss)
Somewhat sloppy hit detection
Sometimes hard to tell if you're damaging bosses
Pretty lame plot compared to the first one (Ryu acts like a retard and some american steals the show, then sacrifices himself for no reason?)