And with that, we have completed another Love/Hate series here on IC2S! Suffice to say, this was quite the undertaking: I ended up playing nineteen games (most of them to completion) over the course of this series of articles. Even at its worst, it was a lot of fun! Playing the different versions of the games simultaneously gives you a different perspective on them, and I’m glad that I’ve got this little series to capture my thoughts and those moments in my life. Like I did with Dead or Alive, I’ve also started to expand my collection of physical Ninja Gaiden games as a result of this little series… I don’t think I’m going to go get every version of these games just for the hell of it, but I’m always excited to see a Ninja Gaiden game for a decent price!

This is a good time to note that there were two Ninja Gaiden games I did not play for this series. This is because I could not for the life of me find a copy and they are, as far as I’m aware, lost media.

The first of these is Ninja Gaiden X, which was an early mobile phone prequel to the NES Ninja Gaiden! It looks like they captured the aesthetic of the NES trilogy well, and the game is pretty impressive considering what phones were capable of at the time. However, the game itself is barely five minutes long, making it perhaps the most forgettable and insubstantial game in the entire franchise.

The other lost game is Ninja Gaiden Clans, which was only released in Japan for smartphones. It was a card-based game with social elements, but its design and art style made it look like a spiritual successor to Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. It was supposed to get an international release, but this was quietly cancelled and the game faded into obscurity. I can barely find any gameplay of it. However, there are some screenshots of card art, including two of my girl, Hitomi! It appears that this game was exclusive to a game launcher portal, so you can’t even find an APK file to mess around with; the game is just gone with little trace to show that it ever existed… Even if it was not great, that’s still a very sad fate.

Ninja Gaiden Games Ranked

Here is how I would rank the all of the Ninja Gaiden games:

• S-tier: Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ninja Gaiden Black, Ninja Gaiden (2004), Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus
  • Long-time fans tend to prefer Ninja Gaiden Black but, gun to my head, I would have to give Sigma the slightest of advantages over it. This is largely down to the quality of life enhancements introduced in Sigma that make it a bit more enjoyable to play. Calling the content that has been removed from this version “puzzles” would be extremely generous: the “puzzles” in Ninja Gaiden (2004) are incredibly easy, but often force you to do a bunch of repetitive backtracking. Removing these puzzles ultimately replaces lengthy pace-killers with exciting combat sequences. I also kind of enjoyed getting to play as Rachel. A lot of fans hate how slow and limited her moveset is, to the point where it’s often cited as the reason why Black is better. Personally, I liked the change in pace her chapters bring. Both Sigma and Black are incredible, so you can’t really go wrong either way.
  • While I would say that Sigma is my favourite of the lot, I would actually recommend Ninja Gaiden Black to a first-time player, just so you can get to experience the more varied gameplay that the puzzle sections bring. They do present a more unique game design philosophy that the franchise quickly honed away. Plus, the game defaults to normal mode, so play Black, and then you can jump to a higher difficulty off the bat in Sigma (or, y’know, just keep playing Black on a higher difficulty: again, you can’t go wrong with either version).
  • Ninja Gaiden (2004) is a step down from Sigma and Black, but that’s simply because it’s a less “complete” and “refined” experience. That said, it’s still effectively the same game in most respects: the iron-wrought foundation upon which all other versions were forged, so it’s still deserving of a top-tier placement on the list.
  • Closing out our S-tier is Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus. Purists will poo-poo this game due to its framerate of 30 FPS, but the game’s still goddamn Ninja Gaiden (now on the go)! Honestly, the bigger problem this version faces is its motion control gimmicks, which make the mandatory bow sections even more annoying. Due to these small blemishes, I have to say that this is probably the weakest version of Ninja Gaiden (2004), but its placement here in S-tier should illustrate how fucking great it is overall.
• A-tier: Ninja Gaiden II (2008), Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection
  • As I stated in its respective Love/Hate entry, the original Ninja Gaiden II is my favourite version of the game, despite some major reservations. The moment-to-moment combat is just so good, and learning how to deal with (and massacre) the swarms of aggressive enemies with low health is a joy that later revisions have not even tried to match. Unfortunately, the latter-half of the game is just miserable to play through. As much as I love this game’s quirks, the notion of having to replay these latter levels fills me with dread… It’s a game of soaring highs, and infuriating lows that its successors would even out.
  • Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is probably the most enjoyable way to play Ninja Gaiden II today. It corrects a lot of the mistakes of Sigma 2 and, while it doesn’t match the best parts of Ninja Gaiden II, it’s a hell of a lot closer. Plus, the absence of the absolute bullshit that plagued the original release makes it a game I’m far more likely to come back to just to enjoy myself in.
  • Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection is an interesting case. On the one hand, it’s an absolute steal just for Ninja Gaiden Sigma alone. Unfortunately, it also has Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, which makes it a bit harder to recommend, because it’s my least-favourite version of Ninja Gaiden II. As a result, I’d recommend the Master Collection to first-time players looking to get into the series, but I’d strongly recommend picking up a copy of Ninja Gaiden II or 2 Black as well… and, at that point, you might just want to get Ninja Gaiden Black, rendering the entire collection kind of pointless. Ain’t this franchise’s fractured release history grand?
• B-tier: Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, Ninja Gaiden (1988), Ninja Gaiden (1992)
  • Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is… fine. A lot of my distaste for it comes down to it being compromised compared to the better versions we have (plus I hate games with spongey enemies). However, if Sigma 2 is the only way you’ve experienced Ninja Gaiden II, then you probably won’t mind too much, as you’re still going through largely the same experience, just with a different feel to the combat.
  • Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge is a monumental improvement on its predecessor, thanks to some inspired changes to the combat mechanics. If it was not bogged down by the sins of its predecessor that couldn’t be fixed in eight months of development, this could have rivalled Ninja Gaiden II.
  • Thanks to a handful of major refinements and a more measured difficulty progression, Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos is a notable improvement on its predecessor, even if it is marred by some awful level gimmicks.
  • Ninja Gaiden (1988) is a pretty fun (if punishingly difficult) game in its own right, but much of its importance comes down to its revolutionary narrative presentation. Not exactly an easy game to get into for a modern player, but well worth trying out!
  • Ninja Gaiden (1992) for the Master System is by far the best looking classic-era game in the franchise. The game is just an absolute bastard with its enemy spawns, to a hilarious degree, and you want nothing more than to show this game who’s the boss.
• C-tier: Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom, Ninja Gaiden Trilogy
  • Ninja Gaiden III is a cautionary tale about the limits of video game difficulty. The game is punishingly difficult for no good reason, with even basic enemies in the opening levels causing ludicrous amounts of damage. Like, as difficult as the other NES Ninja Gaiden games are, you could at least afford to take a hit every once in a while. Ninja Gaiden III is just excessively punishing to the detriment of the game overall.
  • Ninja Gaiden Trilogy is a lackluster collection due to its poor ports of the NES trilogy (akin to the slap-dash “remasters” we got during the PS3/Xbox 360-era). About the only true positive I can say for it is that its version of Ninja Gaiden III has the originally intended, much fairer difficulty (but even then, you’ve got the weird graphics, imprecise controls, and poor sound effects to contend with). It’s not unplayable, but it’s not great either, especially in an era where the original titles are easily accessible.
• D-tier: Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, Ninja Gaiden Shadow
  • I was fairly disappointed with Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. Despite its short length, its combat quickly became a slog and its gimmicky control scheme, while perfectly functional, is unable to sustain interest. I certainly appreciate its expansion of the Ninja Gaiden universe, but the game is too experimental for its own good. In addition, the amount of assets reused from Ninja Gaiden (2004) is frankly ridiculous.
  • Ninja Gaiden Shadow is reasonably fun, but the short playtime and extremely stripped-back gameplay make it little more than a curiosity in this franchise’s long-running history.
• E-tier: Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus, Ninja Gaiden 3 (2012), Ninja Gaiden (1991), Ninja Gaiden (arcade)
  • I really don’t know how I managed to get through Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus back in 2013, let alone how it became the gateway drug that got me into this entire franchise. I guess I just was extremely forgiving, because Sigma 2 Plus is borderline-unplayable if you have any standards for game performance. The framerate is terrible, often dipping well below 30 FPS, the game constantly gets interrupted by mid-game loading screens, and the graphics look very muddy as the PS Vita struggles to keep up with the chaos on-screen. Plus, y’know, it’s a port of Sigma 2, so it’s already a pretty compromised experience. I guess if you’ve never played another Ninja Gaiden game then it might be bearable… but if you have…? Bleh. Yeah, this is unacceptable and a curiosity at best.
  • Ninja Gaiden 3 (2012) is a prime example of the dangers of trend-chasing. So many bone-headed decisions were made in the creation of this game. The story is terrible, largely due to the directors pushing for a more “complex” narrative. A ton of options have been entirely stripped out and replaced with nothing. The health system is frustratingly designed. All the worst design trends of the PS3/Xbox 360 era make an appearance. Worst of all though is that combat, the bread-and-butter of Ninja Gaiden, just kind of sucks. I don’t know what I could say that could be more damning than that.
  • I can overlook Ninja Gaiden (1991)’s poor graphics and 30 minute runtime, but what I can’t forgive is the terrible game feel and the extremely cheap enemy placements, which spawn in and then immediately attack, leaving you a split second to react without taking damage.
  • Ninja Gaiden (arcade) is a moderately interesting slice of late-80s arcade gaming, but that’s about it. As-is, it’s too rudimentary to compete with other retro side-scrolling beat ’em ups, while also having all the frustrating bullshit you’d expect from a coin-op arcade machine. Play it for nostalgia or curiosity, but don’t expect to have a great time.
• F-tier: Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z
  • Fuck this goddamn game. It’s not “bad because it doesn’t play like a Ninja Gaiden game”, this game is horrendous by any standards, full-stop. The humour makes me want to die, the combat is dull, the platforming is irritating, the game looks like a bowl of puke, and its janky as all hell.

Ninja Gaiden Games Ranked by Difficulty

Suffice to say, this is an extremely subjective ranking by someone who played mostly on normal or hard mode throughout this series. If you’re playing on Master Ninja, then some games are going to be harder than others, but I cannot speak to that experience (and, honestly, my experience is going to be more relevant to 80% of the people who play these games (the one-and-done playthrough player).

A couple notes here:

1. Yaiba‘s on top because fuck Yaiba. The game isn’t particularly difficult (in fact, it probably would be just above Dragon Sword if you want a “true” ranking), but the game is so miserable to play that the true difficulty is in making you want to even play this piece of shit game.
2. Ninja Gaiden II‘s pretty low on the list! Obviously, it’s a pretty difficult game in its own right, but by Ninja Gaiden standards, it seems to be one of the more approachable entries. I say this because I had no issues on Ninja Gaiden II‘s hard mode on any of my playthroughs, whereas the equivalent mode on its predecessor and sequel felt more challenging. Apparently it is brutal on Master Ninja, but I cannot speak to that.
3. Dragon Sword‘s the only Ninja Gaiden game I’d say is straight-up easy, largely due to its imprecise control scheme necessitating an extreme level of generosity.

Ranking the Bosses of the Modern Ninja Gaiden Games

• S-tier: Volf, Genshin, Doku, Alma
  • Volf is just the best. This boisterous personality and sense of honour make him a boss that you cannot wait to face off against. The showdown that ensues is pretty great in its own right.
  • Genshin is a solid boss, but his surprisingly strong presence within the storyline really elevates him to S-tier levels.
  • In his introduction, Doku is just the coolest antagonist in the entire franchise. He’s incredibly intimidating, so the point when you finally are forced to face-off with him is an adrenaline-pumping highlight.
  • The RNG elements of Alma’s can make her somewhat frustrating, but I love this fight, it’s challenging but learning the fight is fun. In addition, Alma’s design is fascinating. There’s such a strange and ethereal presence about her.
• A-tier: Marbus, Prototype Goddess, The Regent of the Mask, Epigonos, Ghost Doku, Murai, Ishtaros, Awakened Alma, Nicchae, Dagra Dai
  • Marbus is a pretty great fight, despite only really being vulnerable when he does one attack. This could be extremely frustrating if done wrong, but thankfully he is an enjoyable test of mettle on the two occasions you meet him.
  • I really enjoy the Prototype Goddess. Her attacks are telegraphed distinctly, so you get a fair chance to react and then punish. The Steel on Bone mechanics in Razor’s Edge also make this a fun showcase of the mechanic. Just a really good boss, one of the fairest in the entire franchise.
  • The Regent of the Mask gains a lot of points for his personality alone, but thankfully his fights live up to the hype. Like the Prototype Goddess, he telegraphs his attacks, so you have a fair chance to respond. However, he does have two infuriating techniques that pushed him down from a higher ranking: 1) his grab attack is incredibly fast and punishing, to the point where you just kind of predict that it’s coming, and 2) his goddamn ranged grab in your third showdown is fucking bullshit.
  • We already had doppelganger fights in Ninja Gaiden Black, but Epigonos is the ultimate expression of that idea. As you can expect, he can do everything you can do, so the more knowledge you have of your abilities, the better you’ll be able to punish his attacks. As a result, this is an extremely fair fight: even when you’re getting caught in devastating Izuna drops, just block more (which is exactly what enemies have been doing all game to break your own combos).
  • Ghost Doku is a weird step down from his prior incarnation. Seeing him come back as a ghost robs him of a lot of his formerly-intimidating aura. Still gets high points for being a great fight, but it’s definitely less-exciting.
  • The initial confrontation with Murai is a classic affair, as you go sword-to-nunchuck with your uncle. It’s a solid fight to open the game and one that tests your skills in a manner that feels very fair.
  • Ishtaros’s design is something. It’s wild to me that she’s the main antagonist in a T-rated Nintendo DS game! Her status as a secret boss earns her a lot of points, and her moveset is fairly unique.
  • Awakened Alma is kind of bullshit, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s basically entirely ranodm whether your Flying Swallow will land on her, so you can end up getting frustrated when you die to RNG. However, her moveset and the atmosphere of the fight really elevate this confrontation for me, even if she’s not as good here as she was in her first encounter.
  • Nicchae earns points for being a challenging secret boss. She plays like a reskin of Alma, which I’m pretty mixed on (Alma’s moveset is fun, but it’s pretty lame that they couldn’t give Nicchae her own identity). A pretty good boss, but could be better if she had a more unique moveset.
  • I’ll be entirely honest: I always forget about the Dagra Dai fight. Of all the bosses in Ninja Gaiden II, no other boss has left less of an impression on me. Every time I get to him, I enjoy the fight (far more than the two fights after him), but I cannot remember a single thing about it. I’m serious: I re-watched this fight yesterday to remind myself what happens in it, and I’ve already forgotten everything about it again. I feel like he is deserving of the A-tier, but I cannot justify anywhere else but the bottom of the tier due to how extremely forgettable he is.
• B-tier: Fiend Murai, Alexei, Zedonius, Dynamo (and Alternator), Paz Zuu
  • Fiend Murai suffers for being the final boss at the end of your journey. He’s fast and hits hard, but you’re facing him when you’re at your most skilled. If you’ve saved enough health elixirs, you can just brute force through him easily. If you have not saved enough elixirs, then this fight could be incredibly tough, especially since you’ll need to replay the shitty platforming section every time you die and there’s no way to restock on heals.
  • All of the Greater Fiends are fun, but Alexei makes it this high off of sheer personality. He’s a weirdo and a creep, but he’s so flamboyant that it works. His fight is also pretty enjoyable, with an enjoyable level of challenge.
  • I dunno, I have heard that a lot of people struggle with Zedonius, but I’ve always found him really underwhelming in Ninja Gaiden II. It feels like he’s dead before he gets much of a chance to make an impression. Having only one chapter instead of two also doesn’t make your showdown any more exciting. Still, while the fight doesn’t last particularly long, it is quite enjoyable!
  • Dynamo is a pretty random, but enjoyable, showdown on the top of the zeppelin. He’s also a good skill-check, forcing you to learn when you are safe to punish and when you need to back off. I’ve chosen to just lump Alternator in here too, since he’s literally just a rehash of Dynamo, except that he has a jetpack. He plays pretty much identically.
  • I really enjoy the battle with Paz Zuu! That said: it is incredibly easy. Most of its attacks can be avoided by just standing behind it, its main attack is incredibly easy to avoid, and it gives you a ton of openings to damage it. This can make it fun to just beat this guy down, but it’s one of the easiest showdowns in the entire game.
• C-tier: Elizabet, Holy Vigoor Emperor, Rasetsu, Cliff, The Archfiend
  • Elizabet is kinda bullshit. She seems like she can block your attacks automatically, and actually landing a hit in feels entirely random. On top of this though, she has high damage and a ton of health, so you have to be extremely careful when facing her.
  • The Holy Vigoor Emperor’s psychedelic aesthetic goes a long way towards making him a fascinating main antagonist. Honestly though, the boss battles against him are pretty weak. The first is a gimmicky DPS test while suddenly having your movement controls completely changed on you. The second fight is basically a game of “I sure hope you still have arrows for your bow!” Neither is awful, but they are pretty underwhelming.
  • Rasetsu is a decent fight, but his reputation as a boss drops because he gets downgraded to a fairly common mini-boss enemy towards the end of the game… and those black spider ninja fiends have more health than Rasetsu did. Yeah, the nameless enemies are stronger than this guy, great spot to put him in.
  • Cliff is super lame due to his role in the narrative of Ninja Gaiden 3. However, I can’t deny that the fight with him is reasonably enjoyable, redeeming him slightly.
  • I don’t understand why they were trying to make the bow more important in this game, it is boring compared to your melee weapons, and the first phase of The Archfiend suffers for it the most. The second phase is better since it’s largely melee-oriented, but it’s nowhere near as fun a finale as Fiend Murai.
• D-tier: Gamov, The Dark Dragon, Tengu Brothers, Fire Dragon, Masakado, Electric Worm, Spider Tank, Yotunfrau, Hydracubus, Ashtear
  • Gamov is kind of random. He seems like he’s up to something, but he ends up doing nothing for the entire game, only to get killed off randomly by Murai at the end. His boss fight in Sigma is decent, but nothing particularly special or memorable.
  • The legendary Dark Dragon is pretty cool to see in a Ninja Gaiden game, but that game is Dragon Sword… so just swipe a bunch and dodge generously and you’ll win anything… Yeah, it’s a pretty rote fight overall. He comes back in Sigma 2 to replace the Quetzalcoatls, so that’s a point in its favour, but it’s still a pretty simple fight overall.
  • The Tengu Brothers are a decent fight, although they can get a bit annoying considering how many times you face them…
  • The Fire Dragon makes for a good bit of spectacle, but man is this fight ridiculously easy. Most of its attacks will struggle to even hit you, allowing you to just wail on it.
  • Masakado, aka Horse Guy, is a bit of a mid fight. He’s basically just a stronger version of the samurai riders you’ve already fought. The biggest annoyance though is the mage adds in the fight. I just focus on killing them until they stop respawning, because Masakado is much less of a threat than they are.
  • Fuuuuuck the Electric Worm (both fights with it). It’s that typical “lame Ninja Gaiden boss” formula: it cannot be attacked directly, so you watch as it cycles between a bunch of attacks, only two of which open it up for damage… and you’d best be fast, because you have a second to respond or it will get away. It’s an okay fight mechanically, but man did I get annoyed by it.
  • The initial Spider Tank fight was alright. The thing spammed bullets, rockets, and electrical shields a bit too much, but it was a decent enough first boss. However, having to face two of the sonofabitches near the end of the game is just fucking stupid. You can’t stand still for an instant or you’ll get bombarded by rockets from off-screen. That second fight pulls this boss’s overall ranking down for sure.
  • Yotunfrau is an incredibly easy boss. His attacks are a bit too slow and telegraphed, making him trivial to fight. Honestly, if you get hit during this fight, that’s on you for being impatient. That said, it’s fun to beat him down, so I can’t put him any lower than this.
  • Hydracubus is also an incredibly easy boss – just Flying Swallow repeatedly and then attack when he’s growing his tentacles back. Again, it’s kind of enjoyable to just beat him down in less than a minute, although I enjoy him a bit less than Yotunfrau.
  • Ashtear is a… interesting fight. His biggest issue is that he comes right after the double Spider Tank fight, so you’re probably coming into this fight with low health. To compensate, his moveset is extremely exploitable, making it very possible that you can go through this entire fight without taking damage. That said, the fight goes on for multiple phases, so you had better hope that you have enough health for some margin of error (I didn’t, so I had to play it perfectly in my Razor’s Edge hard mode run).
• E-tier: Obaba, Dragon Skeleton, Tanks, Bone Giant, Buddha Statue, Statue of Liberty, Helicopter, Godomus, Fire Worm, Water Dragon, Nuclear Armadillos, fucking Giganotosaurus, Canna the Goddess
  • Obaba has had three completely different boss fights across three different games… and they’ve all been pretty disappointing, hence her fairly low ranking. I think her boss battle in Sigma 2 is probably the most enjoyable one.
  • The Dragon Skeleton is one of those bosses that’s… fine, I guess, but it’s a pretty dull affair. Attack its limbs when he’s vulnerable and then dodge a couple different attacks… very easy stuff.
  • The tank battle suffers, again, because it’s a bow fight in my ninja combat game. You have to be in constant motion, balancing movement and firing off armour-piercing arrows. Oh, and when you beat the tank, a second one enters and you have to do literally the same fight all over again. It’s kind of funny, but it’s also a big “fuck you” to the player…
  • The Bone Giant in Ninja Gaiden II is a complete slog. It’s not all that difficult, but he takes so little damage that you will start losing health sooner or later. Nothing feels worse than getting him low, then dying, and having to restart the whole process again.
  • The Sigma 2-exclusive Buddha Statue fight is really lame. He has that usual “attack the limbs” formula that boring bosses have, but he also has barely any health so at least the fight’s over with quickly.
  • The Statue of Liberty fight is basically just the aforementioned Buddha Statue, but with some more annoying attacks, so it gets a lower rank as a result.
  • You fight a lot of helicopter bosses over the course of this franchise, and they’re all pretty lame. Again, this is because they are bow fights… yawn.
  • Godomus operates a lot like the Bone Giant – doesn’t take a lot of damage, but he dishes out more damage, so fighting him gets really annoying, especially on rematches.
  • Ugh, as if fighting the Electric Worm twice wasn’t lame enough, you then fight the exact same boss, except now he has a fire attack instead of an electric attack. This is easily the most annoying version of the worm, but the fact that you’re fighting the same guy again just makes this fight a pain in the ass.
  • The Water Dragon sucks in pretty much any version of Ninja Gaiden II. You’re stuck on a platform avoiding two types of attacks over and over again and just firing off an arrow when you get an opening… it’s extremely dull and frustrating. People will complain that Sigma 2 removed the option to go into the water to fight him, but that method of fighting him also sucks.
  • FUCK the Nuclear Armadillo (especially their tag team rematch in the original Ninja Gaiden II). If you want to be “safe” then you stick to its tail and/or legs and get some chip damage in. However, the armadillo will eventually spam a ridiculous amount of flaming projectiles at you, making the latter-part of the fight incredibly risky. As a result, I just go for the head, which takes more damage than the rest of its body, but leaves you open to a very fast and damaging bite attack… it’s worth it compared to slogging through the fight the “safe” way though. Oh and lest we forget, when you kill the boss, he explodes in a nuclear blast that fills the entire arena. This can only be survived by blocking, a thing that the game does not communicate to you, so you can easily beat this boss multiple times and then die on the last hurdle because you’re the idiot for not realizing you can block a nuclear explosion…
  • The fucking Giganotosaurus in Ninja Gaiden 3 is a pain in the ass and illustrative of the issues with this game’s design. Because you can’t just heal in the fight, bosses have to be very exploitable. As a result, the boss is a clumsy idiot, tripping over her own feet to give you a lengthy opening to attack her, and you can easily bait her into flailing about uselessly so that you take no damage. However, if you do get hit, the Giganotosaurus does a ton of damage, which can easily one- or two-shot you, with zero opportunities for healing.
  • Canna the Goddess is a ridiculous battle, feeling more like a bullet hell at times than a proper Ninja Gaiden boss. If you can get through the first part of the fight, where she spams projectiles and does arm slams while you try to fight a bunch of adds to get your ninpo bar maxed out, then the rest is pretty easy. A lot of fans really hate her, but I didn’t hate her quite enough to reach F-tier.
• F-tier: Giant Helicopter, Quetzalcoatls, GigaDeath, Giant Death Worm
  • There’s a pattern with most of these F-tier bosses and that’s that they are bow fights. The Giant Helicopter in Ninja Gaiden 3 is bad because it is incredibly drawn out over the course of three phases with zero opportunities for healing. The third phase especially is frustrating because it gets adds which you need to kill in order to focus on the boss. The only reason I managed to get through this was because you can slow down time by hitting R3 while aiming, making it easier to kill the adds and land your shots on the helicopter, but the game never communicates this to you.
  • Holy shit the Quetzalcoatls suck. This is largely due to the garbage camera, which only tracks the two bosses, but leaves you entirely vulnerable to the adds spamming you with fireballs and swooping attacks. As much as I liked the original Ninja Gaiden II, encounters like this are an absolute piss-off and replacing them with the Dark Dragon in Sigma 2-onwards is an objective improvement.
  • FUCK GIGADEATH. This electric fish sonofabitch spams a stupid amount of projectiles and ghost fish at you, which can melt your health bar from full to zero in a second. I legitimately don’t even understand how I’ve beaten this guy every time, I feel like I’m barely managing to dodge its attacks.
  • The Giant Death Worm is the one boss in the entire franchise who feels completely broken and unfinished. You spend the entire fight just sitting in tunnels, getting cheap hits in as the boss passes by harmlessly. Then, if you get hit by him, you get bounced around the screen as the boss awkwardly pushes you forward: it looks downright embarrassing. There’s a reason this boss was cut out of Sigma 2 and I don’t think anybody laments its absence.

What Does the Future Hold For Ninja Gaiden?

Unlike many of the franchises we’ve covered on this series, Ninja Gaiden fans are eating good right now. After a decade of nothing, 2025 is bringing us three new Ninja Gaiden games. The first of these, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, has already released and been covered here, but the next two are arguably even more exciting.

The first of these is Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, which I am super excited about. It’s being developed by The Game Kitchen, who made Blasphemous, one of my favourite games of all-time. It’s the first 2D entry in the franchise in decades, so they picked the perfect developer for it. Beyond this, the game just looks better and better every time I see it. It seems poised to bridge the gap between the modern games and the NES trilogy. The new protagonist, Kenji, seems cool and the Black Spider Clan kunoichi, Kumori, looks fascinating. It also just looks like it’s going to be really fun, I cannot wait to get my hands on it in the next few months.

The other upcoming Ninja Gaiden game is Ninja Gaiden 4, being developed by Platinum Games and Team Ninja. I’m cautiously optimistic about this one. Platinum Games have a pedigree for good action games, although their track record in the past few years has been a bit spotty (hence the cautious optimism). Their style is also pretty distinct from Team Ninja’s, so I hope that they can put something together that can please fans of their style and the existing Ninja Gaiden fanbase.

Aaaaaand that’s it for another Love/Hate series here on IC2S! Honestly, as insane as this undertaking was for me, I’m actually feeling a bit sad to be done with it. I’ve got other games I’d like to play, but sometime soon I’d love to try to play Ninja Gaiden Sigma or Ninja Gaiden 2 Black on a higher difficulty and see if I can do it! In the meantime, I’d got more Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden articles in mind, so don’t expect my obsession with these franchise to end anytime soon.