We shall overthrow some red-eyed pointy-eared guy named Banglar and his evil government with three robots...that are ninjas. Ninja robots!
Anyway, the game came out in Japan as The Ninja Warriors Again, and it's a chronological sequel to the arcade original. They took the "Again" out when they released it here. In Europe, the game was called Ninja Warriors: The New Generation, and ran at a slower speed than the NTSC versions from both America and Japan.
It should also be noted that in the Japanese version, there's blood! Sadly, it was replaced with green blood in the American version. Boo, NoA!
Stage 1
There are three characters to choose from. The Ninja is slow and can barely jump, but is very powerful. The Kunoichi is the middle-of-the-road character, while the Kamaitachi is the weakest but is pretty fast, although the Kamaitachi takes some practice to play with and cannot throw enemies. I'm using the Ninja, because the Ninja gave me the best results.
That robot is too tall and too heavy to be a ninja...or is it? Also, wow, the action and in-game timer are noticeably slower.
Anyway, you'll be running to the right and destroying everything in your way. You'll be punching. You'll be slicing. You'll be throwing. You'll be blocking. You'll be duck walking. You'll be flying (somewhat) in the air and kicking people on the way down. And nunchaku will be tossed around. Yes. Nunchaku.
Besides using Y to hit your basic combo (which can be done while standing or crouching), you can move into enemies to grab at them. From there, you can hold forward on the Control Pad. and press Y to throw enemies forward, hold up and Y for another throw, or hold Down and Y for a third type of throw.
Holding Y allows you to block. From there, you can hold away and B to do a backflip.
As the Ninja, you cannot jump (unlike the other two characters). As a result, B lets you hover for a while, and pressing it again lets you float even higher for a second before you return to the ground. Pressing Y while hovering allows you to do a spin attack. Holding down and pressing B lets you do a stomp attack.
The other two characters just have regular jumping attacks.
Also as the Ninja. holding forward on the Control Pad and pressing B lets you dash. Running into an enemy hits a shoulder attack, but you can press Y before then to hit a dashing kick.
There are three sizes of energy canisters. The small ones gives you 1/6 of an energy bar back, the middle gives you 1/3 of a bar, and the large one gives you a complete refill.
Halfway through the level, you'll be seeing missiles rising in the background and falling from the sky on your side of the city. Remember where they are and walk around accordingly. They fall at regular intervals, but they can immediately knock you down, which can be annoying.
The soldier guys are nothing, but the guys with the berets have strong punches and can knock you down with a sweep kick. The guys with the claws jump around a lot. Punch them whenever you can, even if you can get only one shot on him at a time while doing so. Throwing other enemies into them works great, but the best way to take them down is with a ducking combo.
The guys with the guns aren't really good shots. Just like in the original, you can simply duck (and duck walk) past their shots and get away undamaged. Just watch out if they duck; they can throw a grenade at you.
The boss here is some huge robot guy with a red mohawk that's taller than even the ninja. Since he'll always block your attacks, throw those soldiers that show up at him. Using a dashing kick also works, since he can't block that. If your blaster energy is full, press X to use a screen-clearing bomb that destroys all normal enemies on the screen and does a good amount of damage to the boss. This uses all your blaster energy, so be careful.
Stage 2
Remember, if you're surrounded by enemies, use the blaster. It slowly refills on its own as you beat up one enemy as a time, so use it when you need to. To use it, hold Up and press Y after the first two hits of a standing or crouching combo. This uses a little bit of your blaster energy, and while it can be quickly refilled, make sure not to get hit before then, or else you'll lose all that energy and you'll have to do a full recharge.
The blaster energy fills up quickly, but starts filling up more slowly when you near maximum capacity.
The kabuki guys take multiple hits, but they just stab at you like the soldier guys. Big whoop. Also, one of the taller soldier guys looks like Gordon Freeman, and he can pack a punch. I'm not kidding.
The robot in the middle of the stage either has to be thrown or have something thrown into it. Punches are ineffective. It also shoots a laser at the ground, so don't let it stand around doing nothing. If you can somehow get behind it, you'll be able to hit it with your combo from behind.
In the second section, you'll see blue variations of the red gun guys. They're the same as the red ones, they just take more damage. Also, wait for the rotor blades to stop spinning before you walk through them, otherwise you'll take a lot of damage.
The boss here is a guy with a shogun's helmet, cargo pants, an apron and a chainsaw. Be sure to duck whenever you can, and punch at him whenever you're in range. Throwing enemies into him and dashing kicks work too.
Stage 3
No sooner do you start the stage that you'll face a new enemy. He looks like Ken from Street Fighter, except he has spiky shoulder pads, he breathes fire and he can teleport. Fun. You'll also have to fight four kabuki guys at the same time at the end of this section.
In the second section, you'll face another huge dude (he's a new guy) and two more kabuki guys. If you throw the kabuki guys into the big guy, the big guy isn't much of a problem. You'll then face two clawed midgets followed by a red guy with a gun. Not much else here. Watch out with those big guys, as they can charge at you with a shoulder tackle, and even hit you with some strong punches.
As you make your way through the third section, you'll face guys in white suits that can throw and sweep kick you. Why in the world do they look like Neo from The Matrix? Why?!?
The boss is some sort of weird skeletal guy. He'll climb on the video wall and toss bombs at you, but if you stay right in front of him, they'll miss. Wait for the bombs to explode before coming after him. He also turns invisible for a short while, but thankfully you can still see him (kind of). Dashing kicks work best here, too, and they can get you closer for a throw.
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