Thursday, July 1, 2021

PrinceWatercress plays Ninja Gaiden Shadow - Part 2 of 5


Things get a little more interesting in Stage 2 as we see robotic enemies, conveyor belts and an interesting boss battle with a big guy-small guy dynamic that I haven't seen since Super Back to the Future Part II.

Stage 2


This stage introduces the mainstays of the Ninja Gaiden earlier than the NES games do. Most notably, you'll be dealing with flying robots that vertically track you, men with guns and cyborgs that send flames across the ground. You'll also see conveyor belts now and again, too.

The flames from the flamethrower men can go down walls, but not up them. Keep that in mind in case you're trying to approach them to destroy them. Also, the gunmen shoot three times and cannot duck, and you can duck under their bullets to avoid getting shot.

The flying mechs in the beginning of the second section will try to line themselves up with you and shoot a bullet at you. Thankfully, they're easy to get close to and destroy.

If you go back for the seemingly unreachable orb at the start of the second section of the stage, you'll get an extra life (just a circle with a picture of Ryu's head on it).

The men with the shields stop moving every so often to hold up their shields to protect themselves from harm. When they start moving again, they're completely vulnerable. If you turn around and get away a little bit, they will stop blocking early, and you can immediately turn around and slash them.

The boss here is some big guy (Gregory) with a tiny little midget that hangs off of him at first only to jump off and walk around (Jack). Strangely, I unintentionally get their names mixed up. You'd think Ryu would be able to squish the poor little guy with his foot, but apparently that's not the case.

Anyway, Gregory slowly moves across the floor and kicks at you as soon as you're in range. Jack, on the other hand, is slightly faster, has a really high jump and slows you down considerably when he gets a hold of you. At least this boss is not as bad as the Frankenstein-Fleaman combo from Castlevania that it's clearly based off of. If you see Gregory back away a little bit, back away so he doesn't kick you. 

You can use the platforms to your advantage and make a break for the other end of the room, but be careful as Gregory will know you're there and punch straight up if you stay up there while he's under you.

If Jack clings to your leg, keep jumping until you knock him off. He'll somersault away, leaving you free to actually do something. You can't kill him, sadly, so stay away from Gregory and focus all of your attacks on him.

Also, if Jack gets on Gregory's back, Gregory will do a charging attack that is fairly quick and covers almost the entire screen.

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