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Retro Game of the Day! Ninja Gaiden 2 - The Dark Sword of Chaos
Retro Game of the Day is a daily look back at some of the games we loved (or, not so much) during the formative years. Today's entry is Ninja Gaiden 2 - The Dark Sword of Chaos for the NES, a beloved 8-Bit classic by Tecmo.
Retro Game of the Day! Ninja Gaiden 2 - The Dark Sword of Chaos
Ninja Gaiden 2 - The Dark Sword of Chaos by Tecmo, released 1990 for NES. Yes, these were the games that defined who the gamers were!
The first Ninja Gaiden 8-Bit NES game showed up out of nowhere and took everyone by surprise. Tecmo was hardly as respected or known as the likes of Konami or Capcom in those days, yet here they blasted out of left field with this high-quality madness. The first Ninja Gaiden was an iconic instant classic, up there with the likes of Metroid, Bionic Commando, and Castlevania. So when a sequel to this masterpiece was announced, you can bet some eyebrows were raised.
Showing up the year following the original installment, screens of Ninja Gaiden 2 promised to deliver more of the same - lots of jumping, lots of climbing, lots of slashing, lots of "cinema display" dramatic cutscenes. Even during those early peeks of the game, it looked like it was going to be a more polished, refined experience than it's rough-around-the-edges predecessor.
And that was exactly how the new game felt, when one finally did get their mitts on it. The game felt like it was built from the same skeleton as the first - this was actually not too commonplace back in the day - and yet everything was smoother, the graphics were hotter, the levels were less frustrating to navigate (well, for the most part!)
The big deal in this game were your "shadow body" powerups which could be obtained, as the name implies they'd mimic your movements ("options" in many shooter games were the norm, why not in ninja games as well?) and effectively double your firepower. You slash, they slash; you shoot fireballs, they perform accordingly. A neat idea, though one which failed to impress much once you got into the meat of the game. But that's alright, Ninja Gaiden games never really needed little gimmicks like that to prove their worth.
This came out shortly after the introduction of 16-Bit consoles into the consumer marketplace, even then it still commanded a high degree of interest and anticipation. Such was the legacy of the first one. Revenge of Shinobi had been available for Sega Genesis was "the next level" of these types of games and had been out for awhile, and it was high on my list - yet Ninja Gaiden 2 running on the measly 8-Bit unit could still go toe-to-toe with that title, both in looks and gameplay.