I feel like people forget just how influential the first Ninja Gaiden game was, its difficulty eclipsing its ambition.
It's not the first game from this era to put the story in the actual field instead of regulating it to supplementary materials, but it's one of the most notable outings on putting it up the forefront, having cutscenes play both before and during gameplay via interruptions, as well as one that plays out when waiting long enough on the main menu. Gorgeous spritework and art being contributed by a few people such as Masato Kato - yes, that Masato Kato - alongside impressive framing and direction, it's a great showing of how a game's story can be presented within the medium. The story itself is antiquated, sure, and I doubt people back then weren't too blown away by it, but the scale is nothin to scoff at all the same, especially since Hideo Yoshizawa goes on to pen and direct some of the Klonoa games.
The difficulty, however, overshadows this aspect nowadays, being one of the more infamous cases of "NES Hard" difficulty, which I don't think it really deserves... mostly. I will concede the last third or so, starting with Stage 5, is where my patience was being tested. A lot of enemies being thrown at you and requiring near-tight reflexes to dodge or hit lest you lose a life or bar of health, jumps and obstacles requiring near-pixel perfect positioning in order to land safely, it's kind of a mess and the more I went through it, the more I believed the people at Tecmo couldn't be able to properly playtest it. Nowhere is this more evident, though, than the trio gauntlet at the end, the first fight being hard to manage the enemy below as well as a shitton of fireballs being made from the orb you need to hit, the second fight being one of the most poorly designed bosses I've faced in a 2D game yet, and the third one... actually being kinda OK and easy to get a grasp of, surprisingly enough, though the attacks dealing three damage is a bit much. All of this, being compounded by the USA release forcing you to go all the way back at 6-1, instead of the Japan release sending you back to 6-3, so do what I did and play with the restoration patch (don't use the free movement option though, take it like a man/woman/enby/whatever you identify as).
But like I said, that's only the last third that angered me, the other two-thirds was actually pretty smooth sailing. If you have any experience with the Classicvania formula, you'll feel right at home; taking it easy and dealing with what's available now while getting a feel for the patterns, utilizing each subweapon you pick up as best you can and adapting to the situations on the fly, all that jazz. Difference being that, unlike Classicvania wanting you to play more methodically and commit to the actions, NG is faster and looser with what you're capable of, jumping much higher as well as controlling more freely compared to the Belmonts, Morrises, and Lecardes. Enemy encounters are also a bit more forgiving by comparison, the birds might take out three health points, but their arcs and range are predictable enough for a crouch attack, unlike the Medusa Heads (though this game also has a Fleaman equivalent to balance it out). As for the points about respawning enemies and wallgrab loops, again this becomes an actual issue in the last third, I find that just moving forward - which, well, you're supposed to be doing anyway - and ignoring any objects that could lead to hazards, and you'll do just fine. Even the rest of bosses aren't so bad, usually by either just being pathetic in general (Stage 1, 3, and 4) or having the "just tank the hits approach" be super lenient enough to abuse (Stage 2 and 5). It's not perfect at points, but it's still pretty overblown for the overall sequences regardless.
I'm much more willing to play Classicvanis (sans the supreme mid that is SCIV) or even Contra 1 and Super C, but NG1's still a pretty good time. I'd recommend checking it out anyway, solely cause its importance in gaming is very much something to behold over.
It's not the first game from this era to put the story in the actual field instead of regulating it to supplementary materials, but it's one of the most notable outings on putting it up the forefront, having cutscenes play both before and during gameplay via interruptions, as well as one that plays out when waiting long enough on the main menu. Gorgeous spritework and art being contributed by a few people such as Masato Kato - yes, that Masato Kato - alongside impressive framing and direction, it's a great showing of how a game's story can be presented within the medium. The story itself is antiquated, sure, and I doubt people back then weren't too blown away by it, but the scale is nothin to scoff at all the same, especially since Hideo Yoshizawa goes on to pen and direct some of the Klonoa games.
The difficulty, however, overshadows this aspect nowadays, being one of the more infamous cases of "NES Hard" difficulty, which I don't think it really deserves... mostly. I will concede the last third or so, starting with Stage 5, is where my patience was being tested. A lot of enemies being thrown at you and requiring near-tight reflexes to dodge or hit lest you lose a life or bar of health, jumps and obstacles requiring near-pixel perfect positioning in order to land safely, it's kind of a mess and the more I went through it, the more I believed the people at Tecmo couldn't be able to properly playtest it. Nowhere is this more evident, though, than the trio gauntlet at the end, the first fight being hard to manage the enemy below as well as a shitton of fireballs being made from the orb you need to hit, the second fight being one of the most poorly designed bosses I've faced in a 2D game yet, and the third one... actually being kinda OK and easy to get a grasp of, surprisingly enough, though the attacks dealing three damage is a bit much. All of this, being compounded by the USA release forcing you to go all the way back at 6-1, instead of the Japan release sending you back to 6-3, so do what I did and play with the restoration patch (don't use the free movement option though, take it like a man/woman/enby/whatever you identify as).
But like I said, that's only the last third that angered me, the other two-thirds was actually pretty smooth sailing. If you have any experience with the Classicvania formula, you'll feel right at home; taking it easy and dealing with what's available now while getting a feel for the patterns, utilizing each subweapon you pick up as best you can and adapting to the situations on the fly, all that jazz. Difference being that, unlike Classicvania wanting you to play more methodically and commit to the actions, NG is faster and looser with what you're capable of, jumping much higher as well as controlling more freely compared to the Belmonts, Morrises, and Lecardes. Enemy encounters are also a bit more forgiving by comparison, the birds might take out three health points, but their arcs and range are predictable enough for a crouch attack, unlike the Medusa Heads (though this game also has a Fleaman equivalent to balance it out). As for the points about respawning enemies and wallgrab loops, again this becomes an actual issue in the last third, I find that just moving forward - which, well, you're supposed to be doing anyway - and ignoring any objects that could lead to hazards, and you'll do just fine. Even the rest of bosses aren't so bad, usually by either just being pathetic in general (Stage 1, 3, and 4) or having the "just tank the hits approach" be super lenient enough to abuse (Stage 2 and 5). It's not perfect at points, but it's still pretty overblown for the overall sequences regardless.
I'm much more willing to play Classicvanis (sans the supreme mid that is SCIV) or even Contra 1 and Super C, but NG1's still a pretty good time. I'd recommend checking it out anyway, solely cause its importance in gaming is very much something to behold over.
C_F
1 year ago