Ninja Gaiden II is a sequel like any other NES Mega Man sequel, in the sense that it doesn't innovate in practically nothing and the only thing it does is to have better graphics and new powers, however, something that makes it totally superior to the first one is that the level design is better.
Although there really isn't much to talk about since my first paragraph sums it all up very well, I'll talk about this game in detail anyway.
For starters, let's talk about the story. The intro is great and the background music raises the hype a bit. But in general, the story of Ninja Gaiden II is just as good as the previous title in the way it is told and how it tries to emulate a movie, however, I think that also plays against it a bit, as it feels like they are trying to repeat the story of the previous game instead of presenting something new. Also, I'm not sure, but I liked the pixel art portraits of the first Ninja Gaiden better.
The levels, are very good, especially because now the positioning of the enemies and that of the platforms make Ninja Gaiden 2 a more balanced and reasonable experience, plus the addition of the shadow clones and that now you can climb on any wall and not only those with stairs, there is even what I call "bounties with trap", I mean, there are objects that are obtained in a very difficult way, but that often are not worth it, so yes, many times it is more convenient not to try to destroy all the lamps and see what they drop, sometimes it is better to ignore. On the other hand, perhaps something that could be considered bad is that this game is not very friendly to beginners, as it expects you to know how to play Ninja Gaiden beforehand, or that's how I perceived it, because from the first levels the difficulty is somewhat demanding, but if you are familiar with controlling Ryu it won't be much of a problem. I liked how some levels implemented some gimmicks, and it's something that makes this game never feel too repetitive and makes the levels more notable and distinguishable from each other.
Conclusion
I think it's too ironic to say this, but Ninja Gaiden II is one of the best platformers for the NES, and the only thing it had to do different from the first one was to have better level design, since from the first Ninja Gaiden the good gameplay was already there.
I can see myself replaying this game possibly in the future as it was an enjoyable experience, well, only until just before you get to the final boss fight, as it's too difficult for my liking and I would recommend avoiding it. But outside of that, the other 95% of the game is genuinely one of the best NES platformers due to how frantically paced the game is and how great it plays, I mean, very few NES games accomplish this.
Although there really isn't much to talk about since my first paragraph sums it all up very well, I'll talk about this game in detail anyway.
For starters, let's talk about the story. The intro is great and the background music raises the hype a bit. But in general, the story of Ninja Gaiden II is just as good as the previous title in the way it is told and how it tries to emulate a movie, however, I think that also plays against it a bit, as it feels like they are trying to repeat the story of the previous game instead of presenting something new. Also, I'm not sure, but I liked the pixel art portraits of the first Ninja Gaiden better.
The levels, are very good, especially because now the positioning of the enemies and that of the platforms make Ninja Gaiden 2 a more balanced and reasonable experience, plus the addition of the shadow clones and that now you can climb on any wall and not only those with stairs, there is even what I call "bounties with trap", I mean, there are objects that are obtained in a very difficult way, but that often are not worth it, so yes, many times it is more convenient not to try to destroy all the lamps and see what they drop, sometimes it is better to ignore. On the other hand, perhaps something that could be considered bad is that this game is not very friendly to beginners, as it expects you to know how to play Ninja Gaiden beforehand, or that's how I perceived it, because from the first levels the difficulty is somewhat demanding, but if you are familiar with controlling Ryu it won't be much of a problem. I liked how some levels implemented some gimmicks, and it's something that makes this game never feel too repetitive and makes the levels more notable and distinguishable from each other.
Conclusion
I think it's too ironic to say this, but Ninja Gaiden II is one of the best platformers for the NES, and the only thing it had to do different from the first one was to have better level design, since from the first Ninja Gaiden the good gameplay was already there.
I can see myself replaying this game possibly in the future as it was an enjoyable experience, well, only until just before you get to the final boss fight, as it's too difficult for my liking and I would recommend avoiding it. But outside of that, the other 95% of the game is genuinely one of the best NES platformers due to how frantically paced the game is and how great it plays, I mean, very few NES games accomplish this.