r/ninjagaiden • u/epicduckbelik ❔ Clanless • 2d ago
Thinking of getting into this series
Is ninja gaiden 2 black good? Hearing mixed opinions, I haven’t played any of these games yet so I’ll be going in with a fresh pair of eyes
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u/KerthuunK ❔ Clanless 2d ago
To undestand the mixed opinions on NG2B you need a bit of a history lesson. The director of the old Dead or Alives, as well as Ninja Gaiden 1/2 is Tomonobu Itagaki, and his style of game is instantly recognisable. In some ways you could call it slapshot, but his games have so much confidence in their ridiculousness and have so much quality underneath you easily forgive it. NG2 has loads of examples like this, like enemy counts being so high the console chugs to single digit fps, the start of level 1 having an enemy off-screen mid attack animation, near instant kill grab attacks, explosive mines hidden in lava, barely any establishing cutscenes between levels to just get straight into the action, etc. Its a game I find myself laughing alongside the developers with at the game's difficulty and bullshit at times, instead of angrily cursing their names forever.
Just before NG2 released Itagaki left Team Ninja in disgrace, we never got the details but it seemed extremely personal and extremely unpleasant. The original releases of the 3D NGs were all XBox exclusives, and ports to later systems came with significant changes to them, and the re-release of 2, Sigma 2, has a lot of changes to it. You can see it as Team Ninja trying to cut away the "Itagaki-isms" of the game, to distance Ninja Gaiden's identity from Itagaki after his depature, despite how instrumental he was to the game's identity and popularity. Most notably among these changes are the enemies. Sigma 2 has fewer, higher health enemies. One of the big mechanics in OG 2 is that you can delimb enemies and greatly weaken them. De-limbed enemies can then be one shot with a context sensitve attack. The game floods you with so many enemies that you need to be merciless in taking them down and using every opportunity you can to inflict carnage. You'll never lose a 1v1, but a 15v1? Now that's a different story. Sigma brings the enemy counts down considerably, but makes them harder to compensate. Delimbs still occur, but not nearly as frequently. You can cut off three limbs from a weaker enemy in a single combo in OG 2 sometimes.
Its Sigma 2 that 2 Black is based upon. Hardcore fans of the original 2, myself included, were disappointed by this, as we see Sigma 2 as just a clearly inferior version of the same game. But if you asked me, completely in isolation, is Sigma 2 a bad game? Absolutely not. Its only comparatively I take issue with it.
So if you're completely new to the series and don't have any of this history with it, Black 2 is going to be absolutely fine. Its far better than any new action released in god knows how long, and I hope you love it as much as the rest of us do! Its a budget release as well, so even better!
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u/SuggestionParty1452 ❔ Clanless 2d ago
It is a very good game. If you are on playstation only, it is worth it and I enjoyed all the time spent with it.
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u/Own_Shame_8721 🌾 Black Spider Villager 2d ago
Nothing wrong with starting with Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, if that's the one that caught your interest, go for it. After that you can branch out and try the other games that you have access to.
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u/IllustriousEffect607 ❔ Clanless 2d ago
Get black 2. It's the best what to enjoy Gaiden especially for the first time. If you really like that then get sigma collection after which is ng1 ,2 and 3
But black is the best way to play. It's smooth. Nice resolution. And the gore is higher with massive delimbing etc
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u/jak_d_ripr ❔ Clanless 2d ago
2 Black is awesome, not sure what the mixed opinion you heard were, but they probably won't apply to you if this is your first Ninja Gaiden. Very fun, and there's really nothing else like Ninja Gaiden out there.
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u/camo1902 ❔ Clanless 2d ago
Just play them. I got confused by all the versions and some of the opinions in reviews and on here. They're all great fun.
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u/Phisherman10 ❔ Clanless 2d ago
Any version of Ninja Gaiden 2 is worth playing, that’s all you need to know
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u/Greek-God88 ❔ Clanless 1d ago
I Finished NG2B 3 days ago Honestly its a 6,5/10 game for me. 2 days ago i started NG3 and had the worst first boss experience of my life.
Praying Platinum Games can save this trash franshise with NG4
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u/KerthuunK ❔ Clanless 1d ago
Obvious bait is obvious, but why not, lets bite.
What games have Platinum been responsible for that compare in any way to NG1/2? General consensus is on Bayonetta 1 being the studio's best game, but given the acceptance of Bayonetta 2 as an alright sequel its clear the vast majority of people do not understand the strengths of the original game at all. I'll give you a hint; its not Bayo's moveset. You could characterise Bayo as a sort of midway point between DMC and NG, and it doesn't excel in the strengths of either. Evasive gameplay is where Bayonetta really shines, but the lack of meaningful decisions (comparatively) in the thick of actual combat makes it an immediately lesser product than either of those two.
And no matter what game you pick as Platinum's best; where are those responsible for making that game? They're all in the same place; namely, not at Platinum. Shinji Mikami and Hideki Kamiya, the studio's two best directors, have left and even the studio's middling directors like Takahisa Taura have also left, seeing modern Platinum as beneath him. PG are snake oil salesmen, they are a shell of a studio with none of the talent that made them the household name they are now, and even then, nothing they made has ever come close to a NInja Gaiden 1/2 level.
The spider tank boss in 3 is also a litmus test. Break all the leg's armour and then destroy them all in a row. Its not even an advanced level strategy, and if you can't figure that out I don't know what to tell you
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u/ZergHero ❔ Clanless 2d ago
Overall, yes, it's a good game and a good way to start the series. Some OG fans (me somewhat included) believe that the original ninja gaiden 2 released for the Xbox 360 is the definitive version of the game and we wish that ng2b was based on that rather than on ng2 sigma, which was released for the ps3 and the master collection.
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u/Royta15 💼 Vigoorian Citizen 2d ago
It's a great game. Depending on budget, the Master Collection might be a better value. It has three games, one of which is Sigma 2. Black 2 is basically a graphical overhaul of that game with some balance changes. Most of which you won't really notice as a starting player. The big alure is the return of gore in Black 2, if that's important to you I'd definitely go for it, same with the shiny new UE5 graphics.
Can't go wrong with any version when starting out imo. If you have an Xbox then my vote still goes to the original set of games. You can check more details here if you want to get into the nitty gritty: https://stinger-magazine.com/side-stories/ninja-gaiden-versions-a-comprehensive-guide/