Ninja Ryuukenden(PC-Engine) Vs. Ninja Gaiden(NES)

[exodus]

The PCE version does have some advantages - for one, explosions don't cut off the music.For another, massively more colors and better animation across the board.

But it doesn't control quite as nicely, and that's the main reason it will probably always feel inferior.

[Keith Courage]

Most people here must be saying the NES version is better due to nostalgia. I played neither one growing up and have to say the pce version is far better in my opinion. The graphics and colors looks so much better and the audio over all is much better quality wise regardless of which music tracks are included vs the nes.

[seieienbu]

I grew up playing the NES one but was never able to beat it.  I seem to recall getting to the second to final boss but never being able to win.  I beat the second and third games multiple times.  I played through the PCE version back in December and beat it without too much of a hassle.  I died a few times, sure, but I don't think it even took me 2 hours to get all the way through.

I think that I like the PC Engine version more but without playing the NES version recently I can't really be certain.  Either way, I like both of the sequels more than the original.

[esteban]

Most people here must be saying the NES version is better due to nostalgia. I played neither one growing up and have to say the pce version is far better in my opinion. The graphics and colors looks so much better and the audio over all is much better quality wise regardless of which music tracks are included vs the nes.

You crazy.

But I still love you.

The NES version is better.

Yup, warts and all, it is the better version.

I am sorry, but folks who prefer the PCE version have not *thoroughly* played the NES version.

[Magister]

I grew up playing the NES one but was never able to beat it.  I seem to recall getting to the second to final boss but never being able to win.  I beat the second and third games multiple times.  I played through the PCE version back in December and beat it without too much of a hassle.  I died a few times, sure, but I don't think it even took me 2 hours to get all the way through.

I think that I like the PC Engine version more but without playing the NES version recently I can't really be certain.  Either way, I like both of the sequels more than the original.

How the hell can you beat the Third game but not the First one?  The third one is a bitch.  Limited to only three continues makes it even more of a bitch.  Did I mention that game is a bitch?

[TR0N]

I grew up playing the NES one but was never able to beat it.  I seem to recall getting to the second to final boss but never being able to win.  I beat the second and third games multiple times.  I played through the PCE version back in December and beat it without too much of a hassle.  I died a few times, sure, but I don't think it even took me 2 hours to get all the way through.

I think that I like the PC Engine version more but without playing the NES version recently I can't really be certain.  Either way, I like both of the sequels more than the original.

How the hell can you beat the Third game but not the First one?  The third one is a bitch.  Limited to only three continues makes it even more of a bitch.  Did I mention that game is a bitch?

NES version of NG3 is gimped but the famicom version is easier.

[exodus]

I didn't play the NES version - I played both later in life and found the control and feel of the NES version to be much better. and for a PCE game, the port is pretty underwhelming!

[seieienbu]

How the hell can you beat the Third game but not the First one?  The third one is a bitch.  Limited to only three continues makes it even more of a bitch.  Did I mention that game is a bitch?

First and foremost, I haven't played the third Ninja Gaiden in some time.  The last time I played it I recall beating it.  Either way, my recollections may be a bit hazy so take this with some salt.

The part in the final stage of the first Ninja Gaiden there is a section where there are jetpack ninjas, sword throwing lepers, and eagles swooping at you as you are forced to navigate small platforms; this sequence is harder than anything in either the second or third game.  There are a few analogs to this sequence in the third game, but they generally involve small moving platforms.  The fact that you can hang underneath the moving platforms in NG3 means you don't even have to worry about getting knocked off platforms very often.  I recall a segment in the third stage where this is not the case but the game kindly gives you a firewheel immediately before you have to do some technical platforming.  Unlike the first game, most of my deaths in the third seem to be from actually taking too many hits.

Beyond that, the third game plays a good deal slower than the first two letting you have more time to react to enemies.  Combine that with a sword that hits both high and low at the same time and it's a lot easier to hit things that fly around.  You don't have anything as fast as the eagles in the first or the bats in the second game to contend with as you are heading forward (the cyber-wasps or whatever are a good deal slower).  Not only does this make it easier to react to your enemies, but you also get to move forward more before you actually have to deal with anything.  This problem tends to compound itself in the first game due to enemies respawning forever as when you kill an enemy at the point where it spawns it will continue to respawn forever; the third game was nice enough to remove this feature.

Yes, you only have what, 3 continues in NG3?  Well, I used a lot more than 3 continues when playing through the easy version of the first game when I played through it back in December.  I played the second one right afterward and beat it without using any continues but that's really neither here nor there.  I think the second game is the easiest of the three from the NES.

[Gentlegamer]

But the PCE version of Ninja Gaiden is a good example of how irrationally people come up with any reason that a perceived rival game isn't the same as good. It's brings out the same kind of reasoning that console war fans use.

Dude, you do this same crap about Nintendo games, particularly any SNES game someone likes.

[fragmare]

I'm fine with how PCE Ninja Gaiden controls, seems ok to me... running, jumping slashing all feel spot on.  What DOESN'T feel spot-on, is the slightly different hit box and reduced hit-recovery time.... couple that with the game's knockback, and that really makes a game like Ninja Gaiden all the more BRUTAL and frustrating.  The choppy scrolling was definitely a "wtf??" moment, but I can get past that.  One thing that's always bothered me about the PCE Ninja Gaiden is why the HELL is your sword a brown-ish color?!  As a pixel artist, i can tell you that if you want to make something look like metal/steel, your best bet is either flat gray with strong contrast or nearly-flat gray tinged ever so slightly blue... not brown.  his sword looks rusty, it's like some kind of programmer inside-joke haha

[Michirin9801]

I've played both versions not far apart from each other, I like them both, but I think each version has its own advantages, to me the graphics on the PC engine are FAR superior in pretty much every way, more colour, more detail, better animation, you know the gist, and I also found the PCE version to be considerably easier, which I find to be a good thing considering how brutal the NES version is...
But the NES version I found to be a little more responsive in the controls and I like the music better on the NES, the PCE music isn't bad at all, but I think the instrumentation could have been better, but the compositions on the NES I found to be just that much better!
Also, about the choppy parallax scrolling on the PCE, it gets better in the later stages, in the first stage it's really jarring, but in the 3rd and 4th stages it's passable... I'd have preferred no parallax scrolling, or at least a smoother scrolling in spots, even if the backgrounds looked more repetitive...

Neither is that good.  Ninja Gaiden 2 is better, lol.

Agreed, Ninja Gaiden 2 fixes a lot of the problems of the original, and because of that it's a lot better and more fun, also, it's the only game in the series I've beaten...

[Dicer]

Whatever happened to the rom hack attempt to just kill the awful scrolling all together? That fix alone would be monumental to improving the game.

[Arkhan]

Whatever happened to the rom hack attempt to just kill the awful scrolling all together? That fix alone would be monumental to improving the game.

I think everyone really over-exaggerates the scrolling's impact on the game.

It's in what, 3 levels, for a little bit?  It doesn't cause slowdown, or have any impact on the gameplay.

lol

[TheClash603]

Whatever happened to the rom hack attempt to just kill the awful scrolling all together? That fix alone would be monumental to improving the game.

I think everyone really over-exaggerates the scrolling's impact on the game.

It's in what, 3 levels, for a little bit?  It doesn't cause slowdown, or have any impact on the gameplay.

lol

I agree.  I played through this game once and it is my only experience with the PC-E game, but I don't recall anything too awful while I played.

[Bonknuts]

Whatever happened to the rom hack attempt to just kill the awful scrolling all together? That fix alone would be monumental to improving the game.

Too much else that I didn't like of the PCE game, that fixing the background wasn't enough for me. That's what happened. When you have super limited time, and there are a lot of things you want to do - some things have to get cut. I would have liked to have completed the hack, but the ratio of enjoyment/fulfillment to time spent from a limited pool, pretty much made it a no go for me. Someone else is free to take up the task, though.