Ninja Gaiden Sigma as part of the NINJA GAIDEN: Master Collection on the Nintendo Switch.
If I remember correctly, NINJA GAIDEN was first released back in 2004 then ported with extra content and graphical improvements and thus NINJA GAIDEN SIGMA. I think I first tried to play this on the Xbox 360, I think under the name of Ninja Gaiden Black. Kind of confusing, but same game. If you are familiar with this series, you’ll know that these games are tough! I don’t think I made it any farther than maybe the first 2 chapters before rage-quitting.
Then, this Master collection was announced, with a Nintendo Switch version, so I knew I wanted this collection on the go. I was still afraid that the game would still be difficult, and I would — again — rage-quit it.
I was watching a couple of YouTube reviews videos to see how the games would hold up and if any changes in the difficulty were made. I cannot with a hundred percent certainty say that the difficulty has been toned down for sure, but it is something that got mentioned. Moreover, they added this new HERO difficulty mode. In this mode, as you’re nearly dead, Ryu would auto-block and dodge, and you can use Nimpo as much as you want. You do have quite some time to fight your way around before you’re dead, dead. This made boss battles doable and the entire game much more approachable. The challenge is still there, but it is a wee bit more forgiving in a way.
This is how I managed to beat the game, finally, for the first time. The game holds up pretty well, besides some control mechanics and camera annoyances it is a fun game. Bosses are ridiculous and over the top, some don’t even make sense but who cares, and dashing and slicing! Female characters are over visually over sexualized, no surprise there, but it can be off-putting.
The game was about 10 hours to beat, for me, it never felt like it was dragging too much. There were times I got stuck trying to figure out what to do as the game doesn’t hold your hand like other games do, I am spoiled by modern games, I guess. But I had a good time.
If you’ve never played the series, give this Master Collection a try, I think with the new difficulty setting it is, like I’ve said before, more approachable for newcomers.
If you have ever played any of the Devil May Cry games, this will be familiar to you.
