Ninja Gaiden (2004) Walkthrough - Part 1 (No Commentary)

Описание: March 2nd was the 20th anniversary of this game, so what better time than now to play it! ...Nearly three months late, but ignore that.

Ninja Gaiden on Xbox still stands as THE best video game reboot ever. It took the core ideals of the classic series from the arcade and NES and brought them into modern day (for 2004 anyway) without compromise as well as adding in new concepts that fit the series like a glove. The interconnected world and in-depth fighting system remain some of the most fun gameplay even two decades later, and the game would later be rereleased the following year with a huge update in Ninja Gaiden Black, as well as a remake in 2007 titled Ninja Gaiden Sigma (which I personally don't care for but that's not the point). I've been playing this game to Hell and back for the past like... I don't know 4ish months or so, and figured why not record the game while I'm at it. This part covers the first two chapters of the game.

This playthrough will be covering the original release of the game, and was recorded on Xbox 360 since it's backwards compatible there. Confusingly, NGB is backwards compatible on Xbox One and Series X/S as well but not the original version so this is the best quality I could get for it visually. Unfortunately some of the FMV cutscenes seem to also suffer from stuttering in some places, which was common on OG Xbox games being played on 360. There may also be some other minor visual bugs later, but most of the game is fine as far as I can tell. Why this release instead of Ninja Gaiden Black, the definitive version of the game? Because this is the one that just turned 20, as well as I intend to cover the rereleases later (same with DMC whenever I get to the rest of those).

Now what to expect from this playthrough. I don't super understand the game's ranking system yet, so I make no guarantees as to what rank I get. I also WILL be getting all the upgrades (except for one Spirit of Devils, as NGB changed one of their locations and there is no guide for 2004 NG so I have no clue where it is) and all the Golden Scarabs as well as showing how to get Ninja Gaiden II: Dark Sword of Chaos and Ninja Gaiden III: the Ancient Ship of Doom for the classic SNES trilogy that you can unlock. In this part I also show Murai's first lesson on how to use the Ultimate Technique since Black and Sigma cut these for some reason.

As of the time of writing I have the first five chapters recorded and the first four edited so hopefully this won't take too long to get out. I'm kinda pressed for time due to IRL stuff so that should at least help to hopefully avoid another DMC wait months between releases or outright cancellation like Bayo 2 (I'll get back to it someday, I swear), but if there's any gaps it might be a bit before I can continue it just as a heads up.

Anyway, all that said hope you all have a good one!

==( TIMESTAMPS )==
00:00 Title screen and intro cutscenes
02:08 Chapter 1 - Way of the Ninja
11:35 Master Murai Cutscene
12:04 Boss Fight: Master Murai
12:50 Chapter 1 ending cutscene
14:24 Chapter 1 ranking
14:42 Chapter 2 - The Hayabusa Village
14:55 Murai's Lessons: Ultimate Technique
15:54 Chapter 2 - The Hayabusa Village (continued)
23:57 Samurai Horsemen cutscene
24:02 Mini-Boss Fight: Samurai Horsemen
26:25 Chapter 2 - The Hayabusa Village (continued)
27:43 Masakado cutscene
27:53 Boss Fight: Masakado
29:40 Chapter 2 - The Hayabusa Village (continued)
29:54 Chapter 2 ending cutscene
32:00 Chapter 2 ranking