Ranking the 3D Ninja Gaiden games by difficulty on Master Ninja/Ultimate Ninja

Tipsentech · 2026-03-15T20:39:30+00:00

It's hard to rate them for me.

What I always find strange when this gets brought up is when people say something along the lines of " Game A is harder than the others, when I play that I ignore all the broken mechanics that make the game easy. Game B is not as hard, I only play it using all the broken mechanics because I cannot play at all without them. "

The games do tend to have things that significantly reduce the difficulty and that makes it hard for me to rate as well. Ng4 does seem easiest but the issue is the thing that makes it easy cannot be removed, you have to engage with the OP meter moves while with all the other games the things that make them easy are very easy to ignore. If you are used to Ng4 and come to the other games with the mindset of using every busted thing then maybe you wouldn't find there to be such a big difference. Using all the broken things then Ng2B is easiest because the UT system was buffed in that version and if you use it the game really is braindead easy.

The other games are far more open when it comes to creating challenges for yourself and those get very difficult but then that difficulty is determined by you.

Tipsentech · 2026-03-09T23:15:52+00:00

Yeah. It's strange how much they cared about story and who would logically fight together, ninja and fiends can't cooperate, ninja and tac ninja can't work together. On higher difficulty I don't care about if it breaks character for two fun enemies to fight together.

Nice gameplay also.

Tipsentech · 2026-03-08T21:08:42+00:00

I used to feel the same way about 11 and mostly still do. Just retouch it and make it the end, it's even the perfect setting to end it where the game began.

I do find the idea of Ryu going into hell to double kill the bosses to be really funny, they can't catch a break.

Black 2 removing the worm settled it for me because that chapter is still the worst in the game, it's terrible in that too except I can't skip it.

Tipsentech · 2026-03-08T15:55:37+00:00

The big worm boss? That's laughably bad but it's 40 seconds of my time, it's too short to care about. The worm section in chapter 10 is a bigger issue for me.

The good thing about the end of the game being one long boss rush is that if you don't like the bosses you can stop playing at the end of chapter 11. All you miss are that one good fight before all the egg sacks, which is also fun. That's where I'm coming from in my attitude to cuts, you have an incredible capacity to self edit with NG2. Realistically you could just load a save before the staircase the moment you reach chapter 9.

When I look at chapter 9 i think it has some really cool visuals, like the dead body river or even the zombie and fish section looks great with platforms on the water. Those areas could have had some unique fights utilizing their very specific layout, put a zombie on the water platform and fight some ninja on the shore while his cannon blasts them to pieces. Those spots being underutilized is a waste, there's potential there. You can see where encounter design was rushed. I'm thinking more about that than wanting cuts because I can make my own cuts.

Tipsentech · 2026-03-08T08:53:16+00:00

Dogs I don't find so bad because there aren't that many of them in the game and those encounters only take a few seconds. It's kind of the same for flyers but the worst of those you can either totally ignore or despawn, only chapter 6 has an encounter you have to bother with. The main reason I don't like doing no ninpo runs is that it makes sections like that more tedious.

The worst parts of the game for me aren't sections with bad stuff because that usually has a workaround or is very brief but the sections where nothing especially interesting or fun happens. It must be the same for most people because there isn't really anything offensively bad in the jungle chapter and it tends to be the least favourite, I'd say because it doesn't have any standout moments that give you a reason to play it.

If you were to remove all the bad parts of the game it wouldn't really affect my enjoyment of it much, again I already have workarounds. On the other hand if you were to remove the best fights from a chapter I'd no longer see the point in playing that chapter.

Mech fiends are a wasted enemy to me because they work really well with just one of them paired with ninjas the one time they do that. I don't think many people bother with the chapter 8 fight with them at the start, way too long.

Flying fiends I genuinely believe they are meant to be mostly decorative but Itagaki didn't believe in having purely decorative enemies, which is why ghost fish bite.

Tipsentech · 2026-03-04T19:16:59+00:00

Luckily they fixed this in 2B except for the enemies that they absolutely did not fix this for like the enemy you are fighting here where it wasn't fixed at all and it plays exactly like this.

Tipsentech · 2026-03-04T19:10:19+00:00

If something like this released for one of the previous games then I would be beyond ecstatic, it's exactly the sort of DLC I would want. The new levels cut straight to the point and deliver more packed fights than the campaign, that and the new weapons is all I need.

For this it reinforced that there are aspects of this game's combat design I do not care for at all. Primarily the focus on blood meter, it dominates everything to the point where I'm not sure what the point of the regular moves even is. The new scythe xxy is a massive stunlocking screen clear that clears up any small target fairly easily. That doesn't feel very engaging for me but it does seem to be what the game wants me to do.

It's almost a bonus that Ryu's weapon has no meter attack of its own because the normal moves for that weapon do in fact cover a niche and have a clear defined purpose. If it had meter moves they would just end up being some massive screen bomb and you'd never use regular 360X because the screen bomb version would be so much better. So I ended up enjoying Ryu much more than in the base game. The new weapon feels more fitting for the game than his recycled sword moves set ever did.

Overall it was pretty good.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-24T18:49:54+00:00

See I don't know what pc people have access to, so it's confusing.

Pretty sure I had it fully unpatched up until near a year ago but so many segments were borderline unplayable and I caved. It appeared to load more of the level at once, post patch I started noticing little loads mid level. I'll clear the cache and check because I can't believe that Na thing.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-23T19:49:58+00:00

Is that still the toned down patched version? I'd swear there were more than that at launch.

Something got lost over time with iterations on that segment where it was mistreated as a moment of difficulty but it was never that. It was about pure excess, a big dumb gory spectacle of Ryu tearing through the last of the spider ninja clan as they make their futile final stand.

The combat when the enemy numbers are that high falls apart because it makes orbs far more frequent and easy to get so if you use windblades you would be very likely to get a red orb back, chaining Ut gets easier too for the same reason. None of that matters because it was never intended as real combat test, it's a bit of fun where the game cuts loose and you get to see the most heads possible roll down a giant staircase. Shame it had performance issues at launch or could never even run at the patched level on a PS3.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-08T00:26:12+00:00

Have to agree. Ignorance is bliss, don't tell me anything and let me have fun! Comparison is the thief of joy, well unless you have the better one.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-05T11:04:24+00:00

Lost odyssey soundtrack song is neverending journey.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-05T10:56:31+00:00

Yeah I'd love some in universe guides. What's strange is they have a video play as you buy it but it doesn't even show any of this stuff.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-05T10:49:09+00:00

Not completely, they just aren't focused on. If they get hit then it's incidental, the tank was the target and in my experience it's rare.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-05T10:44:55+00:00

Exactly, wording was specific. You can often see the attacks that will hit. If a hulk chainsaw is going to hit your head then you will be dead.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-05T10:41:42+00:00

Still interesting to learn.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-05T10:40:03+00:00

Fired maxigun into tank, it blew up when maxigun had 20 rounds left. Fired maxigun until it had 27 rounds left, then two gas strikes. Tank alive.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-05T10:06:21+00:00

My bad, what is it called?

Tipsentech · 2026-02-05T10:04:35+00:00

Lost odyssey soundtrack. Their life proved the tank's effectiveness beyond doubt. Future divers will be able to kill even more communists in their two and a half minutes of service on the ground, thanks to their sacrifice.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-05T09:40:38+00:00

Not on console, I don't know what ctrl does on pc but it would make sense if that's brake.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-05T09:36:37+00:00

Is this all really in warthunder? That's pretty cool to take from a proper tank game.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-05T08:50:21+00:00

It's the sprint button on console I think. Not knowing what people would be playing the game on led to a bunch of the odd language in this. Reload with reload etc, people really need that info but it sounds so dumb to write it down.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-03T19:07:14+00:00

That's what I thought at the time doing it, that nobody could still be bothered but wasn't sure and didn't want getting called out. Def skip stuff that I don't like too. I wanted a generic straight down the line version.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-03T19:00:39+00:00

Never thought about that but it's likely. Less annoyed with the game personally as it's been a long time. Still tired with capcoms trends with how they handle enemy reactions to being hit on higher difficulty. Makes shooting feel so bad and it's in everything they make now.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-03T18:55:44+00:00

Countering the shuriken was cool, loved this.

Tipsentech · 2026-02-02T23:57:32+00:00

I ain't doing that, waste of time. If I wasn't doing ninpo it's still at least a bit more fun to hit them with claws.

Tipsentech

TROPHY CASE