I certainly have some history with Ninja Gaiden. Had it as a kid, never got through act 5. I remember getting frustrated with the game, but never to the point of rage inducement. Gave it a casual shot once or twice in high school, but ended up packing it up along with the rest of my games before heading off to college.
Fast forward to the summer after college graduation. I took some time off that summer before starting real life, and ended up staying with one of my college buddies in Boston for a few weeks. Around the beginning of the second week, I got an itch to start beating some of those NES games that I was never able to master. I booted up an emulator, but it didn't quite do it for me. So I ended up venturing out to a local retro store and picked up a Toploader, two controllers, Contra, TMNT3, and Ninja Gaiden.
I ended up getting the hang of Contra to the point where I could beat it without the Konami code. My buddy and I played a decent amount of TMNT3 - don't think we ended up finishing it. But Ninja Gaiden was the highlight of the bunch. It was at the very top of my list of games I wanted to beat from my childhood, and seeing as my buddy was at work during the day, I had all the time in the world to get it done. Threw it in, booted it up, and rolled through the first few acts. I was stoked - I remember it being so hard as a kid. Maybe I just sucked at video games back then, and it really wasn't as challenging as I thought. I had some minor difficulty with act 5, but ended up making it into act 6 for the first time.
Then the rage came.
To this day, I can't recall another moment where I've yelled at the top of my lungs at a video game (or anything, really), specifically at pixelated birds. I've never thrown a controller in my life, but it almost happened on multiple occasions (once again, at the birds). To top that, I felt like I was going insane during certain points of the last act. I would get my routine down PERFECTLY for most of the level, then make a minor error and die. Nail the same routine, small error, dead. Run routine, screw up at an easy part. Start again. But I got through it. Of course, I can't put into words the amount of hatred that spewed out of me when I died at the second to last boss on 6-5 and had to start THE ENTIRE ACT OVER.
But several hours (and beers) later, I ended up beating it. And all was well in the world. To be honest, that week of reliving those NES titles from my childhood definitely got me started into this hobby. I still love the game, and have ran through it a few more times since then. But I'll never have any love for those damn birds.
This is an all-time epic post. Love it. I can totally relate to it, so your post resonates with me a lot. I too took some time off right after I graduated in June 2006. That was a fond time for me because I know exactly what you mean. January-June 2006 I bought 400+ SNES games, with a serious childhood itch to scratch. So many old favorites to replay and new ones waiting to be explored. I took the next semester off before starting grad school, so June 2006-January 2007 was spent pretty much staying at home and playing a crapload of games I had just bought the previous months. I had been to school for 18 years straight at that point; I needed a break. It's a fond season I still look back on whenever I get up on a work morning feeling really damn exhausted... wishing I could sleep in til 10 and then fire up some games before lunch time. Ahhh, good times. It felt like an extended summer. You just played games and messed around. I don't advocate doing it for long, but for half of a year after you've worked so hard, it was awesome, lol.
Also, there's definitely something to be said about the beginning stages of getting back into this fandom. And your post really highlights that. There was a real nostalgia burst back then. While the nostalgia still exists, it's not nearly as rampant as when you first got back into the scene. Back then there was the feeling of "Oh wow remember this" and "Damn I remember that!" At least, that's how it is for me. It's kind of like being in a relationship. Things are good and stable now, but you'll always remember the butterflies from the first couple months dating and getting to "know each other"
I've been at said second to last boss since Thanksgiving; you're not alone, sir.
I still pop this one in every couple of weeks, and I can still make it to Act VI in about 25 minutes with minimal effort. Then, it's like hitting a brick wall, lol.
If you can cruise through the game like that,then you can beat it. Just get out your favorite drink,take a deep breath,and blast this game!
The funny thing is, the eagles aren't an issue at all for me anymore. I plow right through them. I have no idea how I built up the muscle memory for that in such a short period of time, but Act VI still wrecks me.
I have no shame in watching a few playthrough vids and watching technique.
It's officially going to be the second phase of the final boss for me. I played for two hours earlier and made zero progress. I think it's time to put this one away for a year or so before I come back to it. Have fun with that one, gents.
I just realized I made this thread exactly 1 year ago tomorrow...and I've been playing Ninja Gaiden for two days now.
I've just completed Zelda II for the first time, and I want to keep up the momentum by finally finishing Ninja Gaiden. The interesting thing is, I'm making it very far with great ease after having not played for pretty much 8 months.
Any additional tips for getting through that son-of-a-bitch last run from 6-1 through 6-3 are much appreciated!
"Any additional tips for getting through that son-of-a-bitch last run from 6-1 through 6-3 are much appreciated! "
Is there any part in particular that you have trouble with? Just like "Battletoads" and other NES games, it's all memorization. Just keep practicing until you have everything memorized and it becomes easy. You definitely want to master act 6 so that returning to the final bosses when you die on them is no big deal.
I also recommend using the spin slash on Jaquio to beat him the first time. Then with more practice you'll be able to beat him with just your sword.
Well, I haven't quite made it to Act 6 again yet, but I'm getting very close. My last hang up was with the second form of the final boss. I won't know where I stand with that part until I make it back there.
After persevering through portions of Battletoads which I feel were just as much, if not more challenging than most of the stuff in Ninja Gaiden, I'm curious to see how difficult the final boss is now.
Well, I haven't quite made it to Act 6 again yet, but I'm getting very close. My last hang up was with the second form of the final boss. I won't know where I stand with that part until I make it back there.
After persevering through portions of Battletoads which I feel were just as much, if not more challenging than most of the stuff in Ninja Gaiden, I'm curious to see how difficult the final boss is now.
If you make it that far, you can cheat and use the extra lives trick near the end of 5-3 to rack up a bunch of them. That will help with act 6 so you can at least get to the bosses.
I just gave it a playthrough today after seeing this thread and I forgot how frustrating Stage 6 gets! Assuming that you aren't trying to 1cc it, the easiest way to take out the final boss is to grab the spin slash power up under the ladder at the beginning of Stage 6-3. It will take out each form of the final boss in a single hit, but you lose it after beating the first and second forms. If you lose a life and get kicked back to 6-1, you can still repeat this since you don't have to fight any forms that you already defeated when you get back to the final boss room.
A lot of anger. Me and my cousin would stay up all night playing this as kids. We could make it to the final stage but could never pass it. I think between this and TMNT we must have smashed atleast 6 controllers between us. lol
I just gave it a playthrough today after seeing this thread and I forgot how frustrating Stage 6 gets! Assuming that you aren't trying to 1cc it, the easiest way to take out the final boss is to grab the spin slash power up under the ladder at the beginning of Stage 6-3. It will take out each form of the final boss in a single hit, but you lose it after beating the first and second forms. If you lose a life and get kicked back to 6-1, you can still repeat this since you don't have to fight any forms that you already defeated when you get back to the final boss room.
That's my next strategy, as I just watched Mike Matei beat Ninja Gaiden level 6 by spending 35+ mins getting and trying to keep said powerup.
I just gave it a playthrough today after seeing this thread and I forgot how frustrating Stage 6 gets! Assuming that you aren't trying to 1cc it, the easiest way to take out the final boss is to grab the spin slash power up under the ladder at the beginning of Stage 6-3. It will take out each form of the final boss in a single hit, but you lose it after beating the first and second forms. If you lose a life and get kicked back to 6-1, you can still repeat this since you don't have to fight any forms that you already defeated when you get back to the final boss room.
That's my next strategy, as I just watched Mike Matei beat Ninja Gaiden level 6 by spending 35+ mins getting and trying to keep said powerup.
I watched his video too. For some reason he kept trying to get the spin slash power up from the first section of 6-2 by the jet pack ninjas and taking it all the way to the boss until the end of his video. When you get to 6-3, the easiest strategy is to die on purpose so that you get a full life bar and then grab the spin slash under the ladder at the end of the first section. If you die in a later section before the boss room, just lose the rest of your lives on purpose and you'll start back at the begining of 6-3 again where the power up is. I think in his video, he lost the power up and decided to go to the boss room anyway with barely any energy and ended up getting sent all the way back to 6-1.
Well, I haven't quite made it to Act 6 again yet, but I'm getting very close. My last hang up was with the second form of the final boss. I won't know where I stand with that part until I make it back there.
After persevering through portions of Battletoads which I feel were just as much, if not more challenging than most of the stuff in Ninja Gaiden, I'm curious to see how difficult the final boss is now.
If you make it that far, you can cheat and use the extra lives trick near the end of 5-3 to rack up a bunch of them. That will help with act 6 so you can at least get to the bosses.
Even thinkking about getting to this point in the game melts my brain. Well done, sirs, well done.
I just gave it a playthrough today after seeing this thread and I forgot how frustrating Stage 6 gets! Assuming that you aren't trying to 1cc it, the easiest way to take out the final boss is to grab the spin slash power up under the ladder at the beginning of Stage 6-3. It will take out each form of the final boss in a single hit, but you lose it after beating the first and second forms. If you lose a life and get kicked back to 6-1, you can still repeat this since you don't have to fight any forms that you already defeated when you get back to the final boss room.
That's my next strategy, as I just watched Mike Matei beat Ninja Gaiden level 6 by spending 35+ mins getting and trying to keep said powerup.
I watched his video too. For some reason he kept trying to get the spin slash power up from the first section of 6-2 by the jet pack ninjas and taking it all the way to the boss until the end of his video. When you get to 6-3, the easiest strategy is to die on purpose so that you get a full life bar and then grab the spin slash under the ladder at the end of the first section. If you die in a later section before the boss room, just lose the rest of your lives on purpose and you'll start back at the begining of 6-3 again where the power up is. I think in his video, he lost the power up and decided to go to the boss room anyway with barely any energy and ended up getting sent all the way back to 6-1.
I was not aware of that. I was pretty much ready to just start grinding it out and finding everything in Act 6 by trial and error. This will save a lot of valuable time!
I was not aware of that. I was pretty much ready to just start grinding it out and finding everything in Act 6 by trial and error. This will save a lot of valuable time!
Yeah, it's a huge time saver. Once you get 6-3 down, you should be able to make it to the boss room with the spin slash and plenty of energy each time. Another thing to keep in mind is that when you have the spin slash power up, if you want to jump and hit something without using it, hold down on the controller and you'll do a regular jump slash instead of wasting your ninja magic by doing the spin slash when you don't need to.
"if you want to jump and hit something without using it, hold down on the controller and you'll do a regular jump slash instead of wasting your ninja magic by doing the spin slash when you don't need to."
This is one of the most important techniques in this game.
And you can do repeated sword slashes in mid-air by spamming down and attack at the same time. This is very helpful on some bosses.
I was not aware of that. I was pretty much ready to just start grinding it out and finding everything in Act 6 by trial and error. This will save a lot of valuable time!
Yeah, it's a huge time saver. Once you get 6-3 down, you should be able to make it to the boss room with the spin slash and plenty of energy each time. Another thing to keep in mind is that when you have the spin slash power up, if you want to jump and hit something without using it, hold down on the controller and you'll do a regular jump slash instead of wasting your ninja magic by doing the spin slash when you don't need to.
Just made it to 6-2 on a 25 minute run, and kept getting hung up on a particular jump with a bat spawning horribly. Taking a break for a bit, but most definitely giving it another go. With the information you've provided, I defintely feel that I'll be closing in on this one sooner.
Just made it to 6-2 on a 25 minute run, and kept getting hung up on a particular jump with a bat spawning horribly. Taking a break for a bit, but most definitely giving it another go. With the information you've provided, I defintely feel that I'll be closing in on this one sooner.
Glad that I could help! If you can hold on to the spin slash that you get earlier in the level by the jet pack ninjas, it makes the rest of the stage more manageable to get through. Of course that's a lot easier said than done!
Just made it to 6-2 on a 25 minute run, and kept getting hung up on a particular jump with a bat spawning horribly. Taking a break for a bit, but most definitely giving it another go. With the information you've provided, I defintely feel that I'll be closing in on this one sooner.
Glad that I could help! If you can hold on to the spin slash that you get earlier in the level by the jet pack ninjas, it makes the rest of the stage more manageable to get through. Of course that's a lot easier said than done!
To my honest surprise, not only did I make what was once THE hardest jump for me in that level, but now I'm also consistently getting beyond that initial wave of jetpack guys that's usually a problem for a few game overs. It's like after playing so much last fall/winter, then taking a break, my muscle memory has peaked. This game is definitely all about getting a flow going, as many of the enemies can be taken care of quickly. I still have my moments where I lock up and/or slip on really stupid parts of course. But overall, it's all about dat rhythm!
Officially getting stuck on the second to last section of 6-2, when the jumping soldier, bat, and eagle all appear. Constantly getting nailed no matter what strategy I employ. I don't remember this part being as hard last time.
Take your time with that part. Inch forward so the soldier appears first. Jump straight up over him and then deal with the eagle and the bat. It's a bit easier with the jump slash weapon but you don't need it.
I never had Ninja Gaiden 1, as I was disappointed it was not a port of the arcade game of the same name back then (I was a dumb kid). I did eventually get Ninja Gaiden II...so all of my memories are from that game. I believe I beat it once, and my thumbs were killing me!
I played two runs last night: one warm up, and one serious. One of those days where it's like you've never played the game before, lmao. Deaths all over the place in 4-2 that never happen = turn off NES and do something else.
After reading this thread about a week ago I decided to give this game another chance. Before this I could if I was lucky get to 3-2 and end up failing every time. But going at this again I decided to take things slow and observe where things were through trial and error. Overall I did end up getting to their first form of this fella shown below but haven't been able to get back since. I might go at it again but all I can suggest is a crap ton of patience. I can't even begin to recall how many times I died in Act 5 let alone in Act 6. Take your time man, you'll eventually beat this one.
After reading this thread about a week ago I decided to give this game another chance. Before this I could if I was lucky get to 3-2 and end up failing every time. But going at this again I decided to take things slow and observe where things were through trial and error. Overall I did end up getting to their first form of this fella shown below but haven't been able to get back since. I might go at it again but all I can suggest is a crap ton of patience. I can't even begin to recall how many times I died in Act 5 let alone in Act 6. Take your time man, you'll eventually beat this one.
Congrats on your progress, man! I too, can make it to this point and usually no further. The second form is the furthest I've gotten in the game so far.
I would like to do a no death run of "Ninja Gaiden" someday, but I always lose at least one life to a stupid mistake.
Right now I'd say that the American version of "Ninja Gaiden III" has the hardest final act ("Ninja Gaiden II" has the easiest). Keeping the spinning fire shield helps, but it's still really hard. It's practically obscene that there is only one health power-up and it's halfway through the stage. 7-3C is the furthest I've gotten.
EDIT:
I made it to the final bosses and almost killed the first form. But stage 7-3B is a real health drainer. I need to figure out how to get through the crumbling platform part without losing any health.
Comments
Originally posted by: WizardOfOzzy
I certainly have some history with Ninja Gaiden. Had it as a kid, never got through act 5. I remember getting frustrated with the game, but never to the point of rage inducement. Gave it a casual shot once or twice in high school, but ended up packing it up along with the rest of my games before heading off to college.
Fast forward to the summer after college graduation. I took some time off that summer before starting real life, and ended up staying with one of my college buddies in Boston for a few weeks. Around the beginning of the second week, I got an itch to start beating some of those NES games that I was never able to master. I booted up an emulator, but it didn't quite do it for me. So I ended up venturing out to a local retro store and picked up a Toploader, two controllers, Contra, TMNT3, and Ninja Gaiden.
I ended up getting the hang of Contra to the point where I could beat it without the Konami code. My buddy and I played a decent amount of TMNT3 - don't think we ended up finishing it. But Ninja Gaiden was the highlight of the bunch. It was at the very top of my list of games I wanted to beat from my childhood, and seeing as my buddy was at work during the day, I had all the time in the world to get it done. Threw it in, booted it up, and rolled through the first few acts. I was stoked - I remember it being so hard as a kid. Maybe I just sucked at video games back then, and it really wasn't as challenging as I thought. I had some minor difficulty with act 5, but ended up making it into act 6 for the first time.
Then the rage came.
To this day, I can't recall another moment where I've yelled at the top of my lungs at a video game (or anything, really), specifically at pixelated birds. I've never thrown a controller in my life, but it almost happened on multiple occasions (once again, at the birds). To top that, I felt like I was going insane during certain points of the last act. I would get my routine down PERFECTLY for most of the level, then make a minor error and die. Nail the same routine, small error, dead. Run routine, screw up at an easy part. Start again. But I got through it. Of course, I can't put into words the amount of hatred that spewed out of me when I died at the second to last boss on 6-5 and had to start THE ENTIRE ACT OVER.
But several hours (and beers) later, I ended up beating it. And all was well in the world. To be honest, that week of reliving those NES titles from my childhood definitely got me started into this hobby. I still love the game, and have ran through it a few more times since then. But I'll never have any love for those damn birds.
This is an all-time epic post. Love it. I can totally relate to it, so your post resonates with me a lot. I too took some time off right after I graduated in June 2006. That was a fond time for me because I know exactly what you mean. January-June 2006 I bought 400+ SNES games, with a serious childhood itch to scratch. So many old favorites to replay and new ones waiting to be explored. I took the next semester off before starting grad school, so June 2006-January 2007 was spent pretty much staying at home and playing a crapload of games I had just bought the previous months. I had been to school for 18 years straight at that point; I needed a break. It's a fond season I still look back on whenever I get up on a work morning feeling really damn exhausted... wishing I could sleep in til 10 and then fire up some games before lunch time. Ahhh, good times. It felt like an extended summer. You just played games and messed around. I don't advocate doing it for long, but for half of a year after you've worked so hard, it was awesome, lol.
Also, there's definitely something to be said about the beginning stages of getting back into this fandom. And your post really highlights that. There was a real nostalgia burst back then. While the nostalgia still exists, it's not nearly as rampant as when you first got back into the scene. Back then there was the feeling of "Oh wow remember this" and "Damn I remember that!" At least, that's how it is for me. It's kind of like being in a relationship. Things are good and stable now, but you'll always remember the butterflies from the first couple months dating and getting to "know each other"
I've been at said second to last boss since Thanksgiving; you're not alone, sir.
I still pop this one in every couple of weeks, and I can still make it to Act VI in about 25 minutes with minimal effort. Then, it's like hitting a brick wall, lol.
If you can cruise through the game like that,then you can beat it. Just get out your favorite drink,take a deep breath,and blast this game!
I have no shame in watching a few playthrough vids and watching technique.
The only game worse is Fester's Quest
Originally posted by: NostalgicMachine
Re-spawns. Re-spawns everywhere.
The only game worse is Fester's Quest
Don't forget about Werewolf the Last Warrior! That waterfall stage...
I just realized I made this thread exactly 1 year ago tomorrow...and I've been playing Ninja Gaiden for two days now.
I've just completed Zelda II for the first time, and I want to keep up the momentum by finally finishing Ninja Gaiden. The interesting thing is, I'm making it very far with great ease after having not played for pretty much 8 months.
Any additional tips for getting through that son-of-a-bitch last run from 6-1 through 6-3 are much appreciated!
Is there any part in particular that you have trouble with? Just like "Battletoads" and other NES games, it's all memorization. Just keep practicing until you have everything memorized and it becomes easy. You definitely want to master act 6 so that returning to the final bosses when you die on them is no big deal.
I also recommend using the spin slash on Jaquio to beat him the first time. Then with more practice you'll be able to beat him with just your sword.
After persevering through portions of Battletoads which I feel were just as much, if not more challenging than most of the stuff in Ninja Gaiden, I'm curious to see how difficult the final boss is now.
Well, I haven't quite made it to Act 6 again yet, but I'm getting very close. My last hang up was with the second form of the final boss. I won't know where I stand with that part until I make it back there.
After persevering through portions of Battletoads which I feel were just as much, if not more challenging than most of the stuff in Ninja Gaiden, I'm curious to see how difficult the final boss is now.
If you make it that far, you can cheat and use the extra lives trick near the end of 5-3 to rack up a bunch of them. That will help with act 6 so you can at least get to the bosses.
I just gave it a playthrough today after seeing this thread and I forgot how frustrating Stage 6 gets! Assuming that you aren't trying to 1cc it, the easiest way to take out the final boss is to grab the spin slash power up under the ladder at the beginning of Stage 6-3. It will take out each form of the final boss in a single hit, but you lose it after beating the first and second forms. If you lose a life and get kicked back to 6-1, you can still repeat this since you don't have to fight any forms that you already defeated when you get back to the final boss room.
That's my next strategy, as I just watched Mike Matei beat Ninja Gaiden level 6 by spending 35+ mins getting and trying to keep said powerup.
I just gave it a playthrough today after seeing this thread and I forgot how frustrating Stage 6 gets! Assuming that you aren't trying to 1cc it, the easiest way to take out the final boss is to grab the spin slash power up under the ladder at the beginning of Stage 6-3. It will take out each form of the final boss in a single hit, but you lose it after beating the first and second forms. If you lose a life and get kicked back to 6-1, you can still repeat this since you don't have to fight any forms that you already defeated when you get back to the final boss room.
That's my next strategy, as I just watched Mike Matei beat Ninja Gaiden level 6 by spending 35+ mins getting and trying to keep said powerup.
I watched his video too. For some reason he kept trying to get the spin slash power up from the first section of 6-2 by the jet pack ninjas and taking it all the way to the boss until the end of his video. When you get to 6-3, the easiest strategy is to die on purpose so that you get a full life bar and then grab the spin slash under the ladder at the end of the first section. If you die in a later section before the boss room, just lose the rest of your lives on purpose and you'll start back at the begining of 6-3 again where the power up is. I think in his video, he lost the power up and decided to go to the boss room anyway with barely any energy and ended up getting sent all the way back to 6-1.
Well, I haven't quite made it to Act 6 again yet, but I'm getting very close. My last hang up was with the second form of the final boss. I won't know where I stand with that part until I make it back there.
After persevering through portions of Battletoads which I feel were just as much, if not more challenging than most of the stuff in Ninja Gaiden, I'm curious to see how difficult the final boss is now.
If you make it that far, you can cheat and use the extra lives trick near the end of 5-3 to rack up a bunch of them. That will help with act 6 so you can at least get to the bosses.
Even thinkking about getting to this point in the game melts my brain. Well done, sirs, well done.
I just gave it a playthrough today after seeing this thread and I forgot how frustrating Stage 6 gets! Assuming that you aren't trying to 1cc it, the easiest way to take out the final boss is to grab the spin slash power up under the ladder at the beginning of Stage 6-3. It will take out each form of the final boss in a single hit, but you lose it after beating the first and second forms. If you lose a life and get kicked back to 6-1, you can still repeat this since you don't have to fight any forms that you already defeated when you get back to the final boss room.
That's my next strategy, as I just watched Mike Matei beat Ninja Gaiden level 6 by spending 35+ mins getting and trying to keep said powerup.
I watched his video too. For some reason he kept trying to get the spin slash power up from the first section of 6-2 by the jet pack ninjas and taking it all the way to the boss until the end of his video. When you get to 6-3, the easiest strategy is to die on purpose so that you get a full life bar and then grab the spin slash under the ladder at the end of the first section. If you die in a later section before the boss room, just lose the rest of your lives on purpose and you'll start back at the begining of 6-3 again where the power up is. I think in his video, he lost the power up and decided to go to the boss room anyway with barely any energy and ended up getting sent all the way back to 6-1.
I was not aware of that. I was pretty much ready to just start grinding it out and finding everything in Act 6 by trial and error. This will save a lot of valuable time!
I was not aware of that. I was pretty much ready to just start grinding it out and finding everything in Act 6 by trial and error. This will save a lot of valuable time!
Yeah, it's a huge time saver. Once you get 6-3 down, you should be able to make it to the boss room with the spin slash and plenty of energy each time. Another thing to keep in mind is that when you have the spin slash power up, if you want to jump and hit something without using it, hold down on the controller and you'll do a regular jump slash instead of wasting your ninja magic by doing the spin slash when you don't need to.
This is one of the most important techniques in this game.
And you can do repeated sword slashes in mid-air by spamming down and attack at the same time. This is very helpful on some bosses.
I was not aware of that. I was pretty much ready to just start grinding it out and finding everything in Act 6 by trial and error. This will save a lot of valuable time!
Yeah, it's a huge time saver. Once you get 6-3 down, you should be able to make it to the boss room with the spin slash and plenty of energy each time. Another thing to keep in mind is that when you have the spin slash power up, if you want to jump and hit something without using it, hold down on the controller and you'll do a regular jump slash instead of wasting your ninja magic by doing the spin slash when you don't need to.
Just made it to 6-2 on a 25 minute run, and kept getting hung up on a particular jump with a bat spawning horribly. Taking a break for a bit, but most definitely giving it another go. With the information you've provided, I defintely feel that I'll be closing in on this one sooner.
Just made it to 6-2 on a 25 minute run, and kept getting hung up on a particular jump with a bat spawning horribly. Taking a break for a bit, but most definitely giving it another go. With the information you've provided, I defintely feel that I'll be closing in on this one sooner.
Glad that I could help! If you can hold on to the spin slash that you get earlier in the level by the jet pack ninjas, it makes the rest of the stage more manageable to get through. Of course that's a lot easier said than done!
Just made it to 6-2 on a 25 minute run, and kept getting hung up on a particular jump with a bat spawning horribly. Taking a break for a bit, but most definitely giving it another go. With the information you've provided, I defintely feel that I'll be closing in on this one sooner.
Glad that I could help! If you can hold on to the spin slash that you get earlier in the level by the jet pack ninjas, it makes the rest of the stage more manageable to get through. Of course that's a lot easier said than done!
To my honest surprise, not only did I make what was once THE hardest jump for me in that level, but now I'm also consistently getting beyond that initial wave of jetpack guys that's usually a problem for a few game overs. It's like after playing so much last fall/winter, then taking a break, my muscle memory has peaked. This game is definitely all about getting a flow going, as many of the enemies can be taken care of quickly. I still have my moments where I lock up and/or slip on really stupid parts of course. But overall, it's all about dat rhythm!
Tips, dudes?
After reading this thread about a week ago I decided to give this game another chance. Before this I could if I was lucky get to 3-2 and end up failing every time. But going at this again I decided to take things slow and observe where things were through trial and error. Overall I did end up getting to their first form of this fella shown below but haven't been able to get back since. I might go at it again but all I can suggest is a crap ton of patience. I can't even begin to recall how many times I died in Act 5 let alone in Act 6. Take your time man, you'll eventually beat this one.
Congrats on your progress, man! I too, can make it to this point and usually no further. The second form is the furthest I've gotten in the game so far.
Right now I'd say that the American version of "Ninja Gaiden III" has the hardest final act ("Ninja Gaiden II" has the easiest). Keeping the spinning fire shield helps, but it's still really hard. It's practically obscene that there is only one health power-up and it's halfway through the stage. 7-3C is the furthest I've gotten.
EDIT:
I made it to the final bosses and almost killed the first form. But stage 7-3B is a real health drainer. I need to figure out how to get through the crumbling platform part without losing any health.