Ninja Gaiden: Difference between revisions

* [[Cherry Tapping]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20160629170621/http://iberiansngrealm.com/Wooden_Sword.html Wooden Sword School].

* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: Both incarnations of the franchise involve Ryu eventually fighting giant demons.

* [[Retcon]]: Some worth of mention, Tecmo passed the series around to just about any willing developer and producer: Natsume, Team Ninja, Tomonobu Itagaki, Yosuke Hayashi, etc. Of course, they had their own visions for the series:

** The fact Ryu Hayabusa is in his early 20s20's in the NES series don't match up with the Xbox series either,. thisThis is the major factor why [[Flip-Flop of God]] is heavy in regard the Xbox series being a [[Prequel]] to the NES one. NES Ryu from 20 to 23 ventured through the trilogy and settled in the ''Dead or Alive'' series just as Xbox Ryu from 21 to 22 ventured trough the present series and settled in ''Dead or Alive'' series at 23 years old. The only way to reconcile this is saying that Ryu has ventured through the NES and Xbox series for about the same time.

** Irene Lew became a walking [[Retcon]] herself when Sonia was revealed to be just another one of her codenames she uses on the field as of ''Dead or Alive''. Now it seems that Ryu actually knew Irene before the NES series in ''Ninja Gaiden II'' (Xbox 360), while in the first NES game, he certainly doesn't find Sea Swallow familiar to a certain Sonia he met before. Also Irene's appearance [[Sarcasm Mode|of course was always]] that of a blond buxom babe with pale skin instead of a brunette with modest body proportions; maybe she was [[Wild Mass Guessing|wearing a disguise]] in the NES series?

** Ryu and Irene's marital status,. theThe first ''Dead or Alive'' game says that they are [[Happily Married]], and Irene dutifully runs their Antique Shop while Ryu is away fighting in the tournament,. then inIn the very next ''Dead or Alive'' game, their marriage became a mysterious subject,: Ryu still is an Antique Shop owner, but Irene is not mentioned in his bio anymore,; in fact, it was doubtful that Irene even existed from the 2nd tournament (game) to the 4th tournament. LaterWhen ''Dead or Alive: Dimensions'' iswas released, it serves as a recap torecaps the first four tournaments and brought Irene Lewher back into the fray..., but Ryu and Irene'sthe marriage still isremains a mystery, and suddenly, she isIrene's a CIA agent again,. theThe plotrecap of ''Dead or Alive: Dimensions'' just goes as far as to imply they are're romantically involved.

** Joe/Ken Hayabusa's whereabouts as a living person,. Ryu's father dies in the NES trilogy, and yet he is's alive and kicking in the Xboxmodern series, butwhich that'sis okaytotally fine since it is supposed to be's a [[Prequel]] series;. thenThen comes ''Dead or Alive'' and make things difficult, evenas the first game ofmakes that series doesn'tno mention Ryu'sof fatherJoe at all, in fact,; it doesn't even touch upon the Hayabusa Clan aseither. a whole; itIt only shows that Ryu is taking the position of Leaderclan leader for the moment... and doesn't say anything else since his father was always fond of leaving Ryuhis son to taking care of the clan's leadership while he spent seasons training on top of the mountains.

* [[Revival]]: NES -> Xbox.

* [[RPG Elements]]: In ''Ninja Gaiden 3'''s mission and online modes, you start up as a newbie [[Ninja]] and have to complete trials to level up and improve your combos and equipment. This is quite surprising, as the story mode of the same game removed everything that remotely looked like an upgrade system.

** The NES series had a fair amount of this as well;: each game had at least one cutscene that was just a grand panoramic sweep that generally showed a very small Ryu in the foreground gazing upon his uniformly majestic destination, and many of the backgrounds and stages were more visually detailed and attractive than the player was likely to notice.

* [[Sequel Difficulty Spike]]: Rather "rerelease difficulty spike" −: the original Xbox game was hard but nothing scream inducing. The [[Updated Rerelease]] ''Ninja Gaiden Black'' (and by extension ''Ninja Gaiden Sigma'') cranked the difficulty up a couple notches by introducing new vicious enemies, giving the existent ones a better AI (and a grab move for Black Spider Ninjas), throwing out the window what little [[Mook Chivalry]] they could have, significantly nerfing overly efficient moves like the Counter or the Flying Swallow, and adding the utterly sadistic Master Ninja Mode.

** ''Ninja Gaiden II'' is also infamous for being this, [[Fake Difficulty|but not always in a good way]].

* [[Sequel Escalation]]: Between the two Xbox/PS3 games. ''Ninja Gaiden Black''/''Ninja Gaiden Sigma'' sure is [[Nintendo Hard]], but it is moderately gore, has a relatively slow pace, you never fight more than three or four enemies at once, and the strongest moves are restricted in use. NG2''Ninja Gaiden II'' takes the gore to [[Ludicrous Gibs|ridiculous levels]], is much faster, much more offensive, you frequently fight insane numbers, and the special moves, combos and weapons are cranked up to the point they would have been absolute [[Game Breaker|Game Breakers]] in the first game. ''Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2'' toned down the gore and number of enemies though.

* [[Serial Escalation]] : ''Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2'' has a team mission mode with five levels: Acolyte, Warrior, Mentor, Mater Ninja... and Ultimate Ninja. The latter has missions that make even the most experienced players have a [[Heroic BSOD]] the first time. Like fighting the four Greater Fiends ''simultaneously''. You won't be able to do anything in those missions without an experienced human partner.

* [[Single-Stroke Battle]]: The opening cutscene of NES ''Ninja Gaiden'', where Ryu's father gets defeated via this. Of course, he later {{spoiler|turns out to be alive}}...}}

* [[Spinning Piledriver]]: Ryu is probably the most iconic user of this move in modern action games. Aside from the Izuna Drop, ''Ninja Gaiden 2II'' adds two variants: the Blade of the Archfiend's Underworld Drop and the Tonfa's Flower Garland Drop.

* [[Stealth Pun]]: This one's a bit of a stretch, but... "Florentine" is both an Italian identity (via its city) and a term used for dual wielding. In ''Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2'', Ryu receives the dual katanas in the Venice based chapter (a city in Italy).

** Sonia's outfit in the sequel is just as much, if not more so -... to the extent where the diaphanous gown-and-lingerie ensemble she ends up in at the end of the game is probably ''less'' revealing.

* [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]]: Sonia, a CIA agent tasked to work with Ryu, who frequently straddles between [[Action Girl]] and [[Faux Action Girl]] to [[Damsel in Distress]] status in the [[Xbox|new]] series replaces Irene Lew, a CIA agent tasked to work with Ryu, who frequently straddles between [[Action Girl]] and [[Faux Action Girl]] to [[Distressed Damsel]] status in the [[NES|classic]] series. In fact, they were so similar that eventually in ''Dead or Alive: Dimensions'', {{spoiler|it was revealed that Sonia was Irene's alias during the events of ''[[Xbox 360|Ninja Gaiden II]]'', making Sonia and Irene one and the same for good}}.

* [[Swipe Your Blade Off]]: Done by Ryu with all of his weapons in ''Ninja Gaiden 2II''. ''Great'', more blood to clean up.

* [[Taking You with Me]]: A good deal of the crippled enemies in ''Ninja Gaiden II''.

* [[Team Pet]]: The Kelbeross are a villainous example, being Jaquio's pet dogs (well, they were before he mutated them into gargantuan monstrosities). This only gets described [[All There in the Manual|in the manual]], though, leading people who didn't read said manual to consider them a [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]].

* [[Teased with Awesome]]: The Blade of the Archfiend at the end of ''2Ninja Gaiden II'' --: since you get it at a point when only bosses and large enemies remain, you can only use the Underworld Drop (the most powerful combo of the game) in the [[New Game+]].

* [[Trap Door]]: Ryu's constant nemesis in the NES games. Seriously -: Worst. Ninja. Ever.

* [[Trick Arrow]]: Lightly used -: Explosive and Armour-Piercing varieties.

* [[Turns Red]]: The Armadillo bosses in ''Ninja Gaiden II'' turn red and glow when their health is low, becoming somewhat more dangerous. When finally killed, [[Made of Explodium|they explode]]. Also, Ogres and Berserkers in ''[[Ninja Gaiden]]: Black''.

* [[The Verse]]: ''Ninja Gaiden'' and ''Dead or Alive'' are one in the same universe, with ''Ninjathe Gaiden''modern (Arcade)trilogy marking earlierthe earliest events, ''Ninjafollowed Gaiden''by (Xbox)the markingNES early eventstrilogy, ''Ninjaand Gaiden''capping (NES)off marking later events, andwith the ''Dead or Alive'' seriestournaments markingas the latest eventslastest.

* [["Wake-Up Call" Boss]]: Murai, the boss of the first level of the Xbox game, was a classic example of this.

* [[Oh Crap|What the...?!:]]: In the original trilogy, this is Ryu's version of an [[Oh Crap]] Momentmoment. He tends to draw these like a moth to a flame.

** Lampshaded by [[The Angry Video Game Nerd]] when he says, "What was he gonna say? 'What the fuck?'".

* [[Wrestler in All of Us]]: Guillotine Throw and Izuna Drop. Ayane in ''Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2'' has a scissor lock in place of the Guillotine Throw.

* [[You Don't Look Like You]]: After years in the shadows, Irene Lew was brought back into the continuity in ''Dead or Alive: Dimensions'', and she changed '''a lot''',. beingBeing another character rescued from the classic NES series aside Ryu himself (who didn't change that much), Irene was updated in every single manner from [[Fan Service Pack]] and [[Adaptation Dye Job]] to [[Not as You Know Them]]; just to hit the point home, you see Sonia from the Xbox series? {{spoiler|Irene Lew and Sonia are one and the same}}.

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