Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword
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Player's Review
Exclusive to the Nintendo DS, this entry in the Ninja Gaiden series seems to be based on the 2004 remake (and re-released with improvements as Ninja Gaiden Black) for classic XBOX which is also an exclusive title.
The plot starts off with Momiji, a ninja trainee who gets hurt and kidnapped by members of the so called 'Black Widow Clan', the news is spread to all people in Hayabusa Village, including Ryu who starts his mission to rescue Momiji from that group and vanish evil for once and for all. Even if you play the 'Master Kunoichi' mode where you play as Rin who is in fact a cloned version of Momiji (unlockable by defeating the dragon in Chapter 1 during NG+), this plot is unaltered, retaining all mentions of Ryu everywhere.
Gameplay wise it's just weird especially if it's your first time playing, not only it needs to rotate your NDS 90 degrees to the left, but also heavily depends on stylus interaction for literally everything, including movement, attacks (even the basic moves) and to activate/control a magic spell. The only action where at least the A button has a meaning is to scroll through texts, also done by tapping the right screen with your stylus. As you progress through the main game you get access to new spells, weapons and/or upgrades, either as a gift from villagers or by buying them from Muramasa's shop with yellow orbs as currency.
In the longplay I focus on main progression while trying to get as many yellow orbs and karma as possible, to earn karma you have to kill enemies and also inflict damage to bosses with certain special attacks, sometimes by performing a ranged attack your karma increases a bit. I should also mention the main flow has 16 hidden Wood Amulets, I found all of them, and I got seven more from the Netherworld challenges, the latter has to be done in all difficulties for 100% amulets subquest so to avoid many replays I used a full save to show at least the unique stuff such as character profiles and secret letters, amulets from 16 to 36 are just a compilation of cutscenes from the main mode itself.
0:00:00 - Start
0:02:25 - Chapter 1: Forest of Shadows
0:16:02 - Chapter 2: Hayabusa Village
0:31:27 - Chapter 3: Monastery Illusion
0:52:53 - Chapter 4: Solemn Sanctuary
1:16:14 - Chapter 5: Legendary Fiends
1:43:24 - Chapter 6: Mortal Enemy
1:55:58 - Chapter 7: Cavern of Flame
2:13:50 - Chapter 8: Cavern of Ice
2:28:18 - Chapter 9: Isle of Destiny
2:49:59 - Chapter 10: The Ends of Hell
2:59:06 - Chapter 11: Underworld Gate
3:01:15 - Netherworld Challenges
3:19:47 - Chapter 11: Underworld Gate (cont.)
3:30:50 - Chapter 12: Abyssal Underworld
3:42:59 - Chapter 13: Edge of Darkness
3:48:47 - Ending & Credits
3:55:22 - Defeating level 1 dragon (after first completion)
3:56:33 - Muramasa's Prizes (minus story cutscenes)
The plot starts off with Momiji, a ninja trainee who gets hurt and kidnapped by members of the so called 'Black Widow Clan', the news is spread to all people in Hayabusa Village, including Ryu who starts his mission to rescue Momiji from that group and vanish evil for once and for all. Even if you play the 'Master Kunoichi' mode where you play as Rin who is in fact a cloned version of Momiji (unlockable by defeating the dragon in Chapter 1 during NG+), this plot is unaltered, retaining all mentions of Ryu everywhere.
Gameplay wise it's just weird especially if it's your first time playing, not only it needs to rotate your NDS 90 degrees to the left, but also heavily depends on stylus interaction for literally everything, including movement, attacks (even the basic moves) and to activate/control a magic spell. The only action where at least the A button has a meaning is to scroll through texts, also done by tapping the right screen with your stylus. As you progress through the main game you get access to new spells, weapons and/or upgrades, either as a gift from villagers or by buying them from Muramasa's shop with yellow orbs as currency.
In the longplay I focus on main progression while trying to get as many yellow orbs and karma as possible, to earn karma you have to kill enemies and also inflict damage to bosses with certain special attacks, sometimes by performing a ranged attack your karma increases a bit. I should also mention the main flow has 16 hidden Wood Amulets, I found all of them, and I got seven more from the Netherworld challenges, the latter has to be done in all difficulties for 100% amulets subquest so to avoid many replays I used a full save to show at least the unique stuff such as character profiles and secret letters, amulets from 16 to 36 are just a compilation of cutscenes from the main mode itself.
0:00:00 - Start
0:02:25 - Chapter 1: Forest of Shadows
0:16:02 - Chapter 2: Hayabusa Village
0:31:27 - Chapter 3: Monastery Illusion
0:52:53 - Chapter 4: Solemn Sanctuary
1:16:14 - Chapter 5: Legendary Fiends
1:43:24 - Chapter 6: Mortal Enemy
1:55:58 - Chapter 7: Cavern of Flame
2:13:50 - Chapter 8: Cavern of Ice
2:28:18 - Chapter 9: Isle of Destiny
2:49:59 - Chapter 10: The Ends of Hell
2:59:06 - Chapter 11: Underworld Gate
3:01:15 - Netherworld Challenges
3:19:47 - Chapter 11: Underworld Gate (cont.)
3:30:50 - Chapter 12: Abyssal Underworld
3:42:59 - Chapter 13: Edge of Darkness
3:48:47 - Ending & Credits
3:55:22 - Defeating level 1 dragon (after first completion)
3:56:33 - Muramasa's Prizes (minus story cutscenes)
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