Blue icons replenish ten points of Ninja Power, while orange icons will fully restore the Ninja Power counter to maximum. Ryu can equip various ninjutsu projectile attacks which consume "Ninja Power," a limited resource that can be replenished by collecting Ninja Power item icons. However, Ninja Gaiden II adds the ability to climb up or down nearly any wall simply by pressing the Up and Down buttons. In the original NES game, Ryu was able to cling to walls, but he was unable to scale walls without ladders (except by wall jumping). Players earn an extra life for every 100,000 points scored.
Score bonus items appear as pouches blue pouches are worth 1,000 points and red pouches add 2,000 points to the player's total score. Ninja Gaiden II allows for use of infinite continues, with players resuming from the beginning of the same stage after continuing. Exhausting Ryu's health or falling into a pit costs the player a life if all lives are lost, it's game over. Finding the Recovery Medicine item replenishes Ryu's health by six hit points. While fighting a boss, the boss' health will similarly be indicated by the health bar marked "Enemy". Stage 2-1Įach time Ryu is hit by an enemy attack or environmental hazard, he will lose a certain number of hit points as indicated by the health bar marked "Ninja" in the upper right corner. Ryu can acquire power-ups and score bonus items by attacking the red crystal spheres positioned around each stage. Players control Ryu's movement with the directional pad and jump with the A button, while the B button executes a standard slash attack with Ryu's Dragon Sword katana. Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos retains the core gameplay from the original NES Ninja Gaiden, albeit with a few minor changes and additions.
The NES version was released on the Wii Shop's Virtual Console service in 2007, and was later released on similar online storefronts for 3DS in 2013 and for Wii U in 2016. The "Tecmo Theater" cutscenes made popular in the original NES Ninja Gaiden also return with enhanced graphics and new characters.Ī licensed port of Ninja Gaiden II published by GameTek was released in 1991 for DOS-based PCs and Amiga platforms. The game's plot once again revolves around young ninja protagonist Ryu Hayabusa, this time on a quest to save his girlfriend Irene Lew from the evil lord Ashtar, the mastermind behind Jaquio's scheme to conquer the world during the events of the first game. As the sequel to the first NES Ninja Gaiden title, Ninja Gaiden II retains the original's basic structure while also expanding upon the gameplay with new abilities and power-ups.
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (released in Japan as Ninja Ryūkenden II: Ankoku no Jashinken) is a 1990 action platformer developed and originally published by Tecmo for the Nintendo Entertainment System.