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[Spike Spiegel]

I am a god amongst crappy gamers!

And I owe it all to Nightshade which, by the way, is IMHO a better game overall than Shinobi. Hibana's kick attack is an aerial lifesaver, and the game's got an 'Easy' difficulty setting to boot! I just got it yesterday, and I'm already up to Stage 10. The only thing that sucks is the voice acting... I mean WTF, Sega, you left Shinobi's Japanese language track in the game, so why not do the same for this one?

Still, it's well worth the $20 I paid for it.

 

[evil ways]

I still haven't been able to finish Shinobi. The last boss(or rather the pitfalls he glides over) always turn me into it's personal bitch.

 

[Dujour]

ha, you big baby. Just for that, i can't wait until you get to the game's final boss. Took a year for me to beat.

And you should be grateful. When you're done with this.... no, when this game is done with you, you'll be a better gamer for it. Hotsuma...

 

[Spike Spiegel]

Okay, Stage 7-A is killing me. I quit.

 

[Wario64]

Shit, I'm still stuck on 6-A. I should try finishing the game sometime before I get Nightshade. I got a feeling Fry's will sell it for $9.99 some week...it's already $19.99 right now

 

[Spike Spiegel]

Another thing I love about Nightshade, and one of the reasons it's better than Shinobi, is that if you die you can restart from the level's beginning OR try again from the level's halfway point. Because right now, Stage 8-B is so long and difficult that it's pissing me off just as much as 6-A did.

 

[XS+]

Hey Spike, wanna know what a winner is??

Spoiler

***********you*************

 

[D2M15]

Because right now, Stage 8-B is so long and difficult that it's pissing me off just as much as 6-A did.

You are going to love 11 and 12, then. Although Easy throws a few extra platforms into 11, IIRC.

 

[Spike Spiegel]

Dear SEGA/Overworks,

F*ck you.

Signed,

Spike Spiegel

PS: Thanks!

 

[Brandon F]

The nice thing about 8-B as I remember is that once you reach Hiruko you don't have to replay the level again(so long as you don't power off or return to title screen)...though that isn't saying much given how much of a bitch he is to fight. Took me 3 days worth of multi-hour attempts to whittle his ass down. I did make it all the way back to 8-B in Hard mode again several months ago with Moritsune, but didn't bother trying to fight him yet.

 

[Bebpo]

Hiruko really isn't that hard. The trick is just to keep moving and know how to dodge his spells (which are pretty easy to dodge). Also to get life from the shikigami. Just keep moving around until the full 8 or 9 shikigami are present and Hiruko is somewhere reachable, then quickly tate all the shikigami -> dodge behind hiruko -> 1 slice = instant death.

Took me a decent amount of retries 1st time against him, but after you figure out how to kill him once you can pretty much do it every time no problem. I think it's a pretty fair and fun boss fight as opposed to the final boss of Kunoichi/Nightshade who is just annoying in the 1st form.

 

[Spike Spiegel]

Hiruko really isn't that hard. The trick is just to keep moving and know how to dodge his spells (which are pretty easy to dodge). Also to get life from the shikigami. Just keep moving around until the full 8 or 9 shikigami are present and Hiruko is somewhere reachable, then quickly tate all the shikigami -> dodge behind hiruko -> 1 slice = instant death.

...That's the problem. Every time, and I mean EVERY F*CKING TIME that I've got all of the 8-9 shikigami Tate'd, that bastard Hiruko either teleports or activates a spell before I can nail him. Either way, he's invulnerable and my Tate is wasted. The most life I've ever been able to take off him is 1/3.

 

[Brandon F]

No I agree the boss fight is fantastic(except for off screen bullet hits from the shikigami...ARGH!), but you can't Tate-kill Hiruko with a single strike unfortunately. Even with a full charge, the most damage you can take off is half his lifebar. Maybe Moritsune can kill him off in a single blow with his extra power, haven't tried yet.

I actually found it was much easier to kill him off by NOT going for the big blow...sure if you can manage it then do it, but whittling a bit of health at every chance since he is so adept at teleporting or becoming invincible at the worst opportune moments, getting a constant flow of minor hits with whatever charge count you have at the time killed him more efficiently than I had imagined.

 

[Bebpo]

No I agree the boss fight is fantastic(except for off screen bullet hits from the shikigami...ARGH!), but you can't Tate-kill Hiruko with a single strike unfortunately. Even with a full charge, the most damage you can take off is half his lifebar. Maybe Moritsune can kill him off in a single blow with his extra power, haven't tried yet.

I actually found it was much easier to kill him off by NOT going for the big blow...sure if you can manage it then do it, but whittling a bit of health at every chance since he is so adept at teleporting or becoming invincible at the worst opportune moments, getting a constant flow of minor hits with whatever charge count you have at the time killed him more efficiently than I had imagined.

Whittling away damage is a good tactic too...

but you can kill him in 1 hit with Hotsuma, that's how I did it the 1st time on normal difficulty. Basically you just have to be directly behind him since back hits do 2x damage. I finished him while he was in the air because I jumped up and sliced him straight in the back. Though this is much easier to do on the ground. Also I think you may have to kick him first (it's been a long time since I've done this battle)

 

[Brandon F]

I dunno, with Hotsuma on Normal I also followed that same tactic, and with a full charge + back hit, it never landed more than half damage. I tried innumerable attempts with it, all of which SHOULD have been instant kill, but it never seemed possible with him. No matter.

 

[Spike Spiegel]

HOLY SH*T!!! I DID IT!!! I FINALLY BEAT SHINOBI!!!

*dances*

Now, to finish Nightshade!

 

[Ronin]

Nightshade was cake compared to Shinobi....then I made it to the Golden Palace.

 

[Wario64]

It's been a month since I made that post and I'm still at Stage 6-A...

 

[doncale]

my skills must be dog-shit.

I can't beat the final stage in the 1987 arcade Shinobi or the PS2 Shinobi.

 

[Spike Spiegel]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand now I've beaten Nightshade.

On 'EASY' difficulty, of course, but that's enough of an accomplishment for a lowly gamer such as myself. That Stage 12 was a real ballbusting b*tch, but the final boss Kurohagane wasn't too difficult once I figured out what I was supposed to do. Now both of these games can go sit on the shelf and collect dust with the rest of my "finished" collection.

 

[Mjunter]

My cousin let me use his copy of Shinobi in hopes that someone could actually beat that game. Other games had priority so I mostly played it off and on. It was probably the first game I ever had issues with the camera. But other than that it wasn't to difficult (on normal mode anyway). The greatest part of the game was when I took down the final boss with one hit (kinda accidentally).

That pretty much made all the frustration I got from the game worth it.

 

[Temujin]

I picked up the game a couple of days ago... I'm only at level 2-B now, but damn, I'm really having fun with it so far. I know I'll be in a world of hurt later on, so I better enjoy these moments...

 

[Wario64]

Well it's been nearly two years....well not really two years since I rented it when it first came out, but then bought it early this year...but anyway. It took nearly two years but I finally beat Stage 6-A! Haha. I feel stupid cause the part that I keep dying is the room right before the boss. For some reason, I'm too impatient to wait for the elevator to go up and down, so I try dashing towards the walls to hang on to. Problem is that parts of the wall aren't grab-able so I kept falling to my death. Well not today...


I know the game isn't THAT difficult, but man I keep falling to my death in that level

 

[ManDudeChild]

Weaksauce. A true gamer test (read: I HATE YOU SO MUCH SHINOBI) is beating the game on hard. It makes normal look like a walk in the park. But there are some sweet unlockables if you collect and play enough. For example, Joe Musashi.

But to be fair, 6-A is the hardest level in the game.

As long as we're on the subject though, anyone manage to beat the very hard mode?