I’m going against my usual behaviour and playing multiple games at once this week. I’ve almost finished Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (White), and this will probably be my go-to way to experience NG2 going forward. It’s not quite the full ridiculousness of the original (and the added girl chapters from Sigma do kind of ruin the pacing and flow) but it just looks so good and plays so smooth at 120 FPS. With the fixes and additions from the White mod it comes close enough to a “best of both worlds” version to satisfy me, and I have enjoyed some of the Sigma inclusions like the Enma’s Fang greatsword weapon and the removal of the tunnel worm boss.

Having finally received my package I also started on Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword that I’m playing on my N3DS. It was also Itagaki-designed and released between NGB and NG2. It’s a really interesting game, using the DS held in portrait mode like a book and the stylus as the only control input. It looks absolutely fantastic for a DS game, and the gameplay is surprisingly well translated from the mainline titles. It looks and feels just like a proper Ninja Gaiden title, with familiar animations and enemies and fast combat. It also has a fantastic Ninpo system where you draw the sign of the Ninpo you’re casting with the stylus, which is very fun so far. The only issue I’m having with it is constantly worrying that I’ll scratch the touchscreen from all the stylus use.