You know how a lot of DS games feel like they’re either Super Nintendo titles or could have been done on the Game Boy Advance? Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (NGDS) is not one of those games. In fact, it’s pretty safe to say NGDS would not be possible on any other gaming platform. It’s a unique title that every action game fan who owns a Nintendo DS should check it out.
NGDS takes place about 6 months after the events of the Xbox version Ninja Gaiden (or Ninja Gaiden Sigma if you were late to the party). Personally, I can’t remember much of the plot of Ninja Gaiden since I played it about 5 years ago, but I’m pretty sure it had something to do with saving the Hayabusa ninja clan from evil fiends and demons from the netherworld. NGDS has something similar with a kidnapped girl and the fate of the world blah blah blah. Let’s be honest here, you’re not playing Ninja Gaiden for the plot. You’re playing it to kill the shit out of dragons and ninjas as Ryu Hayabusa. And believe me, you will be doing lots of that.
First off, you play the game by holding the DS like a book. So you’re basically holding it at the hinge with one hand. Your other hand is going to be holding the stylus as the game is controlled almost entirely with it. The only two buttons used are block (any button on the DS, including the d-pad) and pause/menu (start and select). It’s a similar set up to The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass if you’ve played that. To move Ryu on screen you simply tap and hold the stylus somewhere. Ryu will run there. Drawing a line upwards makes him jump. To attack enemies you just draw a line through them horizontally. You can tap them to attack with your ranged weapons. It’s exceedingly intuitive and actually works out quite well.
You may think what I just described makes up for a slow, deliberately paced game. You would be mistaken. The pacing of the game is fast and furious. In practice, you’ll be frantically scratching out ninjas and monsters on the screen while flicking up to jump and tapping the screen to dodge. NGDS really gives you a really visceral feeling that you are really slashing the shit out of those enemies.
The controls aren’t perfect though. At times I felt that I did not have very precise control over Ryu’s movements. It’s very hard to pull off some moves like the famed Izuna Drop which asks you to slash downwards then upwards on an enemy. I could never reproduce the move on demand – every time I pulled it off I felt lucky. There was also a boss that I had to retry about 20 times in which I really wish I had an Xbox controller because it required some very precise dodge and attack movements that I just could not pull off consistently with the stylus motions.
Throughout the game you’ll be performing tasks like yelling and blowing on the DS mic. Ryu also has the ability to use ninpo, or special skills, by tracing a Japanese character on screen. You can call these gimmicks, or if you’re a glass half-full kinda person you can look at it as novel inputs. Either way, the fact remains that the experience is unique to the Nintendo DS.
NGDS is a great length for a portable action title. I finished it in a little over 5 hours. Save points are plentiful and also refill your entire health bar and Ninpo. You also unlock more difficulty levels as you complete the game on harder difficulties. The game even features online leaderboards. I found these to be worthless though, as everyone on the first couple pages seemed to have the full 9999999999 points even though some had 0 kills recorded! There is definitely some shenanigans going on. Still, it was a nice thought.
The game is not nearly as hard as its elder brother was. Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox has reached almost mythical status as a brutally difficult video game. Honestly, I thought that game was a good challenge, but not something that was impossible. But maybe that’s just because I played it during my college years when I was at the pinnacle of my gaming prowess. NGDS is very do-able for the average gamer.
If you’re at all into action games, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword is definitely worth your time. There’s no other action game like it on the DS. If you twist my arm, I would say that it’s the DS’s “God of War.” It’s not perfect, but at the end of the day it’s still pretty goddamn fun. And that’s why we play games, right?
(screenshot credits: 1up.com)
