TGIF: Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword Blows, Literally

You get some pretty interesting looks on an international red eye during lights-out movie time hunched over a Nintendo DS held sidewise like a book in one hand, the other frenetically tattooing the screen with a custom sword-stylus, occasionally swearing out loud. Alright, I admit it -- The part early in Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword where you run into the sleepy guru parked cross-legged on the bridge and can't progress until you wake him up? Stumped me for all of an hour, retracing my path and looking for missed clues. Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap and all he does is snore at you while everyone else spouts blithe aphorisms about calling his name. Call his name? Doh. Now imagine me finally realizing how to solve that little puzzle in my sardine-class economy seat betwixt crabby fellow travelers trying desperately to sleep.

I should've known better (or remembered better, anyway). I had this same problem dousing the candles in Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

That's Nintendo for you, making you think outside the box (and look a little foolish nearly kissing your handheld in public).

In any case, Dragon Sword may be one of the best Nintendo DS games I've ever played, maybe even my favorite in the Ninja Gaiden series. The controls are absolutely superb and at the risk of sounding entirely mad, I may just prefer them to finessing buttons on a gamepad in the regular series. They're interesting enough, in fact, to make you wish Ninja Gaiden 2 was coming out for the Wii instead of the Xbox 360.

You control all of Ryu's (the protagonist) maneuvers and calligraphic spells by tapping or slashing the touchscreen with the stylus, which I know sounds weird given Ninja Gaiden's precision-control pedigree. But like the most successful Nintendo DS translations (Metroid Prime Hunters, Zelda Phantom Hourglass) somehow it just works.

Moving's as simple as point-and-tapping. You trigger basic attacks by dragging the stylus down or sideways across enemies, then transition to combos by slashing in various directions. Tag an enemy then whip the stylus up and you'll fling your opponent skyward, then finish with a body-slam. Tap a target rapidly from on the ground or in the air and you'll launch a stream of throwing stars. Leap then slash down or sideways and you'll trigger various special moves. Scribble madly over Ryu and -- if you can avoid taking damage -- he'll start buildings power levels to launch his screen-ravaging "Ultimate Technique." The list of abilities grows as you progress, along with your sword and spell-casting power, both of which can be upgraded by spending yellow orbs absorbed from slain enemies.

Other than my own ineptness with the puzzle mentioned above, the only trouble I've had with Dragon Sword is that the stylus sometimes cramps the screen given the ubiquity of the action and the ease with which Ryu dashes around the screen. That, and the whole affair's simply too short. I know Tecmo, that's the mobile demographic, mobile gamers play in fits and starts, etcetera. But as far as I'm concerned, there's no reason this game couldn't be 26 levels long (instead of just 13 short ones). When your game's this good, six hours start to finish feels almost criminal.

Re-Play

Fearless or feckless? Have your say below or pelt me with emails here.

Comments

Good review, but if you’re finishing it in 6 hours, you clearly haven’t tried the Head Ninja or Master Ninja difficulty levels, which are really the meat of the game. Normal mode is like a very long tutorial. ;-) On the harder difficulty levels, just getting hit at all carries a stiff penalty, much more like the XBox iterations of the series. Some people may not feel like going through the game again, but the combat engine was so good that I'm happy to have more of it, and you really do need to play on a higher level to get through the tougher modes.

EricL

April 18, 2008

8:01 PM PT

Van Gogh didn't put food on the table by giving away paintings, but Picasso did draw on napkins to pay for his dinners.

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/01/18/costco-offering-pica.html

funkytaco

April 28, 2008

10:51 AM PT