I > III > II

I > III > II
>I: Best story and best level design
>III: New mechanics are fun and useful, good story
>II: Worst story, copy mechanic is useless outside of boss fights, worst level design

Never played II and III, only I which I've beaten on multiple occasions back when I used to replay it a lot. When people say these games are near-impossible, is that just a meme or am I an amazing gamer without realizing it? I'd like to consider myself average since there are a plethora of games that I'm ass at

oh no you didn't!

ninja gaiden 2 is the best one

In terms of difficulty, II > I > II
>II: troll enemy spawns everywhere and no health refills in between final boss forms. boss fights are also harder and more complicated than I
>I: about the same difficulty as II, only you get full health in between final boss forms
>III: new mechanics make everything much easier (like the increased sword range pickup), level design is less trolly, bosses are much easier than the other two

I & II are basically the same difficulty, its just that phase 1 of II's final boss makes it much harder overall

The story is shit. if it wasnt just the generic "bad guy's minion from the first game wants to revive him" trope it wouldve been way more interesting. III's story shouldve been the focus of II, since III takes place between I & II and answers the question of why the CIA boss wanted ryu killed

Well you replayed it over and over so of course you're going to get good, it mostly all comes down to memorizing enemy placement and how to best deal with them, item placement, and boss patterns. I've finished it a few times myself and I'm generally pretty terrible at most things.

it's still one of the best NES games of all time

Why were old vidya box covers so kino?

play a real ninja game pleb

2's the best mate.

Because no internet and no youtube so you had to convince kids to buy your game by using the box art.

agreed, they are all 3 around the same quality imo, just slight differences. it's just that the story of II made me enjoy it a ton less than the other ones, it felt phoned-in and uninspired. I see a lot of people saying III felt that way to them, but IMO III is the opposite of thay

not at all, you just are hearing the subhumans squak. it's the same crowd who unironically uses dark souls as a difficulty.

t. never finished the games without some emulator bullshit and save states

>No defeat / game over condition
>No real penalty for dying
>Infinite retries
>Your main healing item has free, infinite recharges
>Shields can deny 100% damage
>Dodges are on-demand invincibility frames
>A few enemies scattered between one checkpoint to the other
>Can grind as needed
>Can summon other players to clear the game for you

Dark Souls's difficulty is the biggest meme ever, and I talk as someone who loves the series.

man ninjas were the shit back then

why would i emulate a game that i own in my nes library?

I was having the conversation earlier with a friend. do you think that if a game from the nes era that is considered difficult was to be released in the modern era as a brand new never before seen IP would it get the same cult following of autistic shits who screech its the hardest game ever? I'm talking if Castlevania 1 or ninja gaiden came out now.

cuphead is the closest example I could think of something like this. and even though on release people were screaming about how hard it is, after awhile it simmered down and now people can recgonize its simply "difficult" and not "impossible" like how soulsborne cucks hype their games up to be

Act VI in 1 is the most bullshit I've ever encountered otherwise it's superb. AVGN accurately sums up how I feel about the game.

I think people would try the game, complain about how hard it is and leave it, turning said game into a niche title.
Dark Souls became a phenomenon because it stands on a middle ground of sorts: hard enough to catch people used to modern games off-guard, but still easy enough to be beatable by those same people.

I love how his design without the mask changed dramatically in every sequel, more anime every time.

ninja gaiden 2 for the nes didn't have passwords and it was really hard to finish in one sitting

i think the famicon version had passwords, that made it much easier

Only if its a fun challenge