Part 13: Ninja Gaiden II - Chapter 6

We begin the second half of Ryu's visit to the Aqua Capital, and it all culminates in quite possibly one of the most amazingly stupid things to entertain me in a video game. Is it the Drunken Skeleton? Is it the boss fight with Volf? Or is it everything else after that? Maybe all three. I fucking love this chapter.



Eclipse Scythe
A giant scythe handed down in the Lycanthrope tribe of Fiends.

The designated heavy weapon of Ninja Gaiden II. We don't get a big Berserk style great sword like in the last game, but this is more than a worthy substitute due to the different types of moves available. The Dabilahro and War Hammer in Ninja Gaiden 1 were very clearly ground weapons, but the Eclipse Scythe makes up for this with decent air combo potential, and its primary gimmick of being able to impale and throw enemies caught on its blade serves as a good connective tissue for transitioning between multiple combos. Plus the sheer power of it all. You want this if everything in your path needs to die fast. Even the big, heavy Fiends we've faced thus far, and then some.


Bosses

Drunken Skeleton
I don't care if this thing has an official name. In fact, I could probably look it up and list what it is, but I'm not gonna, because Tomonobu Itagaki had such a strong vision for how he wanted this lumbering ass hat to behave that he opted to do the motion capture for the Drunken Skeleton. It even gets its own spot in the credits at the end of the game. I fucking love this guy.

But for the actual boss now. It's large enemy obviously, comparable to the likes of Godomus all the way back in Chapter 4, though here the main approach to it is based around wailing on its ankles to make it fall over. A classic video game boss design trope. Though any damage you deal is still damage, your goal is to get it either lowered or launch yourself high enough with a large weapon that you can hit its exposed core to make it lose health real fast. Its attacks though? Not difficult to deal with if you're not rushing yourself to hit it every second.

• At long range, the Skeleton will kick a pile of bones at you that have a very wide hitbox and have a very short window to dodge effectively. It's better to be up close to minimize him doing this move, but it obviously has other risks.
  
• Up close he will slam his fists into the ground and both hits have pretty big shockwaves.
  
• He will occasionally pick up bones from the floor and "attempt" to eat them, but this actually serves as an attack that will do damage to Ryu. It's minor damage per hit, but it will stun and knock you out of a combo.
  
• Another up close move is him spinning his tail around the arena. This is extremely easy to avoid by playing defensively, confirming a block before dodging, or just hugging his ankles while roughly going in the same circular direction his tail is.
  
• He's got two grab moves with the same wind up that's really hard to see coming. The first grab has him sit down, drop bones on Ryu's then grind his head into his neck. The second and more hilarious attack involves the skeleton putting Ryu in his mouth, running into the wall, and repeatedly bashing his head until you mash buttons to get out of his grip.
  

Volf
Volf! Greater Fiend!! AND INVINCIBLE RULER OF STORMS!!!

...

...is a fucking jobber.

For real, for as much as he's talked up a big game leading up, Volf is the easiest of the Four Greater Fiends to fight. The big reason being that despite having hard hitting attacks he is slow. Slow relative to the default speed that the game operates at, but it still means you can get in full combos on his ass more consistently than you could with Alexei, who was constantly mixing you up and keeping you on your toes.

• Usually right off the bat Volf does a forward charge attack that he uses to close the distance if you're standing too far back. The charge does track though, so you can't dodge early.
  
• When up close, Volf will occasionally do a leap into a ground stomp move that is also very unsafe to try and block.
  
• Volf has two types of ground melee attacks. The first type is with his scythe, including a variety of combos involving wide horizontal swings and ending with a large vertical overhead. He also can use the scythe to summon a shockwave that travels quite a distance.
  
• The other type of melee attack is much simpler, and it is Volf punching the ground with his off hand that can knock back Ryu quite a ways if caught in it.
  
• Volf, like pretty much every boss, has his own grab moves, but it is more easily telegraphed than others. Dodging is still another matter though, as one of them involves him running forward towards Ryu and is similarly hard to avoid like his forward charge attack. The second grab attack has a noticeable lean back before he grabs Ryu with all four arms and proceedsto pummel him.