Part 29: Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 - Chapter 15

No Transformers talk this video, but instead we focus on a couple of noticeable improvements to this section of the game and not much else, 'cause Team Ninja still had no money to spare on expanding these already short late game chapters.


So first things first, the excessive bloom from the 360 version of this chapter is toned way the hell down. No one likes it, and it's one of those things that devs were addicted to using early in the 360 and PS3 days.

Secondly, not just having a rematch with Marbus but also having it preceded by a cutscene goes a long way and straight up addresses a problem I had with the Tengu brothers fight in the previous chapter. Because of the lack of introduction from Ryu's perspective, they come off as just nobodies. At least with Marbus, and him being the last of the Vigoorian Greater Fiends to survive the end of Ninja Gaiden 1, it makes sense to have a scene acknowledging that both characters recognize each other, and that Ryu has no time for his shit. And the fight is still fun.

Outside of that, there's some minor, additional changes like the lava lake in the Zedonius fight, shortening the dead woods section right after, and reworking the Volf rematch in a way that feels pretty lame. But this chapter is still about as short as it was in the base game, mainly because we're all done with Tests of Valor so there's no more of that type of content to pad things out (of course Sigma 2 nixed it completely, so this is more a general observation). But this and the next chapter, if you were to look at them side by side, could easily have been combined into one because how quick and dirty the end game chapters feel. You'd think there'd be some more meaningful expansion done to this area or something, right? It's not often you get to go into hell in a video game and you wanna see just how crazy and out there the level designers make it. Quite a missed opportunity, in all honesty.