Ninja Gaiden/Act IV

When you first arrive at the Grand Canyon, the setting for Act IV, you will be greeted by two brawlers and two wrestlers. You can immediately jump up to the upper ledge if you wish, but it doesn't necessarily offer any better protection than the floor. Further up ahead, you'll find a tree along the floor with a branch sticking out that you can grab on to like a sign post, and attack enemies as they approach you. A log swinger and a tonfa wielder will join the fight against you. More brawlers and wrestlers will appear, some from the left, as you defeat existing enemies. Above the tree, you will find two tonfa enemies and two brawlers, as well as two barrels along the top ledge, and you might be able to obtain the sword item by destroying one of them.

After walking a short distance, you will arrive in a level area. One log swinger will appear, accompanied by up to eight wrestlers who will all gang up against you. In order to survive this unfair fight, you should attempt to perform the Flying Neck Throw against as many enemies as frequently as possible. Be careful when you land from this attack because you are still vulnerable to attack by any of the enemies who are standing around you. Another log swinger will join the fight when you cleared away some of the earlier enemies. The screen will not advance until you defeat the entire group.

Once you're through here, you will approach a river bank. The river is lined with trees with branches that hang over the water. In the water are several odd looking enemies with extremely stretched out torso who try to grab you. In order to cross this section, you must jump up and grab the first branch, and from this branch, jump to each subsequent branch until you are across. You should attack occasionally in order to stop the water enemies from knocking you off the branch. As you approach the opposite side of the branch, an equally dangerous log swinger is waiting for you. You must time you approach so that you can attack him before he can hit you. A brawler will also come down to attack when you arrive. This is followed by another branch sequence. However, you can bypass it by jumping up to the ledge above, where you must fight two brawlers and a log swinger to get through.

Shortly after, you will reach the end of the stage, where not one, but two sumo wrestlers are waiting for you. When you arrive, they are joined by one tonfa wielder and one wrestler. Although there are two sumos, it isn't terribly more difficult than it was to defeat one, since they don't necessarily work together. You can divide and conquer the enemies in the usual way by moving up and down vertically to keep the enemies from ganging up on you from either side. You may wish to focus on eliminating the two weaker enemies first in order to cut down on the number of potential simultaneous attacks.