Ninja Gaiden/Act VI

You will have to walk through a building filled with your enemies in order to reach the final boss of the game, and in the process, you'll have to repeat two other boss fights before you reach the final boss. You start off by facing two brawlers and two log swinger. They move quite quickly, and they will stop at nothing to get on either side of you and pin you in. Jump up to the upper ledge if necessary to get away from them. Up ahead is a pole that you can hang from and attack, but it's too easy for the enemies to attack you from either side. Two tonfa wielder will join the fight after you advance far enough to the right, while a group of wrestlers will appear from the left. Beyond that, another log swinger and some brawlers will appear. If you get one of the poles far enough to the left of the screen, it may be safer to use it to fight the enemies since it keeps them to the right of you.

After you clear this section, you are in your first mini-boss brawl. For the third time, you must take out the giant warrior twins that you faced at the end of Acts II and V. A tonfa wielder and a log swinger will join the fight. You can use the small table near the bottom of the screen to keep enemies separated by standing to the left of the table so the weaker enemies are forced to approach you from the left. Once they're gone, take out the two giant twins the same you have in the past, by keeping them apart and moving up and down to get clear of their attacks and draw them into yours. If you die here and continue, you will be forced to start the stage over from the beginning.

Once the scrolling continues, you start off by facing some wrestlers and tonfa wielders. The first barrel on the ledge quite frequently contains an extra life, but it can be difficult to push an enemy into it without scrolling the screen too far to the right. Use the poles sticking out of the walls to hang from and attack the enemies as they approach. More enemies will replace the ones you defeat, including some brawlers. Defeat the last few brawlers and tonfa wielders to advance to the next mini-boss fight.

This time, it's a repeat of the trio of claw-wearing fighters that originally appear as one large man in a cloak. Once they break down, they will attempt to surround you on all sides. You can use the table and the barrel as obstacles which can prevent them from ganging up on you. These guys are even more likely to retaliate by flipping backward and leaping forward to attack you. For this reason, it's a bit safer to attempt to defeat them solely with the Flying Neck Throw attack, since they can't counter-attack you when you use it. The trouble with that attack is it often leaves you vulnerable when you land in between the other two enemies as a result, forcing you to try to evacuate as quickly as you can. If you do decide to take them on with normal attacks, be very prepared to move up or down immediately as soon as you see them leaping backward. If you get defeated and continue, you won't be sent back nearly as far; only to the few enemies who appeared prior to this battle.

If you do survive this fight, all of the time on the clock will be restored as you slowly advance to the final boss of the game. He descends from a chair and then stands up and leaps down to fight against you. He wields two very large swords which he swings outward simultaneously, and he can breath a large blast of fire at you. All of his attacks do at least three bars of damage to your health. And if you die here, you start over before the previous mini-boss fight. As you attempt to him, you may find that he appears to be invincible to any attacks made in front of him, or from either side. It is foolish to try to damage him from any of these directions. However, there is a sure-fire way of hitting him and knocking him down almost every time. Stand near the bottom of the screen to lure him down, and then hold up and jump so that you leap over his head and land in the background. He will start to walk up towards you. At that point, start attacking immediately, and as he crosses your vertical plane, you will be able to hurt him and knock him down. Then return to the bottom of the screen and repeat this process until you've knocked him down enough times to defeat him. Then you will be presented with the end of the game and the staff credits.