Ninja Gaiden (NES)/Act 6

This is the final act of the game. It includes the most difficult portions of any stages in the game and requires skill to defeat the multiple bosses at the end.

Stage 6-1
This stage starts off right where the previous Act ended. From the location of your fight with Malth, you must now run far to the left. You will first encounter a machine gunner, with a bat quickly appearing from behind. If you continue running left, you can outrun the bat. As you approach the first platform, a demonic hunchback creature will be waiting to pounce on you. Rush towards him and as you do, an eagle that appears from the right will be forced off the screen. The hunchback is accompanied by another gunner. A bat will also appear from the left, and fly harmless under the platform.

A whirlwind kicker will jump off the next platform, and a dragon cannon is waiting behind him. Another bat will fly below the platform. The next platform will contain three dragon cannons. When you approach the third, an eagle will appear. Be sure to remove it before continuing. At the end of this platform, you will find a candle with the Jump and Slash technique. You can use this technique to easily slash your way through the last group of enemies, but be aware that this will drain much of the spirit points you've collected so far. Despite that fact, it is the easiest way to clear your way through the hunchbacks, eagles, and whirlwind kickers that guard the final approach to Stage 6-2. Once you see the door, run straight for it.

Stage 6-2
Run to the right, killing two ground enemies. As you approach the column with the club tosser, a dog will appear from the right. Take it out, and wall jump up between the columns to remove the club tosser. From the top of the taller column, hit the high candle on the way down and collect the Windmill Star. Watch out for another dog running from the left when you land.

Continue over the platform with another club tosser, and hit the candle before the high ledge to find a red Spirit point tile. There is a dog on the ledge above which you can encourage to jump off by approaching the wall. If you backtrack, the dog will return, but if you use the wall-hop technique, you can climb the wall without the dog returning.

On the other side of the wall, take out the enemy on the first platform, and then use the Windmill Star to take out the second. From here it gets difficult. Jet-pack ninjas appear, scattering many throwing stars in the air. Try to remain stable on the large platform until the ninjas are gone. The candle at the left end contains the Jump and Slash technique. This can be very useful to help you get past the next few ninjas, but be aware that it will drain your spirit points. When you reach the next ledge, you will find the Windmill Star in the candle. Use it to remove the enemy guarding the ladder to the next section.

After hopping over the small platforms to the high ledge on the left, you'll have to run and drop down to the next platform containing a machine gunner, and defeat him immediately. If you give him a chance to start shooting, your chances of taking him out without sustaining damage drop considerably. As you jump to the next platform, a bat will appear from the left and an eagle will appear from below. Slash the bat out of the air, and wait for the eagle to approach before attacking it and continuing on.

The high candle above the floor contains the Flame technique. Likewise, the very high candle to the right of the narrow column contains the Windmill Star. If you already have the Windmill Star and wish to keep it, ignore both of these candles. Further to the left, you will encounter a few dragon cannons. An ax thrower guards the high platform above. The nearby candle contains the regular Throwing Star. Remove the hunchback demon on the floor, and then wall jump up to the ladder above.

After jumping up above the ladder and over to the right, attack the enemy guarding the larger platform and jump over. When you land, a commando will run towards you from the left. Not long after you see him and turn around to attack him, a bat will appear on the right, and an eagle will fly up from below. Prioritize the commando, then the bat, and then position yourself to attack the eagle. If you retreat too much, these animals will reappear.

After you jump over to the next platform, a dagger thrower will appear to the right. You can position yourself so that the dagger thrower backs off the screen. If not, use a Windmill Star to remove him. As you approach the edge of the platform, an eagle will appear from the upper right. Squat down to duck beneath him, then jump over to the next platform. A commando will rush toward you from the right. Try to attack it in mid-air and then duck back down beneath the eagle on its return flight. It should fly right off the screen, allowing you to climb up the ladder in safety.

Climb up and hop over the platforms and continue to the right. As soon as you land on the ledge above the ladder, an eagle will appear from the right. If you've made it to this point in the stage without losing a life, time may be a concern, and there's little you can do about it other than lose a life and start over with a full health bar.

Once you land on the floor, several enemies will attack you at once, including an eagle from the upper right corner, a hunchback demon on the ground, and an armored enemy with a sword. Take out the hunchback, and then hit the eagle on its return trip, and then finally the sword enemy. As you approach the smaller column, a ninja will drop from the top of the screen. To collect the potion from the candle next to the tall column, wall jump between the shorter column and the ledge, and then jump from the column to hit the candle. However, don't jump too far to the left or the eagle will return.

Before you climb up to the ledge, be sure to collect the Fire Wheel technique from the candle below the ledge. It's guarded by a sword throwing demon, but the protection it provides you with is invaluable. Once you have it, you can simply blast through the rest of the stage without any concern. Wall jump up to the ledge, jump over to the platform and descend quickly through the door below to reach the next stage.

6-3
Start right this time. Kill the bat simply, no ducking needed. Kill the Gray Ken simply. So far, so easy. Slash at the low candle that contains Magic. Move right and go up the green walls and you'll find a Throwing Axe Man in your way. While you're going up the walls, kill him, don't go all the way up the walls, and also do the tornado. Now let's do some fancy sword-work. Jump, get the candle and slash again, getting Green Fire Spitter, a candle, and a bat. Ignore the candle below, which contains another Tornado. We actually don't need the Tornado, because we'll be jumping and slashing a lot, and we need magic. OK, move up the ladder and find your way up the next ladder. Climb up the ladder, all the way, jump off, and be ready for a Creepy Crawler 2. You can just jump and dodge him, but some people like the satisfaction of killing a Creepy Crawler 2. In your way, as you jump on a higher green platform, is a bat. Simply kill it and get the small Shuriken. Make sure the Creepy Crawler 2 doesn't respawn, which means "Don't move right", and if it does, kill it. Jump onto the higher platform and do the fancy sword-work you did when you killed those 3 things in the beginning of the stage, getting the 2 candles. It doesn't matter if you miss. A bat will be in your way so watch out for that. If you get hit by the bat, a Creepy Crawler 2 respawns. Kill it immediately. Now, here comes a so-satisfying move. If you move left, you will find a Silver Surfer, and 2 Creepy Crawler 2s drop down from the sky. How in the world will we survive? It's actually very simple. Here's what you do. Once you see the Silver Surfer, jump over his double-axe, but a very small jump, so the Creepy Crawler 2 won't hit you. Then jump onto the green platform cleanly. A Creepy Crawler 2 will climb on the wall but don't let him, duck and slash. A harmless "Jumping Green Ninja" will appear that can't hit you unless you jump. So don't. Do the fancy sword-work on the two candles, again. Jump on the green platform and be ready. A falcon will come from below, and a knight guards the next green platform. Once you land on the green platform, LAND on the next green platform and slash. Make sure you land, and slash. Then jump off and kill the falcon. This is really simple, I'm tellin' ya. Climb up the two walls and get the right candle for a windmill shuriken. Once you get it, land on the left greyish platform and kill Stickman with the windmill. Once the windmill comes back at you, jump, avoiding the windmill, onto the green platform. Once you come onto the green platform, duck, avoiding the windmill. Once it comes back, Jump onto the brownish floor, avoiding the windmill. Once it comes back, you'll be under the candle, ducking, avoiding the windmill. It should kill a green ninja and you should have some time to you. Make yourself move quickly up the two green walls. Get the candle, get off, and move up the two green walls. Get the candle, which contains a Fire Wheel, and the timer will end there. Get off the platform and kill the Knight. Get the optional candle. Kill another knight. Move your way up the two Green walls, while killing a guy. Get the candle. Drop down, killing stickman. Get the candle. Move under the green platform (not on top of it), duck, and kill a falcon. Jump straight up, onto the green platform. Jump forward and get a candle. Move up the ladder. If you have any lost energy, move on top of the green platforms and get the candle, that has a health replenisher, without summoning the Hunchback Special Needs guy. Drop down, and very carefully stay to the left of the far right green platform, the one the Hunchback Special Needs guy is on. Use the Fire Wheel that you have while you are to the left of the green platform, and immediately run to the hourglass that dropped from the candle. Move forward, get the next candle, move up the walls quickly, get both candles on the top, and the timer should stop about there. Drop down and you'll find a Throwing Axe Man. Kill him. Now go slow on this section, because there's a lot of enemies here. You'll find a Gray Ken. Kill him. Then you'll find a falcon. Kill him. Then you'll see a Hunchback Special Needs guy drop from the sky. When you see the special needs guy, run straight to the final boss room. And you're there. Voilà. Actually, that last ladder, and on, is probably the hardest part of the game, besides Jaquio.

Section 1
The tileset changes here to an orange-theme. Ryu starts to the left of two tall, columns topped with a hand with an eye in the palm. As you run to the right, you'll first meet a bat as you pass between the two hand columns. Just beyond that are two lamps, one within reach by jumping and one much higher up. A grey spinning jumper will appear. Run towards it and jump and slash. You should kill it just below the lamps. As the grey jumper dies a bat will spawn from the left side. Break the bottom lamp (blue weapon power) while you wait and kill it or start moving to the right.

As you approach the green column and then the large green rectangular block, wall jump up between them and jump on the block. Kill the axe thrower if he is on the edge, otherwise ignore him and jump up to the left green column. Jump out and grab the top lamp (fire attack).

Make your way back up to the top of the green block. Kill the axe thrower and move right. A bat and a fire breathing snake statue will be there. Run up and kill the statue and you should kill the bat at the same time. The lamp in the middle here is an orange weapon power (the other two are points).

Move to the right and jump onto the ladder and climb up to section 2.

Summary: bat, grey jumper, lamp, wall jump green platform, axe thrower, middle lamp, ladder.

Section 2
There are no enemies here. Jump to the left of the ladder, wall jump between the left wall and the broken hand column until you are on top of the broken column. Jump to the right onto the floating green platform, then jump up to the right onto the ladder and climb up to section 3.

Section 3
Climb all the way up the green ladder then jump the left. As you approach the first jump and running jumper will appear. Slash as you jump and you should kill it. Perform the same timing on the next jump to kill the bat and break the lamp at the same time (Shuriken). Then kill the bat by the two lamps (both are points). Get ready to jump down into a trap.

A white axe thrower will appear from the left side of the screen. As you approach it, two blue jumpers will appear, one from each side of the screen. Make your way to the left and out of the pit as soon as possible or you will get hit many times. The best way out is to run towards the white axe thrower, jump to avoid the first axe, land in front of it, then jump again to the left without touching him. You can easily get out with just taking a single hit. As you get out of the pit, run to the left edge. A green ninja will continue to drop down and jump to the left but if you stay to the right of the left edge, where the black crack in the floor is, you won't get hit.

Break both lamps (blue weapon power x2) and stand to the left of the crack until the ninja stops appearing. As you jump onto the first floating green platform, a silver eagle will appear from below. Stand on the right edge of the platform and prepare to take a hit. The eagle will hit you down to the green platform with the black crack you came from. Immediately jump back up and make the jump to the next platform where the white knight is and slash it as you land. Make the final jump to safety as the eagle is likely chasing you at full speed.

Alternatively, if you have the shuriken, jump onto the green platform and run to the left edge. Throw a shuriken to kill the white knight, then leap across. The blue jumper will fall behind you and the white eagle will catch up to you on the next platform. Continue onwards. Kill the eagle when you are safely on the ground.

The rest of this section revolves around white knights, sword throwers, another white eagle, stopping time vs. a falling ninja.

Section 4
Climb the ladder, hop left, then right. Get onto the floor and move right. You will see a crouched white jumper sitting on a column. This indicates an upcoming trap. Run past to the right and do not stop to grab the lamp. If you jump to get the lamp, you will get hit by one of the three falling jumpers. Immediately start climbing the wall.

When you get to the top, kill the two fire breathing snake statues. If you can't kill them immediately, your best bet is to hop over them, taking some damage, and fall down immediately.

Grab the lamp that is closest to the green block. It contains a fire technique. Continue to the right, avoiding lamps, and killing any enemies that pose a threat. Stop before you go through the door.

At this point, if you have 0 or 1 extra lives you should kill yourself. Once you go through this door you will have to face the final bosses. If you lose to any of them, you will start back at 6-1, so it is best to have a decent amount of HP and 2 extra lives to give you several chances of practicing against the bosses. However: if you defeat a boss, such as the Masked Devil, you will not have to re-face it again once you make it this far.

The Masked Devil
After the cutscene, you will face off against Ryu's mind controlled father, "The Masked Devil". Do not waste any weapon power during this fight.

The Masked Devil will start on the right side of the screen and walk slowly to the left. As it does so, the orb in the middle-right of the room will shoot fireballs diagonally downwards towards the Masked Devil. These fireballs will form a floating shield. Each fireball can be destroyed, but focusing on that does not help.

When you have control, jump up on the middle platform and slash the orb 1-3 times. Run to the left platform and jump as high as you can. Continue to climb the left wall to its highest point. Wait for the masked devil to reach the left wall. The orb will start shooting fireballs diagonally down to the left. Wait for the moment just after a fireball will shoot out, then jump down to the right. Slash towards the orb as you pass the diagonal trajectory to make sure you slash any fireball that comes out. Run past the orb so you don't get shot.

Run and hop over to the right platform. Jump up to the left and slash the orb a couple of times before the Masked Devil gets back to the right. Now climb the right wall. Again, wait for the Masked Devil to reach the wall and the orb to start shooting. Time your jump and get back to the left side. This is the place where you can attack the orb the most, so hit it over and over until it is dead or until you get overwhelmed by the Masked Devil.

After the orb is defeated, another cutscene takes place where Ryu's father regains consciousness and then Jaquio appears and shoots an energy projectile towards Ryu. Before he gets hit, Ryu's father steps in the way and dies.

Alternate method
Ryu's father is really easy if you know how to wall climb on just one wall. At the start of the brawl, get at least one or three hits on the circle. Then start wall climbing. Your father will follow you with the circle helping him get little circles that circle him. But when he's against a wall, the little circles stop appearing when they touch a wall, so the big circle keeps on giving Dad smaller circles infinitely. So get in the middle of the process and jump off the wall, onto the floor, get on a little pink platform, and start slashing. Get at least 5 hits. Do the same thing about 4 times and he's back. Then he gets killed.

Jaquio
To start the fight, make sure you're stocked up on Magic and have the Fire Wheel. If not, you're screwed. So how do you know if you should run away from the fireballs or get in the middle? Well, if you see the fireballs cross each other at the beginning of dropping, get in the middle. If not, run away. Take your time on hitting the Jaquio with the Fire Wheel, because you don't want to waste it. Once the Fire Wheel is gone, time to get on the platforms. When should you go on the platforms? Good question. Here are the qualifications.
 * 1) The Jaquio fires two fireballs while standing on the left of the screen.
 * 2) The Jaquio is moving right, after firing the fireballs.
 * 3) Only use the middle platform.
 * 4) Once on the platform, only slash if the Jaquio is to the right of you, and moving away.

So let me make that into a sentence. When the fireballs from the left have passed Ryu, and Jaquio is moving right, get on a platform immediately. Instead of moving towards you, he's going to be moving away, which is good. So you should basically follow him in the air and slash.

Alternative method
Jaquio is the biggest boss you have seen so far. He floats across the top of the screen, back and forth between the two walls. Each time he crosses from one side to the other, he fires out two fireballs, one from each hand. The fireballs will fly towards where Ryu is standing, so move out of the way. If Ryu is on a platform, the fireballs will curve around continue to chase Ryu, so slash them or hide near the floor while they fly off of the screen.

At the start, run to the right and jump on the platform, then jump on the right wall. The first projectiles should shoot past you through the floor. The second ones should shoot towards the right wall. As he and the projectiles head towards the right, jump off the wall to the left and slash him as you pass under the projectiles. Now cross to the left wall and repeat from that side. Repeat this run, jump/climb, jump, slash pattern until he is defeated.

Act 6-5
You will immediately begin the fight with the Demon Sculpture. In terms of difficulty, it is easier than Jacquio and with practice can be beaten without taking a hit. Go for the head first. Always hit it twice when you jump, or else you're going to get hit by the fireballs a lot. Make sure you stay really close to the head, or else fireballs will hit you. Don't even look at Ryu hitting the head, look at the fireballs. If there's one coming, immediately move. You cannot waste any energy, because when the head comes off, you've got a problem. Do the same thing with the tail, only you don't jump. Look at the fireballs, not the tail. It'll come off soon. Now for the heart. It's the same thing as the head. Look at the fireballs, not the heart. The great thing about this is section of the fight is that no matter how close you are to the Demon Sculpture, you won't get hit, so you can stay as close to the Demon Sculpture as you want. The heart will explode. There goes the Demon. You beat the game. Congratulations. You beat one of the hardest games on the planet.

Simplified method
At the start of this fight, move to the right while dodging the projectiles. Jump and attack the demon's head. After a couple of hits the head will fall off.

Now attack the demon's tail. After a couple of hits the tail will explode.

Now the demon's body is vulnerable. Jump and slash the orb to defeat the demon.