Kid Niki: Radical Ninja/Stage 6

At the Castle Gate

 * 10: You will first encounter a trio of Striped fox clan member who stack up to form a tower and approach you. You're better off jumping up, attacking those members at the top of the tower, and leaping over the rest.  Following that, you will encounter a trio and a quartet of such members back to back.  Wait for them to form up, and them jump straight up, swinging your sword as you do.  You'll need to do this twice, once for each tower.  As two cartwheeling Striped fox clan members approach you from either side, and a guerrilla kite ninja appears up above, another quartet will be forming to attack.  Take out the other distractions first, then deal with the tower.


 * 9: Take out another kite ninja as you leap up to the first platform. Then leap up to the next platform and jump over the Striped fox clan member below.


 * 8: A masked bird will appear. Take out all of the clones that appear, and then chase after the last bird.  Jump along the platforms as you chase the last bird, and strike it when you are within range.  Let the quartet of fox clan members form a tower, and attack the top member while safely standing on the platform below the watch bird.  Take out the watch bird, and when the coast is clear, collect the silver bell if you managed to make the bird drop it.


 * 7: As you jump to the next platform, you will begin to see White fox clan members scaling the wall and blowing bubbles up at you. If you managed to collect the silver bell, you can use the throwing stars to attack the ones beneath you as you cross the area.


 * 6: Continue passing over the White fox clan members, safely dodging the bubbles as you go. Take them out if you get close enough to hit them.  Then leap to the floor beyond the platforms.


 * 5: After a guerrilla kite ninja appears, many cartwheeling Striped fox clan members will attack you from either side. In addition, Red fox clan members will also appear and attack you from both directions.  To evade much of the trouble, it is recommended that you leap over the approach cartwheelers, and only stop to attack the Red fox clan members and pursuing Striped fox clan members when you have to.


 * 4: The attack of the Striped and Red fox clan members will continue through this portion of the stage, along with occasional reinforcement attacks from kite ninjas. Leap up to the steps and end the pursuit of Striped fox clan members behind you.


 * 3: Climb the steps, and leap down to the first platform below. You should be able to remove the White fox clan member scaling the wall near by.  The remaining three can be a bit tricky.


 * 2: Jump up to the highest ledge. Note that there is a very low lying platform at the bottom of the screen.  This platform creates a gap between the second and third White fox clan members.  If you time your jump between bubbles, you can land down there and take out at least two of the bubble blowers, before leaping to the right and climbing up the ladder to reach the boss.

Boss: Samurai Guard
The Samurai Guard is quite robotic, and actually very non-threatening. It will approach you until it gets close enough to you, and then it will swing its spear up and down. It will never actually attempt to harm you unless you walk into it. Anytime you hit it, however, both your weapon and the guard's weapon will be dislodged, and you will both be forced to recollect them. The trick is to hit the guard in a location where you will have faster access to your weapon than the guard. That location is along the left wall in front of the ladder. If you lure the guard all the way over, and attack him, your sword won't go nearly that far, and you will be able to grab it and attack the guard before it can fully recover. The guard's vulnerable point is its head. All you must do is collect your sword, run up to hit, jump up and hit it in the head before he recovers his stance. Hit him three times to defeat him. It may take some practice to get right, but you do not have to fear getting attacked by the guard as long as you keep a healthy distance.

NES differences

 * Only one quartet of Striped fox clan member will greet you at the castle entrance. The remaining members merely jump when you approach them.
 * In addition to regular guerrilla kite ninjas, a second type of kite ninja will hover overhead and drop knives down at you from above. It will colored with a green tinge.
 * A lone White fox clan member can be seen clinging to the wall in the middle of the stage (shown right).
 * As you walk along the long floor, your only opponents will be a few quartets of Striped fox clan members that stack to form towers, and guerrilla kite ninjas. Stop and defeat the Striped fox clan members completely before proceeding.
 * There are many more White fox clan members clinging to the walls at the end of the stage. They will drop down and climb back up between blowing bubbles.  Use this opportunity to safely pass over them and, if possible, attack them.
 * Although there is no wall on the left side during the fight with the Samurai Guard, the strategy is the same. Lure it to the left side of the screen before you attack.  However, when you do have the chance to strike its head, be sure to jump away to the left.  In this version, the guard reels back to the left, and if you are jumping to the right, you can get killed when the guard backs up.  The guard needs to be hit five times in this version.

Secret Area
6-4: After using the platforms to cross two pools of water, come back to the left and fall over the right edge of the second pool. You will be transported to a tunnel that contains flocks of watch birds which bounce around the edges of the tunnel. They can be attacked, but when one remains, it will fly about much faster and become harder to dodge. A Princess doll can be collected at the end of the tunnel before the ladder, which leads back up to the stage and deposits you at 6-7.