Karmic Challenge
Ninja Gaiden® is famous for its sweet graphics and fast action. Big scores aren’t just about your kill count, though. Each individual battle is timed, and how quickly you defeat the bad guys is a key element in calculating your Karma Score at the end of each chapter. Here’s a challenge that requires you to maximize your efficiency and wipe out the enemy before the allotted time runs out. Are you game?
Karma counter.
The Karma Clock Is Ticking
First, you have to understand how Ninja Gaiden scores you as a player. Your point total is called Karma, and you earn it by killing enemies, conserving Ninpo, hoarding essence, and clearing the chapter as quickly as possible. Your Karma Score comes from these numbers. But, there is another hidden facet of your Karma Score that’s based on how quickly you defeat each new batch of enemies. Each time you encounter a new group of foes, a mission-specific timer begins to count down. For example, the very first boss you fight in Chapter 1 has an encounter clock that ticks down from 60 seconds. If you defeat Murai in time, you receive a 10,000 point Karma Bonus. Similarly, each encounter in the game has its own time limit, from gangs of Spider Ninja to the 60-fiend challenge to the final boss battle. For enemies that respawn, the encounter bonus is cut in half each time you fight the same group, so eventually, you will receive no bonus at all.
You can access the encounter timer by first pushing the white button to bring up your current Karma totals and then clicking the left thumbstick. This will display your score, the number of kills, and your combos as well as the encounter timer. This is an invaluable tool for tracking your progress in mid-encounter because it lets you know how much longer you have before you lose your bonus.
Kills equal big scores.
Clear Time vs. Encounter Time
In addition to the individual encounter countdowns, each chapter has its own overall time limit that helps determine your score. While it seems obvious that earning the best Clear Time means you’ll want to avoid exploration and run instead of fight whenever possible, it’s not what the designers had in mind. Skipping fights will dramatically decrease your kill count and your combos—two of the key scoring elements—but it will also keep you from earning those fat encounter bonuses. Once you become skilled enough to beat each encounter within the allotted time, it’s always better to stick it out and beat the enemies. Even if you miss the Clear Time bonus, you’ll still have the encounter time bonuses to beef up your score. It’s simply a question of weighing the 100,000 Clear Time bonus against however many encounters there are and how many you feel you can beat. If there are 10 or more encounters, and you’re solid on your skills, then forget the Clear Time bonus … Go for the encounter extravaganza!
Tick-tock tentacles.
Picking a Challenge
Virtually any of the chapters will work for this challenge, as each is loaded with enemies and encounter timers. One of the best examples is from the end of Chapter Five. Once you make it into the courtyard of the Monastery, you’ll face a cluster of Tairon soldiers, three Dragon Fiends, and the Tentacle Fiend, in succession. Each of these encounters has its own ticking clock. You must beat the soldiers in less than 10 seconds, the Fiends in less than 60, and the Tentacle Fiend in less than 82. Each enemy must be dead, and their bodies have to explode within the time limit to earn the encounter bonus.
The final judge of how well you do is the game itself. Your end-of-chapter summary screen will tell you just how much you earned for kills, essence, and more, without breaking down the encounter bonuses. But, if you do it right, everyone will want to know, so keep track and prepare to start bragging!
By Scott McGough
