| | Ninja Gaiden Secrets
If the intense action and drop-dead graphics inNinja Gaiden® aren’t enough to keep you interested, the designers and developers at Tecmo and Team Ninja have included lots of unlockable goodies and hidden treasures to keep you coming back for more.
Choose your weapon wisely.
Veterans know that a ninja’s best friends are his tools. There are more than 10 melee and ranged weapons available in Ninja Gaiden, but you only start with one: the Dragon Sword. If you upgrade the sword as you go, this default katana is powerful enough for gamers to work their way through the entire game. The real fun comes when you’ve gotten good enough to branch out and make use of the other powerful weapons. Beating the game on the Normal difficulty unlocks the Plasma Saber, which is functionally the same as the Dragon Sword (with a few new moves), but it looks so much cooler that you’ve got to see it in action to fully appreciate it.
The other secret weapon doesn’t seem like much at first. The wooden sword has a small attack list when compared to the other weapons in the game, but only until you’ve completely upgraded it. The blacksmith must improve to level seven before the wooden sword can achieve its final form, known as Unlabored Flawlessness. Once it achieves this state, its limited move list and lack of cutting power no longer matter—it’s now one of the most powerful weapons in the game. The upgraded wooden sword functions more like a tonfa stick or bo staff than a sword, letting you whack the snot out of your enemies without cutting them. You’ll need more than 100,000 essence points to unlock Unlabored Flawlessness, but those who have done so say it’s worth every penny. 
Inside you’ll find ninja history.
Tecmo and Team Ninja also included the first three Ninja Gaiden games from console gaming’s early days, but you’ll have to work to find them. Once you collect your old-school goodness, you can play them in the arcade cabinet found in Han’s Bar or start them from the main menu (provided you’ve beaten the game with the unlockable games in your inventory).
To get the first game, you must collect all 50 Golden Scarabs and give them to Masamura. He’ll then give you the cartridge in exchange. You can get the second game either by achieving the Master Ninja Rank in all levels on normal difficulty or by obtaining Ninja Gaiden 1 and returning to the Clock Tower in Level 5. Just shoot the clock face, go through the open door, and look in the chest. To earn Ninja Gaiden 3, you must get a Master Ninja ranking in all levels on Hard or Very Hard, or you can return to the Peristyle Passage in Level 10 and rebound back and forth on the columns until you land on top of the broken one (where there used to be a scarab). Collect your game and enjoy. 
Xbox marks the spot.
The biggest and best hidden treasure can be found in an alley off Pleasure Street in Level 4, on the way to Han’s Bar. It’s easy to find the Golden Scarab in this alley, but the blue stripes on the walls point to something extra. To access it, you must wall run on the first wall, leap across to the second, and continue running. Leap to the third and fourth, and then jump up onto the hidden area (you may need to perform an X or Y attack to get enough height). There you will discover the extremely useful Windmill Shiruken (which is big enough to take off a Spider Ninja’s head and always returns like a boomerang) and the giant Xbox® Machine. This silver savior will totally restore your health and all your Ninpo, as many times as you need it. In a game as hard as this one, this unlimited power-up is a true blessing.
There are even more hidden treasures and unlockable goodies inNinja Gaiden. The more you play, the more you’ll find to enjoy. By Pete Hutter |
