Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, known in Japan as Ninja Ryukenden II: Ankoku no Jashinken (忍者龍剣伝 II 暗黒の邪神剣?, lit. "Legend of the Ninja Dragon Sword II: The Demonic Sword of Darkness") and as Shadow Warriors II: The Dark Sword of Chaos in Europe (alternatively known as Shadow Warriors II: Ninja Gaiden II), is a side-scrolling platforming video game developed and published by Tecmo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). This is the second installment in the Ninja Gaiden trilogy for the NES and it was released in Japan on April 6, 1990 (1990-04-06), in North America in May 1990, and in Europe on October 27, 1994 (1994-10-27). The game was later released for the Commodore Amiga and DOS-based PCs by GameTek in 1991. It was then released for the Wii's Virtual Console service on October 15, 2007 (2007-10-15) in North America.
The events in Ninja Gaiden II take place one year after the events in the first Ninja Gaiden game. It is about an evil emperor named Ashtar who, after hearing of Jaquio's defeat, devises a plan to take over the world and engulf it in darkness through an evil sword called the Dark Sword of Chaos. A U.S. Army agent named Robert T. Sturgeon recruits the game's main protagonist Ryu Hayabusa and tells him that he is the only person who can stop him. The game received positive praise in previews from Electronic Gaming Monthly and Nintendo Power and continued to receive high ratings and coverage, being nominated for several awards from Nintendo Power in 1991. Overall, reviewers have said that visuals and controls of Ninja Gaiden II improved over its predecessor while maintaining a high level of difficulty for players; the game was criticized for having a more generic and predictable plot. The game maintains lasting appeal among players, with one reviewer saying that Ninja Gaiden II is "a challenging experience the likes of which gamers in the 8-bit era lived and died for".
Read more about Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword Of Chaos: Plot, Gameplay, Reception
Famous quotes containing the words dark, sword and/or chaos:
“The soul’s dark cottage, battered and decayed,
Lets in new light through chinks that Time has made:
Stronger by weakness, wiser men become
As they draw near to their eternal home.
Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view
That stand upon the threshold of the new.”
—Edmund Waller (1606–1687)
“He who the sword of heaven will bear
Should be as holy as severe;
Pattern in himself to know,
Grace to stand, and virtue go;
More nor less to others paying
Than by self-offenses weighing.
Shame to him whose cruel striking
Kills for faults of his own liking!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I say to you: we must still have chaos within us to be able to give birth to a dancing star. I say to you: you still have chaos within you.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)