Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos Boss Strategies- Best Weapons, Ninja Points, and Attack Methods V2.0 (12/29/98) (Added a new section..anyone know about scroll #7?) By "Emptyeye" (emptyeye@juno.com) There are 5 sections Section I: Brief History of this Tip Sheet Section II: The Mystery of the 7th Scroll Section III: Maximum Ninja Points Section IV: Specific Boss Strategies Section V: This Tip Sheet's Future (I'll need your help with this one!) Section VI: Legal Stuff (If you wanna copy this thing) You may have read my review on this game and wonder how I'd know this stuff if I've never beaten the game. Well the night after I wrote that review, I played the game..and beat it. I've done the same about 10 times since then, so I know what I'm talking about. Trust me. :) Now... Section I: Brief History of This Tip Sheet V1.0 (Had sections 3 and 4; written prior to my discovering 7th scroll so therefore contained a typo in Ninja Power; never publically released) V1.1 (Fixed the Ninja Power typo, or so I thought... Added "This Tip Sheet's Future"; Submitted this file to a web site; not sure if it ever got put up due to 2.0 being written soon after) V2.0 (Current version; added "Mystery of the 7th Scroll" and changed Max Ninja Power values to reflect what I know about it; also added "Legal Stuff"; released publically) Section II: Mystery of the 7th Scroll As I was playing through this game for about the 15th time this morning; I came upon something weird..I'd known for several days that there a little talked about 7th scroll in Level 7-2 (The last level before Jaquio), but when I went to get it this time....it wasn't there! Puzzled, I finished the stage. I beat Jaquio's first form but lost to his second (No comment :) ), so I had to redo 7-2. And behold, the scroll was there this time! I figure that you can't get this mysterious 7th scroll until 1. You get to Jaquio, and 2. You beat one of his forms but lose to another. If anyone has information on this please send it to me at the address mentions at the top of this sheet. I'd appreciate it and I'll give you credit for figuring it out. If you're wondering, it's located right before the first ladder in 7-2, second power-up from the left I believe (of course it might just be a blue Ninja-Power-Up). Section III: Maximum Ninja Points Here are the suggested maximum Ninja Points to have when fighting each boss: (NOTE: This is from personal experience; maximum Ninja Points are increased by collecting scrolls found throughout the stages of the game; to my knowledge it is not possible to collect more than this number [without using Game Genie, etc] at that part of the game...also these reflect what I currently know about the 7th scroll mentioned in Section II) Dando the Cursed (Stage 1-2): 040 Baron Spider (Stage 2-3): 050 Funky Dynamite (Stage 3-3): 060 (Sensing a pattern yet?) Naga Sotuva (Stage 4-3): 070 Ashtar (Stage 5-3): 080 The Kelbeross (Stage 6-3): 090 Jaquio (First Form [Stage 7-3]): 100 (110?) Jaquio (Second Form [Stage 7-4]): 110 Jaquio (Third Form [Stage 7-5]): 110 Section IV: Strategies This section goes into detail about how to beat the bosses; it also gives the best ninja art to use against him, listed in parentheses next to the bosses name Dando the Cursed (none)- This boss basically lumbers toward you, smashing into the wall now and again. To beat him, run in, hit him with your sword 5 or 6 times, then climb up the left wall. Just before he slams into it, jump behind him, hit him another 5 or 6 times, then climb the right wall. Again, just before he hits the wall, jump down behind him and hit him. Repeat as necessary. Baron Spider (Art of the Fire Wheel or Fire Dragon Balls)- This is a more difficult battle than the first boss because of 2 things (well 3): First, the wind, combined with being hit, can knock you into a pit if you aren't careful. Secondly, whenever you climb up onto his platform to hit him, he jumps off. Lastly, the spiders he throws out are very annoying. To beat him (If you have Art of the Fire Wheel), throw Fire wheels at him until you run out of Ninja Power. Then climb the wall, being careful to avoid his spiders (An inch or 2 off the wall is a safe spot), jump on to his platform and hit him a couple of times. He'll jump off. Follow him and hit him some more. He'll jump back on the platform. Repeat the process until he dies. Alternately, if you have Fire Dragon Balls, you can climb to the very top of the wall and throw them at him until you run out. He'll jump off the platform but you'll still hit him. If you come into the battle with full Ninja Power and 2 clones, you can maneuver both of them up the wall (by moving slightly up and down the wall near the top) and kill him with Fire Dragon Balls without ever having to get down. Funky Dynamite (Art of the Fire Wheel)- He hovers around the top of the screen throwing bullets at you, until you hit him, then he come down briefly, shoots up 4 fireballs in much the same pattern as Baron Spider's spiders, goes back up, and repeats. Again, shoot the Art of the Fire Wheel at him (only when he's in the air) until you run out. When you do, climb on one of the pedestals, jump at him, and hit him. Again, if you have clones, it's possible to position them so that throwing the Art of the Fire Wheel at him will kill him if you have full Ninja Power. It's also possible to position one in the air to hit him so he comes down, then leave the clone there (don't move!) so he'll hit Dynamite again when he tries to go back up. You can also kill him this way. Naga Sotuva (Art of the Fire Wheel [another pattern])- Naga himself doesn't actually attack you. Two claws, one from each side, alternate sweeping the platforms near Naga's head, his only vulnerable point. Again, with the Art of the Fire Wheel and two clones, it's easy work. Drop to the lower level with the water rushing along it. Go to its left side but DON'T drop off the cliff. Continually adjusting to keep Ryu on the ledge- this puts his clones very close to him- give him the Fire Wheel until he dies. Even without clones do this if you have the Fire Wheel. However, without clones you probably won't kill Naga.So here's another strategy. Watch the claw to see which ledge it sweeps first (it alternates). Go to the OTHER ledge, staying on the outer side of it. Hit the face two or three times, then go to the other ledge, hit him another couple of times, and so on until he dies. Ashtar (Art of the Fire Wheel)- Ashtar appears and disappears at will, shooting fireballs in 8 directions and having them come back to him. As usual the Art fo the Fire Wheel will take him out with 2 clones, but because of his appearing and disappearing it's a bit harder. To start, attach yourself to the very bottom of the right wall until his fireballs go out. Then rush in, Fire Wheel 2 or 3 times, and reattach yourself to the wall. Ashtar is only vulnerable briefly each time he appears. Repeat this until he dies or you run out of Ninja Power. If faced with the latter situation, do what you would if you had thhe Fire Wheel, but jump and attack him with your sword once or twice instead of using the Art of the Fire Wheel. He'll die either way. The Kelbeross (Windwill Throwing Star)- If you've fought these guys in the first Ninja Gaiden, you'll know what to expect; the only difference is their starting point (and the fact that there's no Jump and Slash to save your neck) . If not, here's what to expect- The Kelbeross appear out the wall and take short hops around the room, occasionally spitting out poison that can be hit with your sword. The catch is that only one will lose energy off of the energy bar if you hit it (it's the one on the right when you first walk in). The safest place in the room seems to be near the right pedestal, though it isn't guaranteed that you won't get hit. The Windmill Throwing Star shines in this battle, mostly because you can use it to see which is the real Kelbeross (the fake one moves back after being hit with it). Just stay near the pedestal, striking with the Windmill Star and your sword, hitting what poison comes toward you, and victory will be yours. Jaquio's First Form (Windmill Throwing Star)- This is in my opinion the hardest boss in the game. Jaquio randomly swoops around the room, throwing fireballs that go where you're standing (or clinging to if you're on the wall) . Windmill Throwing Stars from the wall seem to be the best attack against him, but I've yet to beat him using only Windmill Stars. Again, if you can get your clones close to you when he swoops for you, you can hit him for 2 or 3 points of damage every time. There is no true "safe spot" in the room, but Jaquio himself can't hit you if you hang on the wall. To hit him, wait until he comes right next to you while you hang on the wall, then jump off and strike at his face with your sword. It takes awhile, but as long as you stay clear of his fireballs and repeat this pattern, you can win. Jaquio's Second Form (None)- But you're not done yet. Now Jaquio becomes a huge face in the wall. Acid continually drops from the ceiling, and the face rhythmically spits fire at you. You don't really need any Ninja Arts for this battle; just jump up and strike at his face once, jump the fire, take care to avoid the acid falling from the ceiling (It helps if you stay as close to the face as possible, believe it or not), repeat the pattern, and prepare to face... Jaquio's Third Form (Windmill Throwing Star)- You have to deal with several attacks in this battle. Hands sweep the bottom of the screen. In addition, Jaquio shoots streams of fire from his mouth (again in a rhythm). When you defeat his face, his body starts erupting scythes or something, and you have to kill his heart. Luckily his face isn't that hard. There are 2 options if you have clones. The first is waiting for him to fire off his first stream of fire (duck at the lower left hand corner of the screen), jumping up and hitting his face once, ducking back down at the lower corner of the screen (facing left), and having the second clone (it only works if there are two) swing his sword until he dies. The other option (which works even without clones) is to throw ONE Windmill Throwing Star at it. Then it dies. If neither of these are an option to you, just repeat the pattern for using clones, but after every stream of fire, come back out and hit him again. Repeat until is heart is exposed. Then just run in, jump and strike it until he dies, using up whatever left over Ninja Power you have for Windmill Throwing Stars. If you're low on energy dodge the scythes as well, just wait as long as you can before moving because they follow you around. Congratulations! You've won! And with no help. :) (2 Notes on Jaquio: First, if you die and go back through Stage 7-2, you get to start on whatever form you were on when you died, though he'll have full energy again. For example if you get to his third form and then die, you can start back at that third form when you get through stage 7-2. Secondly, something tells me that the Art of the Fire Wheel would be very useful against him, especially in the second form, but I haven't been able to survive to Jaquio and still carry it. If anyone can tell me how effective it is I'd appreciate it (I'll give you credit for it too). Section V: The Future of this Tip Sheet I am aware that there are difficult parts of this game besides the bosses, but I'm sure you don't care about what I find tough. And I don't know what you'd find difficult. So I need your help in figuring that out. E-Mail me with your trouble spot (also mention whether you'd like credit for pointing it out) and I'll write help for it and add it to this sheet. So long for now.. -Marc Section VI: Legal stuff (or, what to do if you wanna use this sheet) I personally don't care what you do with this, as long as I know about it. Just E-mail me with what you want to do with it and I'll let you. Just know that if you're gonna quote parts of it to give me credit for writing it originally. My only source for this guide besides my own playing was Nintendo Power Issue 15 (NGII Strategy Guide), and even from there I only got the Boss names and the place to stand in the battle with Ashtar.