Yeah that seems about right. For Xemu, you need the BIOS, MCPX and HDD Image Files separately, which can be found here. No further setup or config needed. You can find the ROM at The Vault. Ninja Gaiden 2 ROM is also available there.

I can send you my config file for Xenia if you want to avoid most of the fiddling, but most of it came from YouTube videos and Reddit threads I found when googling “NG2 Xenia”. It ran really well for me in the end. I experienced the audio bug maybe five times, and restarting fixed it every time. The graphical glitch artifacts were somewhat annoying the first handful of chapters, but still worth it for the higher resolution and completely disappeared after that (apart from during loading screens, but who cares about that).

You said you’ve played before so maybe you already have some fundamentals, but watching a tutorial video on YouTube that goes over basic principles can help a lot. The games sort of expect you to rely on certain mechanics that are never explained, and while you can figure it out yourself it’s probably smoother to watch a tutorial. Also just experiment with combos and weapons: NGB felt very well balanced and encounters that seemed impossible at first felt very possible once “figured out”.

Sorry if I came off as dismissive, my first paragraph was just me musing on why this community in particular hasn’t taken off.

So here is my opinion on the series: Ninja Gaiden Black is an adventure game with great combat. You have exploration, platforming and even an almost Metroidvania-like hub area you backtrack back and forth through. It’s occasionally almost Zelda-like rather than purely an action game. Playing it on Xemu also offsets one of its flaws - stingy checkpoint placement. Just use (but don’t abuse) save states and don’t worry about it. It runs flawlessly on Xemu without any specific setup, and you can set rendering resolution to like x6 and it will look great.

Ninja Gaiden 2 (Xbox 360 version) feels like the crack cocaine of action games. Or I dunno, freebase Meth maybe. It feels like the best action game ever 50% of the time and the worst action game ever 50% of the time. It’s almost pure action, just one murder hallway after another. The sheer amount of enemies, the aggression of the AI and the speed of the combat gives you adrenaline rushes like nothing else. HOWEVER! The game was rushed to release as the devs chased a bonus payout, and the game is blatantly not playtested and balanced properly. It’s especially apparent in the second half of the game. I developed a sort of love-hate relationship with it: I screamed at it in frustration more often than most games but I also cannot wait to go back.

Setting it up in Xenia Canary was much more fiddly than using Xemu. The game must be hard capped at 60 FPS. You need to tweak a bunch of config settings to minimise the occurrence of an audio bug where sound might cut out until you restart (I can send you my config if you want). If you want to increase rendering resolution by x3 you need to accept some minor graphical glitches (primarily in the first couple of chapters).

Don’t play NG3RE unless you’ve already played the other two and can’t wait for NG4. Otherwise just pick your flavour - more adventure game and better balance or an unbalanced but beautiful mess? I should also note that both games are fairly short, my NGB playthrough was 14h and NG2 was 13h, so it’s not a big commitment to play one after the other.

I just don’t know that the fragmentation is super helpful at this level of users, we have what - 4 medium sized basically interchangeable gaming communities? I am not as committed to community consolidation as some other uses but it still feels like concentrating interaction would be better than spreading it out at this point in time.

What mods are you using? If I ever replay it I’ll use an overhaul mod I think as I agree with you about the issues the game has. I know Ghost Mode exists as a “vanilla+” mod, but there are some other overhauls like W3eeRedux that go farther.

This community is kind of in the shadow of all the other gaming communities, it doesn’t feel like it has a strong identity to separate it. There’s already plenty of weekly threads elsewhere to discuss what we’re playing and I already feel like I repeat myself between !gaming@beehaw.org and !patientgamers@sh.itjust.works. Do we need another one here? But sure.

I’ve been playing through the Ninja Gaiden series lately. Finished Ninja Gaiden Black and Ninja Gaiden 2 on normal, playing on Xemu and Xenia Canary emulators respectively. Currently playing through Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge from the master collection, though I’m not sure I will finish it.

NG3RE should have the best combat in the series. The fundamentals are better than ever, Ryu is more fluid in his movements than ever and the combo strings are more flexible than ever. It just… I dunno. It doesn’t feel as good, satisfying or just fun. NGB had extremely precise, measured and deliberate combat, albeit slower than the later games. NG2 was an unbalanced mess, but it had a visceral pleasure when it clicked that is simply unparalleled. NG3RE changes the formula a lot, and not always for the better. Trying to play for Steel On Bone counters is what the game wants you to do, but it’s more reactive and less fun than previous games. And the animations aren’t as satisfying as the executions in NG2. NG3RE also has even worse bosses, which is a damn feat considering the series has some real stinkers.

And let’s not even get into the atrocious story, which manages to be maximally bad and lame but without ever crossing over into “so bad it’s good” territory. The Call of Duty or Ghost Recon-esque military special agent framing also ruins the vibe, and the boring and terrible level design makes me miss the wildly varied and interesting locations of NG2.

I really don’t know if I’ll finish it, all I want to do really is go back and play NGB and NG2 again. At least I found FiendBusa’s “Black” mod for it, that makes it a bit better.

Seeing as you liked Chaos Theory and look like you have access to a PS2 the co-op campaign in Splinter Cell: Double Agent (OG Xbox/PS2 version developed by Ubisoft Montreal) also tends to get good reviews. I haven’t played it myself though.

It’s a sadly forgotten relic of the old internet.

There is room for a DLC that revamps some of the stuff that’s lacking, I think. The campfire scenes where you improve relationships for example are extremely bare bones and mostly bad, full of “telling, not showing”. I understand that it was a budget limitation and it’s one of the places where the game’s AA nature shows, but going back and actually animating and recording these into full fledged scenes would add a lot.

I also think Act 3 could use some restructuring and the companion quests be more naturally integrated into the main story.

Volt Yellow looks very promising! I’ll have to check it out some day. Otherwise I tend to recommend HeartGold/SoulSilver as an introduction to the franchise.

Completely agree with you that without nostalgia goggles RBY don’t hold up that well.

You’re not alone, James Gunn (yes, that James Gunn) thought the same.

I’ve always felt that puritanical stigmatization of sex and sexuality have really fucked us up psychologically as a species.

It’s a shame we can’t follow individuals around here, so please @ me whenever you do decide it’s ready to publish. I don’t want to miss it.

I know people love Fem V but I find Male V underrated and even prefer his delivery in some scenes, particularly

I was always curious about the Playdate because Lucas Pope made a game for it and he’s a genius, but I never really could see myself justifying the massive price tag for what it is.

Also I hope you’re feeling better! It made me so happy to see a post from you again as I’ve missed seeing you around. Hope your health is improving ♥️

I definitely am a victim of over purchasing during deep sales and building an insurmountable backlog, but there is also something kind of nice about having a library waiting to browse after each game just waiting to install.

Regardless though, what I really wanted to say was: I’m seconding interest in your Python app, that sounds very useful actually!

I tried to watch some gameplay footage of it earlier this year as a Let’s Player I watch played it but couldn’t stand it. I concluded the game probably just wasn’t meant for me, but it’s possible it just isn’t good. It looked incredibly boring.

Still working on Ninja Gaiden 2 (Xbox 360 version, emulated on Xenia Canary). I’m currently halfway through Chapter 12 out of 14 on Path of the Warrior, so I’m almost at the point where I can see the finish line. Still unsure whether I can beat it as I’ve heard the final stretch is pure hell.

I have never played a game that made me feel quite like this, I have to be honest. It’s one of the best and one of the worst games I’ve ever played simultaneously. If this was released today it would be absolutely lambasted for its blatantly untested, horrifically balanced and absurdly unfun encounters.

And it’s such a shame and a waste because the pieces are all there for a spectacular tour de force of an action game and you can see that side of it shine through from time to time. Whenever the game clicks and is good, it’s fucking incredible. Lightning fast, blood and limbs flying everywhere, incredible animations and brutal execution moves as you’re zipping through combat and weaving through combos. They really had the fundamentals here for something special, and the first half of the game is mostly good - albeit still with some complete garbage like Gigadeath sprinkled in.

From around the halfway point on though it’s become perhaps the most infuriating game I’ve ever played. Some of the gameplay design is just completely incomprehensible and encounters devolve into being spammed with projectiles from offsceen while you’re showered in constant explosions that deafen you and make you unable to see shit while you’re stunlocked to death unless you ignore using your combos and instead just abuse i-frames. Boss fights like the Double Armadillo I just finished feel like a straight up “fuck you” from Itagaki. Time and again I finish a fight and say “who the fuck thought this was a good idea?” out loud.

And the worst part is I’m developing such a Stockholm Syndrome I’m already looking at Ninja Gaiden 2 Black prices.

Looks like a cool game, but considering how many reviewers bring up complaints about the platforming I think I’m going to steer clear to protect my sanity.

Well, partly. I love Bloodlines for the atmosphere, writing, music, voice acting and the intent behind the game they tried to make. But it’s really not much of a sandbox, it’s really very linear and not even all quests and missions live up to their own ambition of offering multiple solutions.

I still love it though.

ZA/UM is the studio behind Disco Elysium, one of the most critically acclaimed and highest rated games of all time.