Summary
- Ninja Gaiden 2 Black features challenging and familiar bosses from previous installments.
- Bosses like Volf provide fair, challenging fights without cheap tactics or minions.
- Elizabet, the Queen of Greater Fiends, is the toughest boss with chaotic hitboxes and swift attacks.
The best part of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is all the familiar, somewhat frustrating bosses that you’ll come across throughout the chapters. Ninja Gaiden as a series is well known for the challenge of the boss fights, to the point that many of the minor enemies you face are just preliminaries to the real deal.
Most of the bosses of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black are pulled from a combination of the classic foe placements in the original Ninja Gaiden 2 and the special bosses added in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. Some didn’t appear in this version, but aside from that, this is considered the definitive edition of the bosses featured in this installment.
10
Tengu Duo
Flying Bash Brothers
These two are a pair of red and blue tengu brothers affiliated with the Black Spider Clan. They appeared as the main enemy of Momij’s side story, abducting a young boy from the Hayabusa village to bait Ryu Hayabusa. When they first appeared, they were introduced separately before fighting together against Momiji. In the later chapters, they appear together as dual mini-bosses vs Ryu.
Alone, the Tengu are fairly challenging, with swift and heavy attacks, unpredictable grapples that can throw you off kilter, and jump attacks that keep you on your feet. Alone, that’s not so bad, but when the two of them fight together, things could get much harder, resorting to you needing swift weapons to lower their health.
9
Volf
Ruler of Storms
Volf is the second Greater Fiend you face in battle and the lord of the Lycanthrope tribe that took over the Aqua Capital. He is much taller than the other werewolves, has four arms, and wields the Eclipse Scythe. He’s a proud warrior seeking the best battles with worthy opponents. This leads to the iconic battle at the coliseum at the climax of the Lycanthrope’s Castle level against Ryu.
Of the four Greater Fiend bosses, Volf is ironically the easiest to tackle in battle. He has no gimmicks, no cheap evasion, and no minion fiends that appear until after the initial boss fight ends. He is a straightforward, reasonably challenging boss, who has impressive combos and cycles of attacks. Compared to the other Greater Fiends, he is a fair, worthy fight without shenanigans.
8
Alexei
Master Of Lightning
Alexei is the first Greater Fiend you face. An angelic looking figure, he is a swift, flying boss who keeps his distance while blasting you with lighting and swift attacks. Alexei can also summon a tornado that can move swiftly after you, forcing you to evade him until after the attack finishes, and he’s far away, forcing you to close the distance before the next strikes.
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Flying swallow and other speedy attacks can help swiftly close that distance and get in some fresh hits before you need to go back to dodging and blocking hits. The Inferno Ninpo is also good at taking his health down when he’s standing still before the next attack.
7
Water Dragon
Guardian of the Aquaduct
This particular monster boss is a challenge, not because it’s particularly hard to kill, but because you don’t have a lot of space to move around, hit the weak points, or avoid attacks. You’re pretty much limited to a single platform and good luck gauging the distance to avoid getting hit and getting some hits in.
And to make matters worse, the water dragon seems to be inclined to summon swarms of ghost piranha that’ll pin you down and sap your health in several attacks. To combat the swarm and the Water Dragon, you’ll need to consider equipping the vigoorian flails when facing the piranha while switching to your preferred weapon for the
6
Dagra Dai
Acolyte of The Archfiend
Dagra Dai is the penultimate boss leading up to your fight with the Archfiend. As such, he has several challenging attacks you’ll need to maneuver around. Dagra Dai’s transformed form is a half-human tentacle monster with a staff in hand. He is tough to pin down in this form; evading the tentacles would take most of your efforts.
He also periodically summons Van Gelf fiend minions to crowd you during the boss fight. You’ll need to clear them out to focus back on Dagr Dai. On the bright side, they may drop blue essence for healing, so it’s worth the effort. Fighting Dagra Dai is the beginning of the final boss battle gauntlet, so be prepared to face him alongside the Archfiend.
5
Zedonius
Ruler Of Flame
Zedonius is the third Archfiend you face in battle and terrorizes Moscow before facing Ryu Hayabusa in the clock tower arena. He is a demonic creature that claims dominion over fire and threatened the submission of the Moscow military. Like Alexei, Zedonius mostly flies around the environment while blasting fire attacks from beams to geysers. This is a boss fight you want to keep moving forward.
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Zedonius is fought twice in the story, like the other Greater Fiends. The second battle requires that you watch your footing facing him since he’ll fight you over platforms on lava.This makes him a bit more difficult in his second go around.
4
Marbus
Greater Fiend Of The Vigoor Empire
Marbus is a returning enemy from Ryu Hayabusa’s first venture in the modern trilogy. A leading demon of the Vigoor Empire, he faces off against Rachel while he searches for Ryu in New Work City. Scarred from his battle with he dragon ninja, he seeks out vengeance and a second chance of glory.
Marbus flies, smacks around with heavy combos, and can surprise grab you for a lot of damage. But just like the other difficult bosses, he has an annoying habit of summoning shadow fiend minions in the middle of the fight or during preceding certain combos. Which makes fighting him a trial for your attention and strategy.
3
Vazdah
The Archfiend Reborn
Vazdah is the Archfiend whose awakening threatens the entire world. Defeating him is the entire mission statement of Ryu Hayabusa when the Demon Statue was taken and the Greater Fiends emerged. After drawing blood from the sacrifice of Dagra Dai, the Archfiend awakens prematurely before attempting to crawl out of Mount Fuji.
His first phase is very easy, with the only thing you need to take him down being the Fiend’s Bane Bow.
Phase 2 is where things get tough. After absorbing Ryu’s blood, Vazdah fully awakens and becomes empowered by the blood of the Dragon Lineage. He can fly about, walk on the platform Ryu is on, and position on ledges to fire lasers and grapple with Ryu.
He is much faster, fierce, and has a whole array of attacks to be weary of. He’s also the last boss you face in the gauntlet that started with Dagra Dai so up to this point, you’re probably low on items to keep you afloat for the final stretch.
2
Genshin
Head Of The Black Spider Clan
Genshin is the most recurring boss you face in Ninja Gaiden 2 Black and Ryu’s chief rival throughout the storyline. You face him in four different places and fights. The first fight is in the Hayabusa Village, the second is in The Flying Fortress Daedalus, and the third battle is on the summit of Mt. Fuji.
Each fight is progressively more intense and many of his combos, attacks, and ninpo are all fairly similar to Ryu’s attacks, so Genshin is often considered a test of your combat skills throughout the game.
After killing him on the Summit of Mt. Fuji, he returns for one last fight as a fiend in the Underworld. Here he has several new attacks and his previous moves are enhanced by his Fiend abilities. His sword, the Blade of the Archfiend, is also enhanced with the power of the underworld, which adds more damaging effects to the weapon.
1
Elizabet
Queen Of The Greater Fiends
Elizabet is the fourth Greater Fiend you face that’s connected to Vazdah and the lead figure of the awakening plot. She is constantly present throughout the story in cutscenes but is first fought in her true form within the temple of the Necromantale. She is the priestess of blood and her demeanor and abilities are clearly references to vampire countesses.
In her true form, she is the most frustrating boss to deal with in the game. She moves a lot, flies a lot, has several long-ranged swift attacks. And worse off is that the hitboxes for attacking her are a chaotic mess.
Sometimes a hit makes contact, and on the other hand, it’s like an elusive dodge where she sets up an attack and grabs for you with her stinger tail. She is the toughest to pin down for attacks and having several healing items to help pad out the fight is vital.
- Released
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January 23, 2025
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ // Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Suggestive Themes, Partial Nudity, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
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Koei Tecmo Games Co., Ltd.
- Publisher(s)
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Koei Tecmo Games Co., Ltd.