Ninja Gaiden 2/2 Black Talons Guide Beginner To Advanced

I thought I posted this before I did the tonfa guide, whoops. I picked up an xbox one just before this so I leaned more on the 360 version and had some recording issues switching to a new console. I had to unlock master ninja all over again so I was playing on that lots but I was mostly muted and forgot to lower the music volume settings. As a result these clips all had random background music, I recommend watching on a low volume setting.

I assume a person finding this video would likely have found some other guide that covers the basics so I glossed over flying swallow and forward y. Here's some further info on those just in case.

Flying swallow lands running as does it's x follow up. If you don't want to follow the target into the air then you can throw shuriken after to land Ryu quicker, the timing for this is quite quick. If you want to follow up on the target you hit then you will have to wait a moment because if you attack them as you land they will still be too high in the air usually. What normally happens is you are better off focusing some other target, which Ryu's targeting will want to do anyway, having used the swallow more as a means of travel that disables a target.

Forward Y is very good and you can use it in many of the situations I said 360 Y should be used or forward X.

While those moves are good I don't think they are always the best possible pick. Forward Y will not get you I-frames as fast as forward XY. The Izuna will always risk a grab and xxforwardxYYY will both land you safer and allow a faster follow up. Running Y potentially can kill faster than anything. It's worth branching out beyond forward Y/izuna.

360 Y is very good vs IS ninja, I think this is a little unclear in the video. IS ninja are more susceptible to moves that are powerful but balanced by a long recovery because those moves have their recovery cancelled by blocking the IS and IS tend to grab less and have worse grabs. Blocking IS and taking chip damage is not bad at all. 360Y has great range, tracking and blocks for much of it, good vs IS. It's just that you should be wary about the mid part where it's not blocking.

XX forward X YYY I think the reason that fails sometimes is to do with walls again, possibly approaching them at a diagonal. I'm pretty sure YYY part has i-frames.

YYY is fast it's just that for the short range of it's first Y I consider it slow. Short range moves are usually a bit faster, it's still a very good string.

Most of the time I would say to end forward X after the first X with a Y. It cad be very unpredictable because Ryu has a tendency to want to switch target even if he can't reach the target with his next X. When I'm talking about the Y missing in Black I mean that that's fully random and for no reason. Sometimes an enemy jumps and the Y misses, though even that is quite rare, that's not what's happening in Black. This affects the Y counter too.