Everyone starts out as a beginner. Before you start slashing your way through Ninja Gaiden 3, there are a few basics to understand about Ryu Hayabusa and his various abilities.
This section covers everything you need to know to form a basis to learn the more advanced ninja techniques that are required to complete the game on harder difficulty settings.
It also covers the basics such as saving points and how Ninpo and Ultimate Techniques work.
Health Gauge
The Health Gauge indicates how much health Hayabusa has at the moment. As Hayabusa takes damage, the Health Gauge turns from white to gray. The gray portion of the Health Gauge does not have any specific meaning, other than to display the damage of the most recent attack. However, if enough damage is inflicted, the Health Gauge gets smaller.
Health Regain
Unlike previous Ninja Gaiden games, there are no health items to restore Hayabusa’s health. The only way for Hayabusa to regain health is to save your progress, defeat all of the enemies in the immediate area, or use Ninpo (only in story mode).
At the end of each battle Hayabusa automatically regains lost health. The yellow bar under Hayabusa’s Health Gauge is the Ki Gauge. In addition to controlling when Hayabusa can use Ninpo, the Ki Gauge determines how much Hayabusa’s Health Gauge is extended after each battle. If the Ki Gauge is almost empty at the end of a battle, Hayabusa’s Health Gauge will grow a small amount. If the Ki Gauge is full at the end of a battle, Hayabusa’s Health Gauge may increases substantially (depending on the size of the Health Gauge at the end of the battle).
Ki Gauge
The Ki Gauge determines when Hayabusa can use Ninpo magic. Throughout the story mode, Hayabusa only has access to one Ninpo spell (Art of the Fire Dragon). In the Ninja Trials and Clan Battle modes, you cannot use the Ninpo available in story mode, but instead gain access to a different Ninpo spell (Dark Void).
The Ki Gauge fills up as damage is inflicted upon enemies. This includes the use of the Obliteration Technique when an enemy is near death. When the Ki Gauge is completely full, Ninpo can be used. Once Ninpo is used, the gauge returns to an empty state and must be filled again. The difficulty setting determines how quickly the Ki Gauge fills, with an easier setting allowing Ninpo to be used more often compared to harder difficulty settings.
Weaponry
Hayabusa starts the game with the Dragon Sword, which transitions into the Jinran-Maru (Hayate’s Sword), and eventually into the Blade of the Archfiend. He gains access to a bow early on, which gets upgraded to an explosive bow later on in the game.
He also has access to shuriken throwing stars from on the onset of the story mode. However, he only has access to one sword at a time and one bow at a time, and cannot switch between his various swords and bows at will, like he could in previous games. At any given time, Hayabusa has access to only one sword, one bow with unlimited arrows, and unlimited shuriken.
Boss Battles
Boss battles pit Ryu Hayabusa against an extremely strong opponent. Under most circumstances, they occur at the end of each day (level) in story mode. However, it is not uncommon to encounter a boss before the end of a day or multiple times throughout the story mode. Some bosses cannot be stunned by strong attacks, others can counterattack or parry Hayabusa’s attacks. Some are impervious to Hayabusa’s arrows and shuriken. Each boss must be fought with a specific strategy in order to defeat them with the least amount of damage inflicted on Hayabusa.
Save Points
There are falcons scattered throughout each day as Hayabusa progresses through the story mode. These falcons fully replenish Hayabusa’s Health Gauge and save your game progress. These are considered checkpoint saves and will occur multiple times throughout each day.
It is important to listen for the falcon’s screech, which indicates one is close by. While some falcons are impossible to miss, others may be difficult to see and easily missed. If any enemies are near a falcon, they must be defeated before Hayabusa can access the save point. At the end of each day, you can create a new save point without the assistance of a falcon.
Karma
Your karma score is only visible on the Master Ninja and Ultimate Ninja difficulty settings, and during Ninja Trials. It is a rating of how well you perform during combat. Every time an enemy is defeated, you receive karma points. You will receive a bonus to your karma points by consecutively defeating multiple enemies, executing combos, and using special techniques such as the Obliteration Technique or Steel on Bone Technique.