Copyright Wccftech
With its many accessibility options, Ninja Gaiden 4 is one of the most approachable entries in the series, allowing players to experience its high-speed action without letting the high challenge level get in the way of enjoyment. Those who want to truly appreciate the game, however, will wish to master many of its intricacies, put their skills to the test, and attempt to achieve an S rank for completing each of the story chapters. Here are some tips to help you understand the mission scoring system and what you should always strive to do to achieve such a high rank. NOTE: Tips and strategies tested in S rank mission completions at Normal and Hard difficulty over a total of 40+ hours in the game's Steam 1.0.1.0 version. Screenshots captured from the same version. How To Achieve A Guaranteed S Rank in Ninja Gaiden 4 Your total completion rank for any mission in Ninja Gaiden, whether in Story Mode or Chapter Select mode, is decided by the total Karma score. Once it exceeds certain thresholds, the rank increases, up to the Master Ninja S Rank. This score depends on the obtained Technique Points, the total number of kills, Clear Time, and the Items Used and Deaths multipliers. These two multipliers are key to achieving a guaranteed S rank in all missions, regardless of difficulty. Specifically, completing any Mission without using any item and without dying grants a 1.2x multiplier for your Karma score, which ensures even a lower Technique, Kills, and Clear Time score can surpass the threshold to achieve the highest rank, as you can see in my imperfect Mission 03 Normal Mode run above. Dying even once, however, will reduce your total Karma score with a negative multiplier, making it impossible to achieve S rank, so it should be avoided at all costs in S rank runs. While achieving a No Item, No Death run of any Mission can be a challenge even at Normal difficulty, you can abuse the game's checkpoint system to avoid repeating runs from the beginning. Whenever your health gets into Critical Condition, as signaled by the visual noise on screen, open the menu and pick the Restart from Checkpoint option before you are defeated. This will bring warp you back to the nearest Terminal or Muramasa statue, with no penalty whatsoever. This is a classic PlatinumGames trick that works great in Ninja Gaiden 4 as well. NOTE: The above trick has yet to be tested in Master Ninja mode, as its very high difficulty makes it challenging to even just complete a mission, let alone go for an S rank. Considering how this trick worked in almost every other action game developed by PlatinumGames at the highest difficulty, it should work just as well at Master Ninja mode. The guide will be updated with the confirmation once thorough testing has been conducted. If you're aiming for S rank completion but have yet to master all of the mechanics needed to become a true Master Ninja, you can check out our other Ninja Gaiden 4 guides for more help in becoming one.
