I'm sure that this discussion has been brought up many times and the comparisons will never cease. What is everyone's view on both of these action games?

While these are both two of my favorite action games ever(only under Gunstar Heroes), I'm honestly confused as to which one I enjoy more.

Ninja Gaiden is *bleep*edly tough. I love it. It's so challenging and fun, as each and every encounter has the potential to kill you. The enemies actually fight back with a move-set that while not as large as yours, is fairly impressive. Your move-set is very large, albeit kinda stiff.

Devil May Cry, while not having a move-set as large as Ninja Gaiden's, instead has a much more flexible combo system. Any move can be worked into a chain, as opposed to Ninja Gaiden's dial-a-combo system. The bad part is that the enemy encounters are typically one-sided. In Ninja Gaiden, if you encounter just one white ninja, you're like, "Oh shit" but in DMC 3, you encounter a Hell sloth and you're like MASH MASH MASH MASH! dead.

Ninja Gaiden's soundtrack defecates all over DMC's...

Both of these games have things to work on before you become the quintessential action game. If Devil may Cry can work to make the encounters more dynamic or Ninja Gaiden can give the combat system more flexibility, we will have the perfect action game.

What's everyone else's view?

I think they both stand on their own as intensive, exciting and brilliant — not to mention innovative — games. I do agree that mixing elements from DMC3 and NG would produce the perfect fighting action game, but I would honestly recommend everyone who likes games of this sort get both!

Dial–a–combo? I suppose, but no more so than, say, Tekken. Plus you can G–cancel to get a lot more free form combos. Admittedly not like in DMC3, nor can you truly change weapons on the fly (though in terms of gameplay viewpoint you can), but you can still pull off numerous unlisted moves and come up with juggles, etc.

yea both very good games. NG would be freakin crazy with a combo system like DMC, in NG the flail is the only weapon u can possibly get a 100 combo with which ive only done once. not to mention the kitetsu looks awesome when performing a combo. im afraid for DMC4 though, its a different director again. and DMC2 sucked lol.

This is an old thread but I thought I'd post too.

I also love both games to death. DMC1 popularized the whole extreme combat subgenre of action games so the series does get some credit there.

I do think both ninja gaiden and dmc3 have the potential of being considered the quintessential action game, though. ninja gaiden does strive to be more of an overall action adventure game like dmc1 did. There's a lot more running around and some zelda esque puzzle solving, whereas dmc3 is a lot more action.

It's true that the enemies in ng are harder, but the bosses in dmc3 are superb. DMC3 has the best bosses in the series (and also the most of them!) and imo are a little bit better than ng's. DMC3 also has the style system, so if the gameplay is bland you can switch (royal guard is awesome), and also weapons switched on the fly enhances the freeform combo system. Depending on what you are doing, I think dmc3 controls are a little more comfortable than ng's, particularly when platforming is involved (but DMC1's controls and camera are the worst). DMC3 is also a little shorter, and the story is easier to follow with cutscenes precending and ending each chapter. Since it's broken up into selectable missions it's also easy to pick up and play.

Even though I said all that, I do think ninja gaiden is superior is most ways. There are many memorable and challenging boss fights, and even more when you play on hard (fiend ryu). There are many weapons, moves and playstyles to choose from even if you don't use a lot of combos (I only use 2 or 3 bread n butter combos for each weapon and it's still a blast). You can be flashy or just stick to UT setups. I don't think NGs story is that great, and I think the appearance of rachel really hurts the integrity of the game but it really is an epic action if there ever was one. There's no other game that really captures what you think a badass ninja should be.

Both are really great games in their own right and I think anyone who appreciates hard in-depth action games should play both and not be hater to either.