Doppelganger Fiend

Doppelganger Fiend
Race	Fiend
Professional Status
Affiliation	Vigoor, The Fiends, The Holy Vigoor Empire
Rank	Sub Boss
First Appearance
Debut	Ninja Gaiden Black

Doppelganger Fiends (魔神ドッペルゲンガー, Doppleganger Majin^?) are considered one of the more sinister and deadly warriors of the Fiends, due to their ability to assume a fiendish form of, and mimic abilities of their enemies, right down to their combat skills and powers. They are normally encountered on higher difficulties. Although most encounters are single combat, they may also attack in groups of 2 or more.

Appearance

It is unknown what, if any, is their true form, however, when encountered throughout the series by Ryu, the Doppelgänger fiends commonly take the form of Ryu's Dragon Muscle Suit, a red and black full body suit. When encountered while wearing the Dragon Muscle Suit they'll appear in the Red Muffler skin (scarfed, black and red fiendish outfit) or a different coloured variation of the Dragon Muscle Suit, in Ninja Gaiden Black and Sigma respectively.

When encountered in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, they take the form of a grey variation of the Biometal armour, a secondary costume from Ninja Gaiden II, not available in Sigma 2.

Plot

Ninja Gaiden Black/Sigma

They only appear on higher difficulties and mission modes, sometimes attacking in pairs. The first encounter was seen on the Streets of Tairon when Ryu encountered a Fiend Doppelganger of himself wielding a copied Kitetsu, they started by testing each other, both using the Flying Swallow followed by a brief battle, and pausing before the real fight began. The second encounter Ryu had was in the Monastery Library with one wielding a cloned Dragon Sword, Rachel also encounters one in the Library as well. After the first two defeats by the hands of Ryu, the Doppelganger Fiends started appearing in pairs, fighting Ryu in the Aqueducts, and then another pair in the caged area right before Alma.

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword

Only one appears near the end of Chapter 12, on the hardest difficulty, before the fight with the Vigoor Emperor. During the fight, it will hold a cloned Dragon Sword, and will have all the basic moves that Ryu has, including the use of shurkien and arrows.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2

They appear in Team Missions. One missions sees two of the heroes pitted against two Doppelganger Fiends in the small arena where Dagra Dai is fought. The other mission sees two heroes pitted off against three Doppelganger Fiends, in the lava area where Genshin is killed the first time by Ryu Hayabusa.

Abilities and Powers

Shape Shift: Just by looking at their enemies, these fiends can assume the form of their enemies, however they're not an exact replica, as they will retain warped fiendish appearances to strike fear into their enemies.

Mimic Abilities: Their more frightening ability, just from observation these fiends can mimic every ability of their enemy, such as combat skills, agility, strength and even weapons and powers, feats that would take years to mastered learned in a blink of an eye. While they will use any of Ryu's Arsenal, they can only use the melee weapon they already held; however, they will switch between Shuriken, Incendiary Shuriken, and the Windmill Shuriken at will. They have even been observed to possess unlimited Ninpo when copying Ryu's spiritual and physical prowess.

Strategy

They're one of the hardest enemies in the game, since everything you can do, the Doppelganger Fiend can do and, in some cases, better. He has access to all moves in Ryu's arsenal, regardless what weapon he is using (which includes Izuna Drop).

Unlike Ryu, who is restricted by the amount of ki, Doppelganger Fiends have unlimited Ninpo, more lengthy invincible frames than Ryu, and invincible frames when knocked down. Using Ninpo against the Doppelganger is usually ineffective, since he will just roll out of the way, or go into an move with invincibility frames to escape damage, as such, you should employ the same damage cancelling technique when he uses his Ninpo. He also tends to counter your Ninpo with his own, which will result in hitting the player after the animation is complete as soon it is cast (leaving Ryu vulnerable).

In the end he is basically a clone of Ryu and possesses the same weaknesses of being open after certain attacks. Dodge and block his attacks as he'll throw everything at you, after certain attack he will be open for a counterattack, that is the time to strike and catch him in a combo, this is easier if you've memorized your own attacks. Use projectiles such as shuriken to throw him off, as he'll use them against you too. Another popular strategy is to run and lure him into a chase, Flying Bird Flip up a wall and then catch him just as he is about to land.

In most versions of Ninja Gaiden in wich they appear, they are susceptible to the Dabilahro's Flaming Hell Slash combo (X, X, X, X, X, Y). Such a high speed, but powerful combo, will usually break their guard with one hit and leave them vulnerable to the next hit. Even if they manage to dodge some of the hits of the combo, they tend to get hit at least once or twice upon repeated use of this combo. Continued use of this combo tends to lead to a slow but steady victory, as they have little opportunity to retaliate.

For the Kitetsu, Vigoorian Flail, and Dragon Sword Doppelganger fiends, try to keep a distance and bait them into using the haze straight slash , and punish them with Foward + YXXXX with the Dragon Sword/Kitetsu/Dual Katanas. If the Doppelganger fiend is laying on the ground, you can successfully deal a large amount of damage of you time the Fiend Sealer of the Vigoorian Flail/Unlabored Flawlessness at the right moment as they get up due to the large hitbox of those weapons.

On Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, (Ayane Only) The trick is, Use a Quick counter: (L1 + Square) SSSSSS, SSSSSS (S means Square) Keep repeating her Full square combo, when they are with Low health, Use Ayane's izuna drop, STSSSSST.

Trivia

• In Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, Ryu Hayabusa is able to produce shadow doppelgänger of himself to aid him.
• In Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom, Ryu Hayabusa encounters a faster and stronger doppelgänger of himself, however this isn't a Fiend, but a BIO-NOID, a mutant creature created from blasting genetic material with life energies of a higher dimension, that seeped into the 3 dimension world through a dimensional rift created after Ryu killed the Demon God. Also unlike the Doppelgänger Fiends who only instinctively want to kill, he uses Ryu's memories to play mind games and constantly mocks Ryu.
• The Doppelgänger Fiend costume made cameo appearances as an alternate costume for Ryu in Dead or Alive 3, 4, and 5.
• They would be succeeded by the Epigonos.
• The "Mysterious Master Ninja" encountered in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 are not explicitly stated to be Doppelgänger Fiends, however the fact that you encounter multiple of them at the same time seems to imply that they in fact Doppelgänger Fiends.
  • Another reason they took the form of the Dark Dragon skin is to not confuse the player if they already wearing the mentioned costume.
  • Even if it looks impossible, Ayane is the Easiest character to beat these ones, She is a great partner to use in Both UN4 and UN5, The trick is: L1+Square (Counter) SSSSSS, SSSSSS, SSSSSS, then when they are with Low health, Use this, STSSSSST, (Izuna Drop)

Gallery

Doppelganger in it's Blue & White color scheme when selecting the Dragon Muscle Suit.

Ryu fighting against a Doppelganger Fiend in Ninja Gaiden Black.

NG1-Sigma: Doppelganger fiend