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Ninja Gaiden: Rageboundis a retro-styled hack-and-slash platformer game inspired by the classic Ninja Gaiden games, and set at the same time as the events of the original Ninja Gaiden (The NES Game, not the even older Arcade Game). While Ryu sets off for America with the Dragon Blade in hand, our protagonist Kenji fights off an attack on their home and scales Mount Fuji to face off with a demonic threat. Kenji’s Moveset includes the Guillotine Boost, allowing him to use enemies and their projectiles to bounce higher into the air, and Hypercharge, which allows him to unleash devastating strikes when the right conditions are met.
As you progress further intoNinja Gaiden: Ragebound, you’ll also gain access to a second playable character, Kumori, who wields Kunai and specializes in ranged combat, allowing access to powerful Spider Weapons and the titular “Ragebound” attack, which can be used to perform powerful and often screen-clearing super attacks after you’ve charged it up by performing enough Hypercharge kills. The pair can further enhance their capabilities by using Golden Scarabs, special collectible items scattered throughout the game that can be traded to Old Man Muramasa for Talismans and Secret Arts. Talismans provide powerful passive effects to the pair, such as gaining Hypercharge with consecutive Guillotine Boosts, healing when performing a big enough kill combo, and so on.
All Golden Scarabs in Mission 1-2 of Ninja Gaiden Ragebound
You won’t start finding Golden Scarabs until Mission 1-2, when the Dojo is attacked and Kenji rushes to confront the attackers. You’ll need to navigate burning buildings and cut through quite a few foes to find these ones, but by this point you’ll also have access to most of the game’s basic combat options, so cutting through shouldn’t be much of a problem. In these early stages of the game, Golden Scarabs are usually at least easily spotted along the main path, though the further into the game you get the better hidden they become. Crystal Skulls, on the other hand, tend to be hidden quite deviously even as early as 1-2.
Golden Scarab 1
This one can be found after you enter the section shown above, and is guarded by an enemy that can throw multiple spinning blades in an arc.Dodge through the arc of blades and cut the enemy down, then you can grab the Scarab without much difficulty. You can also use your blade to deflect them, if your timing is good.
Golden Scarab 2
The second Golden Scarab can be found after navigating the courtyard with the falling fireballs. Right at the end of that section, there’s a nook above the exit with the Scarab in it, which can be reached pretty easily with a jump.
Remember that you’re able to use the dodge to get brief I-Frames, which can be very helpful for navigating through the fire and the flames. You can also dodge into a slashing attack by tapping the attack button mid-dodge, which should help with the enemies in the courtyard.
Golden Scarab 3
To reach the third and final Golden Scarab in Mission 1-2, you’ll need to reach the section shown above. Take out both of the enemies so you have more breathing room, thenclimb up to where the knife-throwing enemy was to find the Scarab above where he spawned.
You can deflect the throwing knife arc by swinging your sword at them with good timing, or use Guillotine Boost to ride them into the air and get closer to the enemy. Chaining together Guillotine Boosts will become a very helpful skill to have later on in the game, so practicing now in a lower-stakes section of the game will do you a lot of good later.
All Golden Scarabs in Mission 1-3 of Ninja Gaiden Ragebound
Mission 3 of Act 1 has Kenji giving chase to the demons that attacked his home, scaling Mount Fuji to seek out the source of the attacks. This is also the stage where the game starts getting trickier with its Golden Scarab placement, so you’ll have to do some slightly trickier platforming to get all of them here. Nothing too crazy just yet, though.
This mission also introduces Old Man Muramasa, who runs a shop and will exchange Golden Scarabs for Talismans and, later on, Secret Arts. The former can be equipped for various passive buffs, and some of them are special challenge talismans that will raise your rank at the end of the stage in exchange for a drawback. These drawbacks can include being unable to use checkpoints, or taking increased damage from enemy attacks. More standard Talismans like Traveller’s Blessing and Guillotine Charge will provide purely helpful buffs, like healing at checkpoints and gaining Hypercharge from consecutive Guillotine boosts.
Secret Arts won’t be accessible until you have access to Kumori later in the game, and allows you to swap out Spider Weapons with new ones and change how the pair’s Ragebound Attack works. Being able to swap around Spider Weapons for different situations is very useful, especially since some of them are particularly well suited to certain levels and boss fights.
To get this first Golden Scarab, which you’ll find along the main path through the level, you just need to hang from the ledge so Kenji can reach it. Crouch and tap the jump button to hang from any ledge you’re standing on. Just make sure not to double-tap, or you’ll fall into the spikes below. (A fate I suffered while getting the images for this guide.)
The second Golden Scarab for this section is to the right of a checkpoint, after you scale a vertical cave section filled with fireball traps and patrolling enemies. While getting up here is tricky, it’s also part of the main path for the level, so it’s near impossible for you to miss this Golden Scarab.
The Guillotine Jump allows you to bounce on pretty much any projectile in the game, including those fired by the fireball traps in the cave. With good timing you can use these to speed up your climb to the top and reach this Scarab more quickly, though it naturally comes at the risk of taking a fireball to the face if you mess up your timing.
This is our first Triple Scarab of the game, counting as three for the purposes of purchasing talismans and secret arts from Old Man Muramasa. You’ll find it after dealing with a big enemy wielding a shield who throws spinning blades. In the very next section of the level, it’ll be beneath a ledge you’re able to hang from. Same strategy we used for the first Golden Scarab in this mission works here too.
To get across the gap where the big enemy with the spinning blades is, you’ll need to Guillotine Boost off his projectile to get extra distance.
