Eh, I may be causing my own doom with this, digging my own grave, throwing myself out of the contest too early, but I can't help meself, I hate when not everyone is on equal grounds, afterall what fun is it if the competition provides none or little challenge. Not to say you suck, I just like things to be fair all around, afterall you'll probably whoop my ass as Kickle without even melting the ice.
Clue: yes, use power hits such as shotgun knee, super uppercut, and cyclone kick, but pick the weakest of the three, they all provide the same amount of points but with some you get to hit enemies more. Shotgun knee is awesome, but way too powerful. Cyclone kick is the best for points, but my problem, I have a real hard time pressing both buttons simultaneously so I tend to favor the uppercut move. Shotgun knee is a great finishing move though, once you know the enemy can't take any more abuse. Have fun! Hope to see you pass the hundred thousand mark soon.
Also, as with the helicopter, don't knock enemies off ledges. And attacking with weapons also doesn't yield any points.
Oh, yes, I thank you on mentioning the score disappearing thing, I forgot to. I had beat it, paused, took a picture, started game again, no high score. Yet, if you get a high score and don't beat the game it shows up, stupid programmers, guess they must've thought that after you finally beat the game you wouldn't care to see your high score.
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Okay, new higher score for Ninja Gaiden 2. Actually beat the game with 1 death--darn crazy demon wall boss. After that single death, broke down that wall, unleashed the true demon, took it down to one hit point, logged my score 894600, then hacked its head off. Score rolled over (I didn't even get a chance to see exactly what it stopped at, had the camera to my eye and took a picture of the sword of chaos in the cutscene, oops, too slow), and being unable to pause, you better be quick because the instant those points tally up, ending cutscenes start and no chance to capture your score after that. Anyway, here's my score upon my 1st death:
784400