Like I said, Sigma 2 did make a lot of improvements over 2 vanilla, but it also has some areas where it's weaker. This is oppossed to Sigma 1, which is basically just Black but worse. I'll address some of the pros and cons I see in Sigma 2 vs the original NG2 below:I never understand the hate that Sigma 2 gets. Sigma 2 at least made the game less cheap(In Original 2 in master ninja difficulty you are forced to just spam some infinity moves in order to beat enemies otherwise they kill you easily) and At least in sigma 2 that stair part is playable compare to the slow motion mess that was in 2.
+Chapter Select
+More vivid colors
+Emna's Fang
+Some new, decent boss fights
+Playable stair fight
-Essence/currency system
-Weapon upgrade system
-Palette swap enemies (too much health, nearly immune to-delimb; not challenging, just tedious to hack at for a while)
-Female chapters (break flow, and these characters' movesets need closer examination)
-Ranged weapons (Ryu must always have the bow equipped, and loses access to other types of weapons)
-Weird-looking Ryu model
-No blood (the colored mist is not only unsatisfying, but also weird to look at, and breaks immersion)