Ninja Gaiden — The Pinnacle of Action Games
When You think about Fast-Paced, Crowd controlling, Character Combat based Action, which game comes to your mind? God of war? DMC? or maybe even Bayonetta? If you grew up with an Xbox console then you will definitely and undoubtedly Say Ninja Gaiden.
Ninja Gaiden is one of the longest-running game franchises in the world and its main character Ryu Hayabusa has become iconic, called the “The Greatest ninja of all time”. starting from 1988 with the release of Ninja Gaiden in the arcades. Tecmo soon released Ninja Gaiden on the NES, in the style of an Action-platformer, and it’s extremely difficult level design gave it massive popularity and a reputation.
Fast-forward to the early 00s, we got the revival of the series in a form of a 3D Character Action Games, which created a whole new chapter in the history of the franchise and marked its place in the action scene, with its fast, highly flexible and Combo rich Gameplay system, Huge amount of on-screen enemies and Extremely difficult Boss fights.
Tomonobu Itagaki
Tomonobu Itagaki is a Japanese Programmer and Game Designer. In 1992, after graduating from University, he landed a job at Tecmo (Currently, Koei Tecmo) as a graphics programmer, his mentor was Yoshaki Inose (Director of the NES Ninja Gaiden games). After working on a few SNES titles, in 1994 after being shockingly impressed with the new 3D Virtual fighter, he came up with his own Vision, A Beautiful 3D fighting game like Virtua Fighter but more mature.
In 1995 after consulting with the higher-ups, he gathered the company’s most talented crew and formed a new Division, Called “Team Ninja”.
Itagaki and the new team, using the Virtua fighter formula, created a 3D Arena Based Fighting Game, simply Named “DEAD OR ALIVE”. With better/Smoother graphics, outer arena explosion zone, and infamous “boob physics”, Itagaki and his team created a smashing arcade hit. It also featured Ryu Hayabusa as one of the playable characters.
The game was a massive hit, it received a Sega Saturn/Playstation port and saved the company from upcoming bankruptcy, and made Tecmo a Big player in the upcoming 3D Era.
I Like Virtua Fighter but if i use different ideas to describe it, i would say it’s an old traditional sushi restaurant and on the contrary, DOA is like a sushi bar with roller skating girls serving wasabi on the sushi. it’s Fun
Itagaki is a very ambitious and stubborn person, if he is making a game, he will set the goal to make the best in the category, using the best tools and the best hardware, even if it was considered controversial. Itagaki also had a bad relationship with Sony and hated their underpowered and complex hardware. On the other hand, He loved SEGA’s approach to their games and hardware, so in 1999 he released Dead or Alive 2 EXCLUSIVELY for the Sega Dreamcast. Of course with the release of the PS2 the company had to make a PS2 port, which Itagaki was against.
Everything changed when the Microsoft team visited japan to speak with the developers about an upcoming Powerful Console, called the Xbox. of course, most Japanese devs had no interest and some were even against it because the land of the rising sun was the Powerhouse of the gaming industry and they were extremely proud and protective about it. but Itagaki who loved “to fight against the status quo” and was a huge fan of Western Culture, was very impressed with the Xbox and even said that Microsoft Xbox carries the Philosophy of Sega.
Xbox and Team Ninja
With the Rising interest of an upcoming American console, Microsoft needed strong support. Sega, who was suffering huge financial losses, had gained a close partnership with Microsoft. Tecmo’s Team Ninja also saw big potential in the project.
Dead or Alive 3 was released as a launch title for the Xbox console. it Was met with very positive reviews and fan support. its graphics and gameplay were something never seen before and became a must-buy for console players. Years later, the previous game, DOA2 got ported to Xbox as Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate, which is the 3rd and final version of the 2nd installment. Compared to Dreamcast and PlayStation, it had a new graphics engine, new gameplay mechanics and a new extra character.
In the early 2000s, DOA Franchise Gained as much recognition as Tekken and Virtua Fighter.
Revival of Ninja Gaiden
After the release of DOA2 on Dreamcast, Itagaki and Team ninja were tasked to make a New Ninja Gaiden game for the Dreamcast but the plans were scrapped and development moved on to the Playstation 2. PS2 Development was also scrapped and the whole project moved on to the Xbox, as the team believed that PS2 was not powerful enough for their ambitious project.
The first trailer, featuring Ryu Hayabusa Jumping from a high building, was unveiled at the 2002 E3 press conference and was a shock to everyone when they saw the Xbox logo.
Ninja Gaiden was released in March 2004. Exclusively on Xbox. The game was praised for its new generation graphics, sick soundtrack, its level, and enemy design, and most importantly, a new and fresh look at its main character Ryu Hayabusa and other characters from dead or alive.
Ninja Gaiden had a lot of game mechanics, found in fighting games. Since the team was experienced in that genre, they were able to make an action game with a deep and complex combat system, unlike Onimusha and even DMC, Ninja Gaiden had much more to offer in terms of gameplay freedom and learning curve. Ryu is much more flexible and only relies on his spirit, body, and legendary dragon sword that he swings.
Even after the release, they still continued working on the game, soon they released a pair of free downloadable DLC packages named “The Hurricane pack” which featured more weapons/chapters and a karma score. Karma score was used to rank players. The lowest score was Ninja Dog, then comes Lesser Ninja, Head Ninja, Greater Ninja, and finally, Master Ninja. The top players were invited to participate in the Worldwide master ninja tournament 2004. On the other side, savagely, the 100 lowest-ranked players received a t-shirt from Tomonobu Itagaki, with text written “Ninja Dog”. in the tournament you had to beat the most brutal arenas in the game in under 10 minutes. From 5 top players,2 finalists were chosen, American “Snapdragon” and Japanese Yasunori Otsuka, Snapdragon finished the final level faster but Otsuka scored higher, so he received the honor of the “Master Ninja”.
Next Year, Ninja Gaiden Black was released. An upgraded version of the original, contained hurricane packs, master ninja story mode, new weapons, and some gameplay rebalances. NGB received as much praise as the original scored higher. NG Black is also the version that received Backwards compatibility.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma
The Development of Ninja Gaiden was not easy, many were so frustrated, they just left the team. But there were surely those who were willing to continue and finish this project, one of them was Yosuke Hayashi, a young programmer who worked on NG 2004 and NG Black. Itagaki heavily praised him for his stoicism and To prove his words, Itagaki gave his favorite student a grand mission. Take Ninja Gaiden Black and create a version for the Next Gen Console, a Version which will outscore his master’s vision.
In basic words, Itagaki himself was Busy with Xbox 360 and had to Get someone to work on the newly released PlayStation 3, which he (of course) hated.
This was the first time Hayashi was given a role of a Director, he had full control over the development, and was given a full green light for experimentation.
First thing that all Devs do when Porting previous gen games to the current one, is of course improving the graphics and lighting. Hayashi and his team improved the textures and added the infamous “Bloom effect” which was popular at that time. It made the game aesthetically more pleasing, especially in daylight levels. The first level had the most significant changes. Sunny light, trees and yellow colors, compared to the dark and winter-like season of the original.
In NG Black, Ryu Hayabusa was the only playable character, in this new version however, an NPC named Rachel was given a role and made her a playable character with her own chapters. Some weapons were replaced, most of the puzzle elements were removed and sadly.. New Game feature was also removed. On the other hand, Hayashi added more enemies and increased the number of save statues. Basically, he wished to make it as “Actiony” as possible.
Here’s a full list of changes.
The Game also had a Resolution Boost, up to 1080p/60fps and could run without installing game data on to the hard drive.
In final notes, This New and Definitive Version was named “Ninja Gaiden Sigma”. Sigma as Symbol, representing a unification of all versions into one.
The Game received a lot of praise and was given 9/10 by Playstation magazine.
The newcomers, those who never played Ninja Gaiden before loved the game but the veteran players were very critical. Yes, it is a Good Ninja Gaiden game but it’s nothing better than NG Black, which many consider to be the Perfect version. Sigma tried to be better but it felt like a “one step forward, two steps backward”. For every good thing sigma introduced, it also introduced something that was more damaging.
Speaking about damage, Even though Rachel does a lot of damage with her hammer, it slows her down, making her more clunky, while Ryu is way faster and more flexible.
Master Itagaki himself wasn’t impressed with sigma, just saying that the game was made by the young staff of team ninja.
Ninja Gaiden 2
In 2008, Xbox 360 was dominating the gaming world, greatly outselling it’s counterpart, The PS3. Dead or Alive 4 was released as a 360 Exclusive, following Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (DOAX2). Team Ninja was kicking ass BUT they had another surprise for their fans.
When developing Ninja Gaiden on the original Xbox, Team ninja felt its limitations, the final product wasn’t purely what they wanted it to be. But with the release of Xbox 360 however, Team ninja discovered enough power to fully materialize their vision of a perfect Ninja Gaiden game.
After the success of the original, fans were hungry for more Ryu Hayabusa. So in 2008 Itagaki went on stage and said “Now please enjoy the world’s best action game. Running on the world’s best hardware”. Showcasing Ninja Gaiden 2 and its new glorious combat system.
NG2 combat is heavily based on the first game, except, it is polished. UT lasts longer, Delimbing enemies and hitting a heavy attack button will perform an “Obliteration Technique” which is a final strike animation. New combos were introduced and others were changed for good. they introduced new and more complex weapons like kusarigama and Tonfas.
The Product however was not perfect. With numerous amount of on-screen enemies and locking everything at 60fps, The game made the newly released Xbox 360 shake under its core. Unsurprisingly, the game was running at 1120x585 to keep it stable.
The game was of course a huge success but during the development, the relationship between Tomonobu Itagaki and the director of the company started to fall apart. Basically, during the development of DOA4, Itagaki and his team were promised a huge pay bonus to finish the game before the deadline. After years, it seemed they were fooled, which caused a lot of backlash. Director told Itagaki “You can go or you can sue the company”. Like a total badass, Itagaki did both. He and some other members of team ninja left the company and sued for unpaid bonuses and of course, won the lawsuit.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
After Itagaki departed from team ninja, Hayashi was given the head role. The team was now told to take NG2 and port it to the PS3, which was slowly rising in popularity. This task wasn’t as easy as the previous game. NG2 is a beast of a game, developed with Xbox 360 hardware in mind and porting it to a completely different system (with less system memory) will not be possible if devs won’t make significant changes.
The first thing Hayashi decided to do is to listen to the critics, he realized that NG2 had its flaws, unstable performance, lack of online features and too many rocket explosions were frustrating for the players. Also the game was criticized for lack of innovation compared to the previous entry, many people thought that it was just Ninja Gaiden Black but on steroids.
What Hayashi and the team decided is to create a different version of NG2, something like an evil twin brother.
After a whole year of development, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 was released in September 2009. using the same Formulas as the previous sigma, this product was also criticized by the fans (many even hated it).
Let’s start with the good part. Compared to the original, Sigma 2 was running at stable 720p 60fps and you could even upscale it to 1080p. The graphics were improved and introduced the bloom effect and more colors (Ryus eyes are green). They introduced 3 playable female characters with each having their own chapter. Few annoying bosses were replaced with better ones. Biggest feature was the Online co-op team matching, where you could choose any character and play with another player against enemies and bosses.
The Downside however was..well.. Even if the game became more stable, the enemy encounter got significantly reduced and to compensate for that, they increased their HP and Attack power. Basically, in the original, to kill a claw ninja you only needed one long combo or just a single Izuna drop, in sigma 2 you need multiple combos just to delimb an enemy and 2 or 3 Izuna drops to kill them. On the other side, the enemy could kill you with 1 or 2 hits. Also, The game was censored. They removed blood and gore and replaced them with Purple mist, you might think they did it to make it more aesthetically pleasing or because sony is a jerk. New Game plus was removed as always. The extra characters were not bad but adding them to the story mode was not a good idea, as each of them lacks some form of skill. Ayane is fast but lacks strength, Rachel is powerful but heavy and Momiji seems to be the most balanced one but she lacks combos.
These are just the tip of the iceberg of why sigma 2 was criticized and gave it a reputation of a black sheep. Fans to this day criticize it even though they loved its online matchmaking.
Another interesting change was the menu. The UI in NG2 is more old-school and stylistic, while in NGS2 it’s more minimalistic. In NG2 the whole menu has a Crimson aesthetic and in NGS2 it has a dull Deep blue background.
Sigma 2 was well-received of course but it couldn’t outsell or outscore the original. It’s NG but heavily modified. Back in the days, they blamed the weakness of the PS3 for the game’s outcomes but now fans think it’s Hayashi who made these decisions.
Ninja Gaiden 3 and New Team Ninja
Indeed, the 7th Generation of consoles was a time of dramatic changes. The Gaming industry which was once dominated by Japanese masterminds was having its identity crisis. Meanwhile, Western heavy hitters like God of War and Heavy rain have dominated the industry and created new trends.
Japanese studios and of course Team ninja were aware of it. Many Franchises either died or moved on to Handhelds at that time. If back in the days, western studios were using the Japanese formula, now japan had to make games for the west. One of the funniest examples is Koei Tecmos Quantum Theory, which is like Gears of War with an anime flavor.
Itagaki could have been a great Savior for the company. DOA and NG had a massive fanbase in the west and money could not be a problem for them. Hayashi and the new team ninja had a lot to work on, they were aware of the rise of Cinematic Hollywood-style games and QTE (Quick Time Events).
In March of 2012, Ninja Gaiden 3 was launched. A new and fully remade sequel, now on both PS3 and X360 and….it was a massive fail.
The game was met with extremely low reviews, scoring 3/10 on IGN and mentioning that NG3 is an insult for the fanbase. Fans hated this game with passion and were blaming the game’s director, Yosuke Hayashi for the mediocre and distasteful product.
Team Ninja tried to Make new NG games specifically for the western audience, using QTE and intense cinematic Visuals, Team was hoping to adapt to the new market and create the NG everyone was hoping for. But they failed.
On the good side: They brought back the blood and gore, the new Online co-op modes were fantastic and finally, they added a New Game Plus feature.
But on the downside: they removed all weapons except the dragon sword, changed the combat system, Plot felt like a low budget Hollywood story, boss fights and humanoids enemies felt mediocre and uninspired. Removal of the Essence system and replacing it with a Weird mechanic called “Bone on Steel”.
Overall, The game still sold extremely well but the fan criticism was so bad, They had to release a fixed version called “Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge” next year. With extra weapons, revamped stages, bringing back UT, adding chapter challenge and mission modes, and lots of bug fixes. Most websites gave it a score of 7/10 which is way higher than the vanilla version but the damage was already done.
Meanwhile, Itagaki was busy working on his new studio, “Tokyo Vikings” and later changing it to “Valhalla Game Studio”. He released The first (and last) game, “Devil’s third” exclusively on WII U. I guess we all know what happened to that.
At least DOA5 was released and was a massive success.
Anyways, Team Ninja learned their lesson and did a good job of fixing their mess and getting back the trust of their fans. But they felt like they needed to move on and create an entirely new IP to focus on. After a few years of just DOA5 content and a disastrous spin-off game called “Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z” which was developed by a western studio and published by koei tecmo, they finally introduced a Successor to Ninja Gaiden Franchise.
Nioh and New Era of Japanese Games
With the 8th gen and success of Sony and the souls-borne formula, Team Ninja Created NIOH. A Dark soul-inspired feudal japan styled samurai franchise. Released as a PS4 Exclusive and Later Released on Steam, Nioh sold millions and became a worldwide franchise. Being compared to Bloodborne and later Dark souls games, it still had a lot of Ninja Gaiden influence, Combat and the infamous Izuna drop are still present. Even some characters from the Hayabusa bloodline are introduced.
PlayStation 4 and Later on Nintendo Switch proved to become a new powerhouse of Japanese-inspired games, With PC-like architecture, Devs actively started porting their games to Steam (Even Atlus). Nier Automata, FF15, Nioh 2, Sekiro and many more.
The Master Collection
In Summer 2020, rumors were floating around that Ninja Gaiden is getting remastered. Fans were hoping for a new game or just a remaster of the Xbox versions for PC. The rumors were true but the final product was not exactly what fans wanted it to be.
Ninja Gaiden Master Collection was released in Summer 2021 and had all 3 Titles in it. Except, they were the PS3 versions. Developers stated that the source code of the original versions is “partially lost”. This is still suspicious and fans have many more questions unanswered. Anyway !
Ninja Gaiden Sigma (2007)
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (2009)
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors edge (2013)
Released on PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC. The Collection hasn’t received a Graphical boost, only extra content from the PS Vita port. Sadly, they removed the Co-op modes, only adding Top Leaderboard as the only online component. Sigma 2 hasn’t received a Blood mod (even though the PS Vita port had it). The Collection was released even without a Setting Menu, u couldn’t change resolution, shadows, V-sync, heck..even exiting the game required a specific keyboard shortcut..like a debug version. Sigma 2 had some bugs and compared to the PS3, the enemy AI felt different. To explain simply, in the PS3 version enemies were acting more naturally, their AI was programmed to be more careful and wait for their turn, just like in real battle. In the master collection, however, they are acting like Mindless beings. They could calculate your landing automatically, leaving you without a chance to dodge. Also being wild and attacking together. The AI was messed up.
Later patch added a Settings menu and fixed all bugs With Hayabusa’s Combat but the AI was left untouched.
On the bright side, All 3 Games were running stable, was fun, and did sell well (for being a low-effort cash grab).
For a newcomer, Master Collection is a good start but if you have an Xbox, you can avoid them and play the Itagaki versions which are available as B/C versions.
For now, Nioh is finished and the Master Collection showed that there IS a market for these kinds of games and there might be hope for Ninja Gaiden 4.
Darkness is Destined to lift in the End I still have much to do
