A brief series recap for those who need one -
There's the original Ninja Gaiden Arcade game that plays kind of like a single player double dragon. It's not really the greatest game but it was the first entry in the series.
Then you've got the NES trilogy , regarded for their obscene difficulty levels, catchy music and genre defining cutscenes, each one filled with it's own story and bosses along with slight gameplay tweaks. The first entry has an obscure turbografx port that sort of looks better but has it's own issues, NG2 remained NES only in it's original format and NG3 got ported a few times.
Following that , we got the Ninja Gaiden Trilogy cart for the SNES, featuring slightly better graphics and remastered music(that mostly sounded worse), it was the last we heard from Ryu Hayabusa for some time.
For years then the only way to play a game featuring Ryu Hayabusa was to play as him in a dead or alive title, that is until 2004 rolled around and we got the rebooted entry...
Ninja Gaiden(2004) was a reboot inspired by many contemporaries at the time , Onimusha is the one I think it most resembles but it also borrows a lot of game design ideas from Ocarina of Time on the N64 with a circular world map surrounded by dungeons that ultimately results in the player getting funneled towards the center to wage a final battle. Over the course of 2004, free DLC packs were released that added new weapons and difficulty settings as well as some extra enemies and bosses for those that demanded even more challenge. These were then cut into a deluxe release of the game that many consider the greatest action adventure game of all time - Ninja Gaiden Black(2005). Kind of a directors cut of the game that also added in an easy mode of sorts for those that begged for one (although it never let you rank higher than ninja dog after each stage and it made fun of the player throughout the game for being useless).
Ninja Gaiden Sigma(2007) A PS3 port of Ninja Gaiden Black that added in mostly useless and unwanted additions- extra bosses that throw off the pacing , forced side missions with a character that plays almost the opposite of Ryu which also throws off the games flow and some pointless cuts later in the game that on paper sounded good but don't really work well in practice. It's the best looking version of the game to be sure but the changes to it make it feel like a star wars special edition.
Ninja Gaiden Dragon Song (2008) an appetizer for the main course that was NG2, this was kind of a re-purposed asset game, pre-rendered backdrops made out of elements from sigma with crude 3D models (nintendo DS quality) pasted on top in a touch based somewhat glorified version of fruit ninja
. It was alright I suppose for what it was but it's little more than a diversion.
Ninja Gaiden 2 (2008) Just a couple of months after dragon song this flawed gem made it out on the xbox 360. Featuring some of the most visceral and exciting combat seen in an action game before or even since it's release, NG2 pitted Ryu against 50% more enemies at the same time , had some really great (and some really poor) boss battles scattered throughout some excellent (and some ... shitty) stages. Bugs, preformance issues and just general cheapness in ranged enemy placement brought it downa bit but man, when NG2 shines it's absolutly glorious, head and shoulders better than the original game. Just a shame about the weaker elements to the title... and I think it was a step backwards to do the NES style world tour rather than a hub world but , what's done is done.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (2009)a year and a half later, the post Itagaki Team Ninja ported NG2 to their PS3 engine. The results were mostly favorable from a visual perspective but sadly the gameplay that was so damn kinetic , voilent and satisfying in the 360 game was completely and utterly nuetered here. Doubling down on the Double D's to compensate, sigma 2 forces the player to attempt playing as no less than 4 different boobtacular side characters between each major section of the game. Each with their own playstyle. Stages that were formerly littered with enemies and action are now barren wastelands devoid of enemies , the powerup system was severely gimped in attempt to add some semblence of balance but instead it just breaks the game. It wasn't all bad - some of the most frustrating elements in the 360 version are ommited entirely or replaced with something better but every correct move is layered underneath 2 mistakes. If Sigma 1 is A new Hope Special edition than Sigma 2 is Return of the Jedi special edition (on bluray, you know with hayden christianson at the end, and CG naboo).
Ninja Gaiden Sigma plus (2012) a port of the PS3 game down to the vita, it was neat that it existed but a major comprimise was made to the game engine to get it on the vita - halving the framerate. Ninja Gaiden was built around 60 fps and pulling that out ... well it just really destroys the fluidity of the game. It really is kind of a mess running like this , not to mention additional forced junky motion and touch control gimmicks. Stay far away from this version.
Ninja Gaiden 3(2012) Those poor misguided team ninja folks attempted to make their own brand new NG game from scratch and failed miserably. This doesn't really play anything like the first 2 , it's filled with awful boss encounters and idiotic stealth segments and a lame attempt to humanize all the killing Ryu does. It's also kind of a technical disaster, still using that NG sigma engine meant that it was stuck with dynamic resolution and a choppy frame rate. Probably better to just skip this edition of the game.
Ninja Gaiden 3 Razors Edge (2012) released at the wii U's launch and a few months later on 360/ps3 , this game seems to have been made to pull fans of 1 and 2 back in. The combat was completely rebuilt to be very similar to NG2 , the other characters could be used (even kasumi from dead or alive shows up) but it didn't feel quite as forced. It's a MUCH more playable version of NG3 but it's still NG3. So this bumps it up from a 3/10 to a 6 or 7 /10. On par with Sigma 2 I guess.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 plus (2013) yet another PS3 to PSvita port ... with the same problems as the original release but for whatever reason , since they figured out how to rebuild NG2 (360)'s combat system they placed it back into THIS version of the game. So we're stuck with a 30 fps (with slowdown) port of a PS3 game which in turn is a port of the 360 version and ugh... it's a just a mess. But hey, you can shake the vita to jiggle boobs !
Anyway, that's where we are with this franchise right now. Obviously I personally get a lot more harsh towards the games created without Itagaki's presence being felt at team ninja but they lost focus pretty badly. Tried to save face a little bit with Razors Edge but... Team Ninja hasn't really demonstrated with any of their products since 2008 that they know how to make a great game.. I feel like releasing some form of a Ninja Gaiden collection might help them ?
First off , throw it on a single collection (like Uncharted) as 1 complete package. 3 full games. Inside of that package, take the current version of DOA5's engine (that runs on PS4) and use the best textures available across every existing version of modern day ninja gaiden titles. Highest quality in game usable assets for all enemies and characters and weapons. Then, you get to play the games in any order you see fit. Ninja Gaiden (2004) should be reverted to it's NG black state , cut out all the sigma only bosses and Racheal stages in other words. Upon completing the game on at least normal difficulty , you would unlock the sigma variant should you want to play it as well as a separate "Racheal Gaiden" mode that lets you play all of Racheals stages back to back. Mission mode and master ninja difficulties would also open up as well, perhaps they could even let you replay entire stages of the game with a time limit or something similar. Oh and either remove the old CG cutscenes completely or re-render them with in game assets because those old 480p bink videos have aged just terribly.
For Ninja Gaiden 2 , I think it would be best to keep all the bug fixes and level adjustments brought into sigma 2 but remove the pointless extra bosses (like the buddha in stage 1 or the statue of liberty in stage 4) and again, split off the side missions with Momiji, Racheal and Ayane so they are optional bonuses after finishing the game on normal difficulty. As well, and most importantly the combat and encounter setup NEEDS to be returned to the state it was in the 360 game, violence and all. Obviously a few other tweaks could be made , like making sure the archdemon can't get stuck floating above the player (which would be something to file under bug fixes) but all around , make it the best version of the game.
As for Ninja Gaiden 3 ... well I feel Razors Edge is as close as this one can get to being a competent game so I guess just doing that but in 1080p ?
So it goes without saying that I'd expect this entire collection to run at 60 fps 1920X1080 resolution with zero slowdown anywhere and no dynamic resolution adjustments. Just the best looking, best playing versions of all 3 of these games available.
I'd actually be extremely happy to have something like this , even if instead of a straight up trilogy they did digital re-releases like capcom is doing with RE4,5 and 6. Just remind fans that the brand still exists and by making all 3 games the best possible versions , they care about quality going forward. Then perhaps, they can make a Ninja Gaiden 4 that takes all the series best elements and throws them into a well designed world with great stages and awesome boss fights. ... of course my level of faith in current team ninja would mean that an actual Ninja Gaiden 4 stars a version of Ryu who has suddenly and mysteriously become an H cupped female ninja warrior and , must jiggle her way through slimy tentacle monster demons to get back her manhood and knowing the japanese, a 12 year old kid that wears a swimsuit will be the sidekick instead of Ayane and ... knowing sales, it will be the best selling domestic entry in the series to date
What does GAF think about all of this , is Ninja Gaiden a game idea worth revisiting ? would a remaster help rekindle the love if it was done properly ?
There's the original Ninja Gaiden Arcade game that plays kind of like a single player double dragon. It's not really the greatest game but it was the first entry in the series.
Then you've got the NES trilogy , regarded for their obscene difficulty levels, catchy music and genre defining cutscenes, each one filled with it's own story and bosses along with slight gameplay tweaks. The first entry has an obscure turbografx port that sort of looks better but has it's own issues, NG2 remained NES only in it's original format and NG3 got ported a few times.
Following that , we got the Ninja Gaiden Trilogy cart for the SNES, featuring slightly better graphics and remastered music(that mostly sounded worse), it was the last we heard from Ryu Hayabusa for some time.
For years then the only way to play a game featuring Ryu Hayabusa was to play as him in a dead or alive title, that is until 2004 rolled around and we got the rebooted entry...
Ninja Gaiden(2004) was a reboot inspired by many contemporaries at the time , Onimusha is the one I think it most resembles but it also borrows a lot of game design ideas from Ocarina of Time on the N64 with a circular world map surrounded by dungeons that ultimately results in the player getting funneled towards the center to wage a final battle. Over the course of 2004, free DLC packs were released that added new weapons and difficulty settings as well as some extra enemies and bosses for those that demanded even more challenge. These were then cut into a deluxe release of the game that many consider the greatest action adventure game of all time - Ninja Gaiden Black(2005). Kind of a directors cut of the game that also added in an easy mode of sorts for those that begged for one (although it never let you rank higher than ninja dog after each stage and it made fun of the player throughout the game for being useless).
Ninja Gaiden Sigma(2007) A PS3 port of Ninja Gaiden Black that added in mostly useless and unwanted additions- extra bosses that throw off the pacing , forced side missions with a character that plays almost the opposite of Ryu which also throws off the games flow and some pointless cuts later in the game that on paper sounded good but don't really work well in practice. It's the best looking version of the game to be sure but the changes to it make it feel like a star wars special edition.
Ninja Gaiden Dragon Song (2008) an appetizer for the main course that was NG2, this was kind of a re-purposed asset game, pre-rendered backdrops made out of elements from sigma with crude 3D models (nintendo DS quality) pasted on top in a touch based somewhat glorified version of fruit ninja
. It was alright I suppose for what it was but it's little more than a diversion. Ninja Gaiden 2 (2008) Just a couple of months after dragon song this flawed gem made it out on the xbox 360. Featuring some of the most visceral and exciting combat seen in an action game before or even since it's release, NG2 pitted Ryu against 50% more enemies at the same time , had some really great (and some really poor) boss battles scattered throughout some excellent (and some ... shitty) stages. Bugs, preformance issues and just general cheapness in ranged enemy placement brought it downa bit but man, when NG2 shines it's absolutly glorious, head and shoulders better than the original game. Just a shame about the weaker elements to the title... and I think it was a step backwards to do the NES style world tour rather than a hub world but , what's done is done.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (2009)a year and a half later, the post Itagaki Team Ninja ported NG2 to their PS3 engine. The results were mostly favorable from a visual perspective but sadly the gameplay that was so damn kinetic , voilent and satisfying in the 360 game was completely and utterly nuetered here. Doubling down on the Double D's to compensate, sigma 2 forces the player to attempt playing as no less than 4 different boobtacular side characters between each major section of the game. Each with their own playstyle. Stages that were formerly littered with enemies and action are now barren wastelands devoid of enemies , the powerup system was severely gimped in attempt to add some semblence of balance but instead it just breaks the game. It wasn't all bad - some of the most frustrating elements in the 360 version are ommited entirely or replaced with something better but every correct move is layered underneath 2 mistakes. If Sigma 1 is A new Hope Special edition than Sigma 2 is Return of the Jedi special edition (on bluray, you know with hayden christianson at the end, and CG naboo).
Ninja Gaiden Sigma plus (2012) a port of the PS3 game down to the vita, it was neat that it existed but a major comprimise was made to the game engine to get it on the vita - halving the framerate. Ninja Gaiden was built around 60 fps and pulling that out ... well it just really destroys the fluidity of the game. It really is kind of a mess running like this , not to mention additional forced junky motion and touch control gimmicks. Stay far away from this version.
Ninja Gaiden 3(2012) Those poor misguided team ninja folks attempted to make their own brand new NG game from scratch and failed miserably. This doesn't really play anything like the first 2 , it's filled with awful boss encounters and idiotic stealth segments and a lame attempt to humanize all the killing Ryu does. It's also kind of a technical disaster, still using that NG sigma engine meant that it was stuck with dynamic resolution and a choppy frame rate. Probably better to just skip this edition of the game.
Ninja Gaiden 3 Razors Edge (2012) released at the wii U's launch and a few months later on 360/ps3 , this game seems to have been made to pull fans of 1 and 2 back in. The combat was completely rebuilt to be very similar to NG2 , the other characters could be used (even kasumi from dead or alive shows up) but it didn't feel quite as forced. It's a MUCH more playable version of NG3 but it's still NG3. So this bumps it up from a 3/10 to a 6 or 7 /10. On par with Sigma 2 I guess.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 plus (2013) yet another PS3 to PSvita port ... with the same problems as the original release but for whatever reason , since they figured out how to rebuild NG2 (360)'s combat system they placed it back into THIS version of the game. So we're stuck with a 30 fps (with slowdown) port of a PS3 game which in turn is a port of the 360 version and ugh... it's a just a mess. But hey, you can shake the vita to jiggle boobs !
Anyway, that's where we are with this franchise right now. Obviously I personally get a lot more harsh towards the games created without Itagaki's presence being felt at team ninja but they lost focus pretty badly. Tried to save face a little bit with Razors Edge but... Team Ninja hasn't really demonstrated with any of their products since 2008 that they know how to make a great game.. I feel like releasing some form of a Ninja Gaiden collection might help them ?
First off , throw it on a single collection (like Uncharted) as 1 complete package. 3 full games. Inside of that package, take the current version of DOA5's engine (that runs on PS4) and use the best textures available across every existing version of modern day ninja gaiden titles. Highest quality in game usable assets for all enemies and characters and weapons. Then, you get to play the games in any order you see fit. Ninja Gaiden (2004) should be reverted to it's NG black state , cut out all the sigma only bosses and Racheal stages in other words. Upon completing the game on at least normal difficulty , you would unlock the sigma variant should you want to play it as well as a separate "Racheal Gaiden" mode that lets you play all of Racheals stages back to back. Mission mode and master ninja difficulties would also open up as well, perhaps they could even let you replay entire stages of the game with a time limit or something similar. Oh and either remove the old CG cutscenes completely or re-render them with in game assets because those old 480p bink videos have aged just terribly.
For Ninja Gaiden 2 , I think it would be best to keep all the bug fixes and level adjustments brought into sigma 2 but remove the pointless extra bosses (like the buddha in stage 1 or the statue of liberty in stage 4) and again, split off the side missions with Momiji, Racheal and Ayane so they are optional bonuses after finishing the game on normal difficulty. As well, and most importantly the combat and encounter setup NEEDS to be returned to the state it was in the 360 game, violence and all. Obviously a few other tweaks could be made , like making sure the archdemon can't get stuck floating above the player (which would be something to file under bug fixes) but all around , make it the best version of the game.
As for Ninja Gaiden 3 ... well I feel Razors Edge is as close as this one can get to being a competent game so I guess just doing that but in 1080p ?
So it goes without saying that I'd expect this entire collection to run at 60 fps 1920X1080 resolution with zero slowdown anywhere and no dynamic resolution adjustments. Just the best looking, best playing versions of all 3 of these games available.
I'd actually be extremely happy to have something like this , even if instead of a straight up trilogy they did digital re-releases like capcom is doing with RE4,5 and 6. Just remind fans that the brand still exists and by making all 3 games the best possible versions , they care about quality going forward. Then perhaps, they can make a Ninja Gaiden 4 that takes all the series best elements and throws them into a well designed world with great stages and awesome boss fights. ... of course my level of faith in current team ninja would mean that an actual Ninja Gaiden 4 stars a version of Ryu who has suddenly and mysteriously become an H cupped female ninja warrior and , must jiggle her way through slimy tentacle monster demons to get back her manhood and knowing the japanese, a 12 year old kid that wears a swimsuit will be the sidekick instead of Ayane and ... knowing sales, it will be the best selling domestic entry in the series to date
What does GAF think about all of this , is Ninja Gaiden a game idea worth revisiting ? would a remaster help rekindle the love if it was done properly ?
