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So is the Ninja Gaiden series dead?

What happened to the series? It seems like since Itagaki left everything changed at that studio. Thought they would reboot it, but seems like a once beloved action game is left with Ninja Gaiden 3 as its last entry.
 

dirthead

Banned
PC gamers want a re-release of Ninja Gaiden Black on the PC. It's money on the table. They're just dumb.

Original Xbox emulation is finally making some headway. They're going to piss around until it's emulated and then no one cares.

Way to strike while the iron is hot, dumb Japanese company.
 

Fbh

Member
Man I miss NG
I'm still holding out hope that it's just on hold, with Itagaki leaving and NG3 getting a pretty negative reception I can understand that they decided to focus on other stuff.

Team Ninja also went through a rough couple of years with stuff like other M and NG3 but they seem to have recovered in recent years.
I'm hoping that if DMC5 and Bayonetta 3 do well it helps motivate Tecmo (I think they own the IP?) into making a new one
 

Shifty

Member
It was kind of a downhill trend from when Hayashi got his hands on it and started cramming the series full of titties and DoA universe stuff. I think 3 buried it for the near future.

If memory serves, a Team Ninja representative made a cryptic "Ryu will come back when the time is right" comment when asked about it during the Nioh press cycle. For whatever that's worth.

Myself I hope it comes back sooner rather than later because holy shit Ninja Gaiden was amazing. By far the closest character action has come to a single-player fighting game for my money.

PC gamers want a re-release of Ninja Gaiden Black on the PC. It's money on the table. They're just dumb.
I don't think we'll see Black again unless they shake things up over at Team Ninja. If we got something from the team as it was around 3RE, it'd be Sigma.
 
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Yeah, it’s dead unfortunately. First Ninja Gaiden 3 hurt the franchise and then Yaiba just finished it off. I would love to see a NG4, but it’s kind of slim I think. Hopefully I’m inaccurate because Dead or Alive actually got a sequel you never know I guess.
 

Komatsu

Member
None of these older action side-scrolling ninja games (I'm thinkin Gaiden and SEGA's Shinobi) made the transition to 3D successfully. NG3 is a bad game and most of us who grew up with the original series are now in their 30s - I don't see the franchise coming back anytime soon.
 

Shifty

Member
giphy.gif


None of these older action side-scrolling ninja games (I'm thinkin Gaiden and SEGA's Shinobi) made the transition to 3D successfully. NG3 is a bad game
Crazy talk! Ninja Gaiden Black is a masterpiece.

I'd entertain an argument for NG2 being seriously broken but it's still good. Can't disagree that 3 is a roaring trash fire though.

And Shinobi PS2 was real rough around the edges but still had merit imo. The tate system was cool.
 
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Vlaphor

Member
I doubt there will be any games coming out soon, but we can still hold out hope for remasters of the first two games. Also, when I got my Xbox One X, the first game I played on it was Ninja Gaiden.

Runs at 4k 60 and looks amazing...except for all of the skyboxes and background images, which now look terrible.
 

MB2Z

Member
Nah, they will milk the shit out of Ni-Oh till it dries then they go back to Ninja Gaiden.

Also, I don’t trust this series under Hayashi’s Team Ninja (NG3 and Yaiba was their doing).
 

Shifty

Member
I doubt there will be any games coming out soon, but we can still hold out hope for remasters of the first two games. Also, when I got my Xbox One X, the first game I played on it was Ninja Gaiden.

Runs at 4k 60 and looks amazing...except for all of the skyboxes and background images, which now look terrible.
NG Black backward compatibility on thee X is probably the top item on my list of reasons to buy into the Xbox One ecosystem. Unfortunately the rest of the list is short-to-nonexistent thus far, so I haven't yet...

I don't suppose you got to see any mission mode stuff on the X did you? I remember the 360 BC having graphical glitches on the boundary wall's ripple effect that made it really hard to see what was going on in the busier encounters. Would love to know if they ever fixed that.

Edit: They fixed it! The temptation grows stronger...


NG3 and Yaiba was their doing
In my mind Keiji Inafune gets the blame for Yaiba, though I suppose TN were down with the idea.
 
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MDSLKTR

Member
NGB is backwards compatible and X enhanced so it's at least preserved forever. As it should, still a marvel of Japanese action games 15 years later.
 

TheWatcher

Banned
Ninja Gaiden 2 was spectacular but the series started free falling around the time of its release. I wonder if it is being held back from being released on the Xbox BC program despite Black being available. Easily two of my favorite action games ever made. The amount of diverse weapons and combos in Ninja Gaiden 2 was staggerring.
 
giphy.gif



Crazy talk! Ninja Gaiden Black is a masterpiece.

I'd entertain an argument for NG2 being seriously broken but it's still good. Can't disagree that 3 is a roaring trash fire though.

And Shinobi PS2 was real rough around the edges but still had merit imo. The tate system was cool.

😂 Shinobi PS2 was cool.
 
I don't think it's dead, and I think they even said it's viewed as one of their most important brands.

They're doing the absolute ideal thing they could do. They're going back to the drawing board behind the scenes. That's what they did with Nioh for like 10 years.

When they feel they actually have the next evolution of the series, we'll see a part 4 or a reboot. They even said as much in interviews around the time Nioh came out.
 

Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
Need a remake from NES games with the engine of Ninja Gaiden Black. or at least a re-interpretation of NES games.
 
NIOH "IS A GATEWAY" TO A NEW NINJA GAIDEN GAME

17 JAN 2017

"Creative director Tom Lee had the following to say when quizzed by US Gamer about whether Team Ninja had moved on from the Ninja Gaiden franchise:

"Maybe I can say that Nioh is a gateway into the next chapter for Ninja Gaiden. [Ninja Gaiden] is a very important, if not the most important franchise, for us. But at this point I think this franchise needs to be in the shadows for a while until we bring it back. There will be a time, and when the time is right, we will bring it back."



Basically they're working on it right now, and have been for a few years.
 

kevin_trinh

Member
Well NG 3 Re > NG 2 in my opinion. I like the way they balance weapon moveset in Ng 3 RE. Stop player spamming Izuna drop is a good idea
 

Kagey K

Banned
Without Itagaki it’s better to stay dead.

Team Ninja Dog killed the series with NG3 as far as I’m concerned.

Sometimes it’s better to leave great alone. Don’t try to bastardized it with your wannabe clone.
 
Well Koei-Tecmo has to one of the world filthiest greedy degenerate publisher.

Does Ninja Gaiden have the potential for hundreds of 50$ DLCs and costume Packs? Then no, you'll never see another one...
 

dirthead

Banned
NGB is backwards compatible and X enhanced so it's at least preserved forever. As it should, still a marvel of Japanese action games 15 years later.

No game's preserved on a locked down console. I don't consider a game preserved until it's well emulated in an open source emulator. I don't even consider things preserved when they're only emulated by closed source emulators, because those are doomed to die. Everything close sourced gets abandoned eventually. It's just a matter of time until something breaks.

Software is never finished. The only way to keep it alive is to be able to still work on it.
 

Akuza89

Member
More the likely it is dead for now yes.

I mean hyabusa still gets his use in dead or alive.... But you can only assume they don't have any plans with DOA6 coming out soon.
 

Shifty

Member
NIOH "IS A GATEWAY" TO A NEW NINJA GAIDEN GAME

17 JAN 2017

"Creative director Tom Lee had the following to say when quizzed by US Gamer about whether Team Ninja had moved on from the Ninja Gaiden franchise:

"Maybe I can say that Nioh is a gateway into the next chapter for Ninja Gaiden. [Ninja Gaiden] is a very important, if not the most important franchise, for us. But at this point I think this franchise needs to be in the shadows for a while until we bring it back. There will be a time, and when the time is right, we will bring it back."


Basically they're working on it right now, and have been for a few years.
That's the quote I was thinking of. Fingers crossed that something good eventually comes of it.

How about a crossover in NIOH and Ninja Gaiden game?

Its not sound cool?
I was always of the mindset that Nioh should have been a pure character action game rather than a Diablo loot-a-thon. The mechanics are more than solid enough to support it.

So yeah, providing they picked the common ground between the two rather than attempting to cram loot drops into NG.

Well NG 3 Re > NG 2 in my opinion. I like the way they balance weapon moveset in Ng 3 RE. Stop player spamming Izuna drop is a good idea
Mmmh, I guess there's an argument to be made after they shored up the combat for RE. I had a good amount of fun with that version in the end.

Shame about the weird modern locales and even-more-linear-than-2 mission design though. Fighting through a desert was just bizarre.

Found on Reddit. Not sure if true.

16a5gsh.jpg
Oh dear :messenger_neutral: we can but hope it's just a run-of-the-mill re-up rather than an actual plan-in-the-making.

No game's preserved on a locked down console. I don't consider a game preserved until it's well emulated in an open source emulator. I don't even consider things preserved when they're only emulated by closed source emulators, because those are doomed to die. Everything close sourced gets abandoned eventually. It's just a matter of time until something breaks.

Software is never finished. The only way to keep it alive is to be able to still work on it.
Wanna talk about the games themselves now you've gotten that particular rant out of your system? :messenger_tongue:
 
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TagZ

Member
Was it the 1st one where Hyabusa transformed somewhat into a dragon. I think I remembered something like that and wondering why it wasn't in the sequel? Maybe I'm wrong but thought it was cool
 

Shifty

Member
Was it the 1st one where Hyabusa transformed somewhat into a dragon. I think I remembered something like that and wondering why it wasn't in the sequel? Maybe I'm wrong but thought it was cool
Unless you're talking about the NES games (of which I know more or less nothing) I don't think Ryu ever becomes a dragon. He temporarily turns part-fiend at one point, and uses ninpo to transform into a bird and fly off into the sunset before the credits roll.

Could you be thinking of the instant kill desparation move the final boss does that involves summoning a dragon?
 

JCK75

Member
Personally I vastly prefer 2D Ninja Gaiden over 3D, I'd like a 2.5D game similar to the NES versions (Arcade version was awesome too but I'd prefer the gameplay of the NES games)
 

TagZ

Member
Maybe it was the partly fiend transformation . Just remember seeing his face or around the eyes go like a green or blue.
 

HeresJohnny

Member
Man I miss NG
I'm still holding out hope that it's just on hold, with Itagaki leaving and NG3 getting a pretty negative reception I can understand that they decided to focus on other stuff.

Team Ninja also went through a rough couple of years with stuff like other M and NG3 but they seem to have recovered in recent years.
I'm hoping that if DMC5 and Bayonetta 3 do well it helps motivate Tecmo (I think they own the IP?) into making a new one
I still go back and replay Ninja Gaiden Black, and it's held up incredibly well. Some may argue otherwise, but I think that game very well may have been the perfect action game. Ninja Gaiden 2 was great too, but it suffered from some terrible slowdown due to the outageous Kill Bill-esque limb lopping. I want to go replay it again too.
 

Solo Act

Member
Isn't the rumor that the Smash DLC leak contains characters with games coming to Switch in 2019? Ninja Gaiden just hit it's 30 year anniversary. There might be some kind of anthology package (or even new game) announced later this year to go with Ryu being a Smash DLC character.

I wouldn't call it "dead" just yet.
 

Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
Yaiba Ninja Gaiden Z, could be a better spin off with a amazing new character, but the problem was the low buget, put Keiji Inafune in the project and the grotesque humor of puke and vulgarity.

Acutally i like a lot the gameplay but the story and the structure of the game is stupid. And the final Boss is one of the most dumb design that ever see it.
 
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Fbh

Member
I still go back and replay Ninja Gaiden Black, and it's held up incredibly well. Some may argue otherwise, but I think that game very well may have been the perfect action game. Ninja Gaiden 2 was great too, but it suffered from some terrible slowdown due to the outageous Kill Bill-esque limb lopping. I want to go replay it again too.

Yeah
I'd love to replay them but I currently own no system to do so. I understand not getting a new game but not even getting ports/remasters was disappointing

A PC port of both 1 and particularly 2 (to iron out the frame rate) would be amazing
 
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Personally I vastly prefer 2D Ninja Gaiden over 3D, I'd like a 2.5D game similar to the NES versions (Arcade version was awesome too but I'd prefer the gameplay of the NES games)

Yeah I don't know man, I honestly can't pick here. But I'd love a new 2D one, something like Rayman Origins or Tropical Freeze that just focus on going fast fucking shit up. The first game OST is still unmatched.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I also want 2 and 3: Razer's Edge on XBO BC.

The DS game Dragon Sword was good. But that was 2008. NG3 was a bad representation of the franchise.

The Vita ports suffer from some slow downs (NG1&2 Sigma). It's like someone didn't play it at all and just ported it to the Vita.
 

Shifty

Member
There might be some kind of anthology package (or even new game) announced later this year to go with Ryu being a Smash DLC character.
Izuna Drop for Smash :messenger_beaming:

Yaiba Ninja Gaiden Z, could be a better spin off with a amazing new character, but the problem was the low buget, put Keiji Inafune in the project and the grotesque humor of puke and vulgarity.

Acutally i like a lot the gameplay but the story and the structure of the game is stupid. And the final Boss is one of the most dumb design that ever see it.
I feel like the zombie thing kind of ruined it from the get-go. The idea of exploring the story of a spider ninja with a vendetta against Ryu was a fascinating idea, but invoking romero-style walking dead and presenting it in a goofy LIMB NUNCHUCKS LOLOLOL manner was a huge mistake.

Maybe it was the partly fiend transformation . Just remember seeing his face or around the eyes go like a green or blue.
Yeah, that'd be it.



It doesn't really do anything other than apply a palette swap and make Ryu's combat shouts kinda weird and distorted though, and wears off after the Vigoor Emperor is defeated.

The DS game Dragon Sword was good. But that was 2008. NG3 was a bad representation of the franchise.

The Vita ports suffer from some slow downs (NG1&2 Sigma). It's like someone didn't play it at all and just ported it to the Vita.
I was impressed at how faithful the animations and mechanics were in the DS game, stylus controls notwithstanding.

Those Vita games though, Ninja Gaiden at 30FPS is no bueno :messenger_sad_relieved:
 
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Aranea

Member
The Ninja Gaiden franchise has been dead for a while. I wouldn't mind if the franchise returned with gameplay similar to the Nioh games.

Both Ninja Gaiden and Nioh share the same universe so why not.
 

Xaero Gravity

NEXT LEVEL lame™
Scuttlebutt is that Ryu Hayabusa will be one of the Smash DLC characters released to promote a 30th anniversary project. Whether it's a brand new game or a remake of some kind wasn't said.
 

juliotendo

Member
What happened to the series? It seems like since Itagaki left everything changed at that studio. Thought they would reboot it, but seems like a once beloved action game is left with Ninja Gaiden 3 as its last entry.

I wouldn’t be surprised if a remaster collection is released or something of that sort. It’s easy money just lying on the table. It would sell well.
 

KINDERFELD

Banned
Ninja Gaiden Black on the first Xbox was the pinnacle of the series.
Folks who experienced this know what I'm talking about.
 
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