Ninja Gaiden (2004 video game)

Did You Know?

• Development began in 1999 on the Sega NAOMI arcade system board, then moved to the Dreamcast before being abandoned when Sega discontinued the Dreamcast in 2001.
• Most voters in a Tecmo poll wanted the game on the Nintendo GameCube.

Gameplay

In Ninja Gaiden, you see Ryu Hayabusa from behind as he runs, jumps, and fights. He starts with simple gear and skills, but can find or buy upgrades. Ryu can wall-run, leap off walls, swing between poles, and even dash across water. The game world is split into several areas, most linked by the hub city of Tairon. To reach new regions, you fight enemies, hunt for keys, or solve puzzles—a design choice inspired by The Legend of Zelda. Save points are dragon statues placed around the levels. You control Ryu with the left stick, two attack buttons, and a block button. Unlike God of War or Devil May Cry, you cannot cancel or change an attack once you start it. This makes the combat harder to master, but as God of War’s combat designer noted, it lets you fight enemies on equal footing.

Plot

The story is inspired by the 1980s Ninja Gaiden series for the NES and is set in the world of the Dead or Alive fighting games. Interviews with Tomonobu Itagaki indicate the Xbox games are standalone prequels to the NES series, possibly sharing a single continuity. The game is set mainly in Japan and the fictional Vigoor Empire. Japanese locales draw on Heian period structures, while the Vigoor capital Tairon blends architectural styles from around the world, including European buildings and a monastery with Gothic influences. A hidden underground level features cat-headed statues, carvings, hieroglyphics, an Aztec pyramid, and a labyrinth. The story spans 16 chapters, each beginning and ending with a cutscene. The main character is Ryu Hayabusa, the "super ninja". Itagaki chose not to create extra player characters to focus on Ryu, though Rachel is playable in the Sigma version. The game provides backstory to Ryu's appearance in the Dead or Alive series, set two years before the first DOA game.

Release

In Japan, a demo disc was bundled with the February 26, 2004 issue of Famitsu Xbox, letting players try the first chapter on two difficulty settings with upgraded weapons and ninpos. Tecmo released Ninja Gaiden in the United States on March 2, 2004, a year later than planned, then in Japan on March 11 and in Europe on May 14. The game contained bloody violence, decapitations, and grotesque monsters. The ESRB rated it Mature. In Germany, the USK refused to rate the game due to beheadings, so Tecmo censored the European PAL version to obtain a USK rating. A year later, Tecmo obtained a USK 18+ rating for the uncensored Ninja Gaiden Black. Japan's CERO rated Ninja Gaiden and Black as 18+ games; at the time these ratings were guidelines. After the Japanese rating system changed in March 2006, Tecmo removed human beheadings in Sigma to obtain a D rating. CERO reclassified the two previous games as D despite their decapitations. Team Ninja released two downloadable expansions, the Hurricane Packs, free of charge over Xbox Live in the third quarter of 2004.

Other versions

Tecmo published two additional versions: Ninja Gaiden Black for Xbox and Ninja Gaiden Sigma for PlayStation 3. They tell the same story but include additional content and updated mechanics. Itagaki considered Black the final version, but Tecmo ported it as Sigma. Black and Sigma introduced Mission Mode, focused on combat-based missions where the goal is to destroy all enemies. Scoring is based on speed, kills, unused ninpo spells, and cash collected; players can compare scores online. Black is a reworked compilation of the original game and the two Hurricane Packs, featuring new foes like exploding bats and doppelgänger fiends. It adds more costumes and swaps the unlockable NES games for an arcade version. Black includes two new difficulty settings: easy Ninja Dog and very hard Master Ninja. Itagaki added Ninja Dog after complaints of difficulty; players on this setting receive colored ribbons and Ayane treats Ryu as inferior. Black's Mission Mode comprises 50 combat missions, with the last five based on Hurricane Pack 2 forming "Eternal Legend". The Intercept maneuver from Hurricane Pack 1 was not included in Black.