Ninja Gaiden (2004 video game)

Ninja Gaiden is a 2004 action-adventure video game developed by Team Ninja. It is the fifth original release in the Ninja Gaiden video game series and the first for the Xbox console. An enhanced version was released on the Xbox in 2005 as Ninja Gaiden Black. It was later remade to the PlayStation 3 in 2007 in the form of Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

The game features the Dragon Ninja, Ryu Hayabusa as the protagonist . Throughout the course of the game he has to defeat hordes of enemies and go through a variety of challenging environments to reacquire the stolen Dark Dragon Blade.

The game is a revival of the Ninja Gaiden series, being the first addition for more than nine years, and was released to much critical acclaim with some considering it the best videogame ever made. This game was released worldwide with the Ninja Gaiden title, and the old regional titles of Ninja Ryūkenden (忍者龍剣伝) in Japan and Shadow Warriors in Europe were discontinued.

Ninja Gaiden

Ninja Gaiden
Box art for 'Ninja Gaiden
Developer(s)	Team Ninja
Publisher(s)	Tecmo
Designer(s)	Tomonobu Itagaki
Platform(s)	Xbox
Release	March 2, 2004 March 11, 2004 May 14, 2004
Genre(s)	Action-Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player

Development

The "Next-Generation Ninja Gaiden Project" began in 1999; it was originally intended to be a game for the Sega NAOMI arcade system board. The game's development cycle was plagued by several delays and changes of platform: first to the Sega Dreamcast, then as a launch title for the Playstation 2. Rumours however start to claim that the game would be moving exclusively to the Xbox despite some shops posting it up as a PS2 game. This is even quite surprising from the viewpoint of its fans as Tecmo's own online poll shows the Gamecube as their overwhelming choice platform for Ninja Gaiden. Finally, in E3 2002 Tecmo officially announced that Ninja Gaiden would be exclusive to the Xbox, as well as showing off the first demo build of the game.

In August 2003, Gamespy had an interview with the game director, Tomonobu Itagaki. Itagaki revealed that his Ninja Gaiden was meant to be a violent action game at heart. It has no connections to the old NES trilogy, though the flavor of it would be retained. In another interview with IGN, he reveals several more advancements have been made since the demo presented in last year's E3. Itagaki wants players to base their skills in this game primarily on their own reflexes rather than memorizing layouts and timings as in the old NES series. He intends to cater this game for both casual and hardcore gamers, making this game a difficult one, but which will attract players to keep trying to raise their skills to overcome that difficulty. Itagaki feels good games these days need to integrate high quality smooth flowing graphics, with responsive controls, and immersive gaming experience. The overall environmental theme in the design is however a mish-mash of various cultures and influences, as Itagaki admits to "just putting everything in that I wanted to create!"

Delays continued to haunt the game's release, but failed to prevent Tecmo showing off a second demo E3 2003. The reactions of journalists who had a hands on with the demo were tremendously positive, glowing about the visuals and the combat engine. The game was highly anticipated to be released in the USA for Christmas 2003. However Tecmo announced in December 2003 the game's release has slipped to 2004, though with the typical boastful manner which surrounds this game's development, they say it is due to the game's brilliance. Tecmo also announced the availability of Ninja Gaiden merchandises on its online store, with discounts given to those who pre-order the game. While Tecmo's announced the game's American retail release will be two weeks earlier than its Japanese release, a public demo was distributed in Japan one month before the game's release.

The retail launch of the game was accompanied by the standard fanfare of commercials and launching of the official website which offers media downloads. Tecmo continued to incite interest in the game with the concept of the Master Ninja Tournament, where players can submit in their scores to qualify for the finals and win prizes.

Despite all this, work still continued on the project, and rumours soon surfaced that the game would be reworked and released over Xbox Live. Hurricane Pack 1 was formally announced to be available for download in August 2004. It was an even harder version of the original game and has new features including various changes to the location of items and enemies. The Pack is part of the qualifying process for the Master Ninja Tournament World Wide Finals.

Following on the heels of the first downloadable content, the Tournament content was released as Hurricane Pack 2 for the populace to enjoy. As an honorary mention, the user names of the highest scoring participants of this Pack were to be featured in the ending credits of Ninja Gaiden Black, a further upgraded version released in 2005.

Plot

The 2004 Ninja Gaiden contains no story elements from the NES trilogy apart from minor references and a few recurring characters who play very similar roles to those of the original trilogy. This is essentially a "new beginning" of the Ninja Gaiden "universe". The game director Tomonobu Itagaki commented in an August 23, 2003 interview with Gamespy that "since this is a brand-new game, I prefer not to be influenced by or base it on the original story".

Summary

The story revolves around the Dark Dragon Blade and the Dragon Sword.

The Dark Dragon Blade was forged from the bones of the evil Black Dragon. It has been sealed away and is protected by the warriors of the Dragon Lineage. Their descendants, the Hayabusa ninja clan, now serve as the guardians of this evil artifact.

The Dragon Sword was forged from the tooth of one of the good dragons. Passed down from generation to generation of the Dragon Lineage, it was instrumental in their defeating and sealing the forces of evil. The current wielder of the sword is the ninja, Ryu Hayabusa.

Ninja Gaiden starts off with Ryu bloodily infiltrating the Shadow Clan's ninja fortress seeking a visit with his uncle, Murai, the leader of the Shadow Clan. In the middle of their conversation, a young ninja, Ayane barges in, informing them the Hayabusa village was under attack. Ryu rushes and fights his way back to find his village in ruins, and is cut down by Doku who has taken the Dark Dragon Blade. The chapter concludes with a falcon, the Hayabusa's spirit animal, overlooking the fallen Ryu.

Informed by Murai that the Vigoor Empire was responsible for the attack and theft, Ryu decides to stow onboard an airship and sneak into Vigoor. General Dynamo and his MSATs were directed to board the airship and search for Ryu. However Ryu defeats Dynamo, and the latter's overloading circuits caused the airships to explode. Ryu manages to escape the explosion and slid on power line cables into Tairon.

Moving through Tairon, Ryu a demon hunter named Rachel, who informs Ryu of the blood curse which can turn people into fiends. Rachel is on a mission to liberate her twin sister, Alma who had been turned into a fiend, from this state of existence.

By this time, Ryu had also met the mysterious Gamov, who is working with the Dark Disciple in the employ of the Vigoor Empire. Ryu fights his way through the streets, ending up in the monastery. After going through and flooding the catacombs of the monastery, Ryu ends up encountering Alma in the main altar hall itself. Alma is defeated and the tremendous release of energy leaves the monastery in ruins. Rachel arrives at this point, but finds herself unable to kill her sister.

Ryu leaves them to continue his mission. Doku walks in behind Rachel, and subdues her. The Vigoor Army has been put on alert by the explosion and are now enforcing a curfew of Tairon. Ryu fights his way into the military base, and crashes a locomotive into another, igniting another tremendous explosion which takes out city blocks. In a bid to escape the scene, Ryu enters the city's aqueducts.

File:Kyoiori RyuVsDoku0000.png

Ryu fights with Doku.

Navigating through the aqueducts, Ryu defeats the resurrected Paz Zuu, and found himself on the edge of the moat surrounding Zarkhan, the capital. Swimming through the moat, he eventually goes up an elevator into the stadium, where he defeats Doku, thereby rescuing Rachel. Doku's physical body was defeated but his spirit flees to continue the fight. Rachel goes off to pursue him.

Left alone, Ryu manages to enter the caverns, and defeats Smaugan, the dragon guarding the statue of the Devil, Deity of Immortality. He also manages to retrieve all the pieces of the tablet needed to reactivate the portal networks. Muramasa, the egnimatic bladesmith and shopkeeper, informs Ryu that his Dragon Sword is incomplete, and Ryu goes back to his village via the portals, and retrieves the Dragon Eye from Kureha's grave to complete the True Dragon Sword. Venturing through the portal network, he arrives at the pyramid to witness Spirit Doku about to sacrifice Rachel, and Alma's awakening.

Defeating Awakened Alma, Ryu rushes to prevent Rachel's sacrifice but Awakened Alma beats him to it. Shielding her sister, Awakened Alma is pierced by Spirit Doku's sword, and reverts back to her human form. Spirit Doku leaves in disgust. Ryu leaves the twins and enters the pyramid. He manages to make it rise and gains access to the labyrinth. This is where he finishes Spirit Doku off once and for all. However with his last breath, Spirit Doku places the blood curse upon Ryu which will gradually turn him into a fiend. The only way to lift this curse is to kill the Vigoor Emperor.

Ryu fights his way into the palace core, venturing into the nether realms where he slayed Marbus to obtain the final statue needed to unlock the gates of hell. Stepping onto the stairways beyond, he fell into the realm of the Vigoor Emperor who is standing guard over the Dark Dragon Blade. Ryu defeats the Vigoor Emperor twice, causing his realm to start collapsing. Ryu with the help of Rachel, manages to escape its collapse with the Dark Dragon Blade.

Flung out of the collapsing realm, the Dark Dragon Blade lands at the feet of the Dark Disciple who casually slaughters Gamov with it. Unmasked as Murai, the Dark Disciple reveals the plan was to get Ryu to slaughter thousands in the name of the Dark Dragon Blade, thus feeding it with souls, and gorging it with power. Murai who had lusted for the power of the Dark Dragon Blade for so long, finally has it in his hands. The overwhelming dark power of the Blade transforms him into a Fiend, and the final fight is engaged.

Defeating and casting Fiend Murai into a dark abyss, Ryu decides to end the saga of the Dark Dragon Blade once and for all by shattering it with the True Dragon Sword. Simply stating that the whole quest is over, Ryu transforms into the Hayabusa's spirit animal, a falcon, and flies back to the Hayabusa village where he places the Dragon Eye back on Kureha's grave.

Gameplay

Ninja Gaiden's play takes the form of Story Mode. The whole game is split into 16 chapters. Once you start off in a chapter, you have free reign to roam about. There are areas are closed off to the player from the start, but once unlocked, the player can go back to them. Exceptions are the Ninja Fortress, the Airship, and the Military Base due to the plot. There are also plot elements which will restrict the player's movement to certain areas within a chapter. The player's progress must be saved at a save point, which resembles a dragon statue, if the player wishes to continue his play at another time.

CG rendered movies are typically played at the beginning and ending of a chapter. The player must watch the entirety of a movie on its first playing, however the movie can be skipped on subsequent replays. There are also in-game cutscenes in the game.

Score-wise (score being known as karma in this game), the game is concerned with how fast a player is able to finish off an encounter. Finishing off an encounter within time limits will award the player with a time bonus. At the end of the chapter, the game will award bonuses based on how fast the player clears the chapter, how many foes were killed, how much more essence than the beginning of the chapter the player has, and how much full 'ki' slots the player has at the end.

After completing a particular difficulty's Story Mode, the player is given the option to save his completed game. An option to play this saved game is then offered (Successive Play). Despite its name, the player starts off playing Story Mode again on that difficulty with only the starting equipment and statistics. The only things the player can keep from the completed game are the scarabs (which he can exchange for slightly earlier rewards). The Dark Dragon Blade can also be obtained in chapter 13 of Successive Play.

Movement

Ryu Hayabusa is able to walk or run about. He is able to clamber onto surfaces which are slightly higher than his current level. For higher surfaces, he has to jump onto them, or to catch the ledge and pull himself up.

Ryu is able to roll (a maneuver called Reverse Wind in the game). This is also an important part of his defence. Ryu gains invulnerable frames during his rolls, though he is vulnerable again when he finishes a roll. The player can keep on chaining rolls into jumps into rolls, making Ryu move much faster than running.

As a ninja, Ryu is also able to run on walls, and jump off them, allowing him to reach places where normal humans are unable to.

Ryu is also able to swim underwater in the game, though only for as long as he has oxygen in his lungs. His fighting ability in the water is limited to only a few strokes. Ryu is capable of running on water as well.

Combat

Ryu's offensive capability is governed by the use of two buttons which delivers a normal stroke which tends to the horizontal, and a vertical power stroke. Pressing various sequences of combinations of these two buttons will deliver different attack sequences with various weapons, provided these weapons have been upgraded to unlock those moves.

Weapons can be upgraded by paying Muramasa to do so (though there is a cap per chapter so as to introduce a gradual increase in power).

Ryu can throw shurikens on and off the ground. While no projectile weapons can be upgraded, Ryu can find a bow 'upgrade' in the form of the Strongbow later on in the story. The bows allow auto-targeting in third person mode, and allows Ryu to enter a first-person mode for manual aiming.

Ryu is also able to cast 'magic' in the form of ninpo. He can cast as many times as his 'ki' allows which is recharged with the use of Devil Elixirs, the refill station, or at the start of the chapter. Ryu must equip a ninpo scroll to cast that ninpo. Ryu can increase his ki slots with Spirit of the Devils, and increase the power of a ninpo with Jewels of the Demon Seal.

Ryu can block all attacks with the use of the block button. Very few foes can break his guard, however there are attacks (typically of bosses) which can ignore his guard. There are also attacks which chip away Ryu's health if the player blocks instead of trying to dodge them. Foes with grab attacks can still grab and hurt a blocking Ryu.

Essence and Ultimate Techniques

When Ryu kills a foe, it can release one of three types of essence. A blue essence can restore health, a red essence restores ki, and yellow essences function as cash in this game. If Ryu does nothing and stands near these essences, they will be drawn into his body. Ryu can avoid this by holding the block button.

By holding down the vertical power stroke button, Ryu will absorb the essences for use as an Ultimate Technique. Releasing the vertical power stroke button will unleash the Ultimate Technique which deals heavy damage to foes. There are two levels of Ultimate Techniques. The full Ultimate Technique must be executed by absorbing a blue or red essence, or two yellow essences. A weaker version (commonly called Essence Technique amongst veteran players) can be done by absorbing a single yellow essence. Foes killed with Ultimate Technique release larger yellow essences.

Downloadable Content

Ninja Gaiden has downloadable content via XBox Live in the form of Hurricane Packs 1 and 2. The regular original Ninja Gaiden game is unaffected by the downloaded content. Playing new or loaded games of the original will still be the same.

To play the Hurricane Packs, one must select the new Master Ninja Tournament 2 option for Hurricane Pack 1. and Master Ninja Tournament 3 option for Hurricane Pack 2. The player must be connected to XBox Live in order to start a new game on one of the Hurricane Packs. Once a new game has been started and saved, the saved game can be reloaded and resumed.

As the Hurricane Packs are meant for Tournament play, there are no multiple difficulty levels to choose from.

Hurricane Pack 1

Hurricane Pack 1 was available for download via Xbox Live on August 9, 2004. Its purpose was for competitive play, and was used by Team Ninja to select participants for its second Master Ninja Tournament.

The game world and story of the Pack is the same as the original Ninja Gaiden except that some foes have been replaced with new ones. The player can only use the new features for this pack. The original Ninja Gaiden remains untouched.

One key additional feature is the Intercept technique, which some fighting game players may find similar to a fighting game-style guard cancel. If the player presses block to guard against an enemy attack just as the attack is about to hit (a shimmering effect indicates success), the player can instantly execute a normal attack or an Ultimate Technique, instead of being staggered by the enemy's attack as would be the normal case. Successful execution of the Intercept will also add 1000 karma points to the player's score.

Differences from Ninja Gaiden

• 2 new costumes, and a new weapon - the Lunar - have been added
• Nunchaku is added as an extra starting weapon
• The Intercept technique (similar to Soul Calibur II's Guard Impact) is introduced
• New foes
  • Super MSATs, super soldiers, cat fiends (blue furred humanoid cats), and dino fiends (club wielding four-eyed giants wearing triceratops skull masks)
• Difficulty of enemies have been adjusted (AI have been tweaked to be more aggressive, and some of the enemies gain guard breaking attacks)
• Respawns of encounters are no longer scored, and the encounter time bonuses have been increased
• Composition of some encounters have been changed
• Ultimate Techniques can now be charged up without needing essences
• The camera can now be manually rotated
• Prices of items and some upgrades have been adjusted
• Great Devil Elixirs are unavailable
• Ninpos and Techniques can only be purchased
• Locations of some items have been moved
• Scarab rewards have been changed, with the Dark Dragon Blade now obtained as a scarab reward
• No Successive Play available for Hurricane Packs

Hurricane Pack 2

Hurricane Pack 1 was available for download via Xbox Live on September 27, 2004. It was used as the actual tournament mission in which the top three scorers of the Hurricane Pack 1 were to play during the second Master Ninja Tournament.

The entire Pack takes place within the palace core and the nether realm. The game can be separated into five phases, and the player can only save and shop at the beginning or end of each phase. The game has all the applicable additional features of Hurricane Pack 1 and more (see below).

The plot of the game can be summarized as such. Rachel ventured forth into the nether realm and has been captured by the twin fiend goddesses, Nicchae and Ishtaros. Ryu now has to brave through the core, enter the portal at the top, and conquer the various encounters in the nether realm to rescue Rachel.

Differences from Hurricane Pack 1

• Change in game world (takes place only in the core and nether realm)
• The player starts off with the Dragon Sword, Vigoorian Flails, Dabilahro and Lunar
• Unlimited ammunition for all projectile weapons
• Prices of items and upgrades have been adjusted
• Ultimate Techniques score 2000 / 5000 karma points on successful hits
• New foes
  • Ninjas of wisdom (purple clad ninjas who can throw Windmill Shurikens), super soldiers, crow shadows, nightmare fiends (commonly known as Vigoorian berserkers)
• New bosses
  • Nicchae, and Ishtaros

Demo

The public demo of Ninja Gaiden was bundled as a DVD with the 26 February 2004 edition of Famitsu Xbox, which were on the Japanese shelves on 12 February 2004.

In this demo, the player is restricted to the game world of the retail version's chapter 1, i.e. the ninja fortress. However, Ryu starts off with the True Dragon Sword, the Vigoorian Flails, and the Dabilahro for melee weapons (all fully upgraded). For projectiles, Ryu has shurikens, incendiary shurikens, and the bow. Ryu is also equipped with the Art of Inazuma for ninpo. This allows a taste of what the player can get in the retail version. The demo has no multiple difficulty levels to choose from.

Ninja Gaiden Black

Ninja Gaiden Black
File:Ngblack.jpg Ninja Gaiden Black North American box cover
Developer(s)	Team Ninja
Publisher(s)	Tecmo
Designer(s)	Tomonobu Itagaki
Platform(s)	Xbox
Release	September 20, 2005 September 29, 2005 October 21, 2005
Genre(s)	Action-Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player

Overview

After the releases of the Hurricane Packs, rumours were that Team Ninja was working on a new project. It was speculated to be Ninja Gaiden 2 and it would be announced in May's E3 2005 to be released for the upcoming Xbox 360. However Tecmo instead announced the project to be Ninja Gaiden Black and would be released for the Xbox.

Ninja Gaiden Black was listed shortly as playable for the Tokyo Game Show 2005. It was released on schedule in September 2005 with loads of content for a comparatively low price. Those who pre-ordered the game received a free exclusive t-shirt as well. Essentially a special edition of the original Xbox release of Ninja Gaiden, Ninja Gaiden Black features new difficulty settings, much of the content from both Hurricane Packs with the exception of the Intercept parry, tweaked enemy placement in higher difficulties, new costumes, the original arcade version of Ninja Gaiden, a new mode of play called Mission Mode involving scenarios not found in the core game itself, and several new in-game cutscenes. Some of the additions to the game are not readily apparent. Many are only available after being unlocked by progressing through the game.

According to interviews with Tomonobu Itagaki, the Ninja Dog difficulty was added only grudgingly. Itagaki felt that the standard difficulty implemented in the game was reasonable for any casual player if they persevered through the difficult parts. However, due to a strong outcry in disagreement to the difficulty level, he instituted the Ninja Dog mode as a double-edged compromise: the mode can only be accessed through dying three successive times (similar to the Special Edition of Devil May Cry 3) within the first stage, at which point the player is asked, "Do you wish to abandon the way of the ninja?" If the player selects yes, they are given ribbons which enhance their abilities (but which can be rather demeaning to wear - pink ribbons), more notes for the player's aid (which adopt an excessively hand-holding nature), surplus powerups, and lower prices on the more essential supplies throughout the game's merchant points.

Ninja Gaiden Black is, however, more difficult than the original release on the higher difficulties. Several bosses including Spirit Doku and the Dark Disciple attack faster and more furiously, like their Hurricane Pack counterparts, plus a variety of dangerous new foes have been added to make life even harder. Furthermore, players who have previously played the normal edition of Ninja Gaiden will find that the Flying Swallow move, previously a powerful and useful technique, has been noticeably toned down and is a mere shadow of its old self, with some new enemies having moves specifically to punish usage of it against them. On Hard difficulty and above, many bosses are immune to the Flying Swallow, forcing players to adapt to a new and unfamiliar fighting style.

Changes from Ninja Gaiden

The following was changed from the original Ninja Gaiden:

• Higher resolution textures are now used for Ryu
• Changes to Story Mode
  • Composition of encounters varies with difficulty
  • Some items' location are moved on higher difficulties
  • Shop prices (item costs increase with game difficulty, and some weapon upgrade prices have been changed)
  • Scarab rewards varies with game difficulty (Dark Dragon Blade being a scarab reward for higher difficulties being one of the changes)
  • Bosses now have minions accompanying them on higher difficulties
  • Clearing respawns of encounters no longer scores points
• AI and moveset of foes (e.g. increased aggressiveness, addition of guard breaks and grab attacks, more frequent blocking of Flying Swallow, some foes can counter Flying Swallow)
• A few foes (nightmares, Awakened Alma) now possess increased resistance to the Unlabored Flawlessness' damage
• The camera can now be manually rotated
• The weapon Kitetsu no longer drains Ryu's health, and is upgradeable
• Guillotine Throw command has been changed
• Ryu is now able to charge up Ultimate Techniques without needing essences
• Ultimate Techniques now score 2000 / 5000 karma points on successful hits

Additional Features

The following are new additions, not found in the original Ninja Gaiden:

• Ninja Dog (only for Story Mode) and Master Ninja difficulties
• New encounters, and additional starting weapons in higher difficulties of Story Mode
• A few additional save points, and several new in-game cutscenes in Story Mode
• Mission Mode
• Four new costumes, and the Ninja Gaiden arcade game as unlockable features
• New weapons and items
  • The Lunar and Smoke Bombs
  • Restoration Items (Ayane's Ration, Ayane's Ration Bundle, Fragrance of Dayflower, Fragrance of Hydrangea)
  • Ribbons (with same functionalities as Armlets; only in Story Mode Ninja Dog difficulty)
  • Jewel of the Smith, which can upgrade weapons (only in one of the Mission Mode missions)
• New foes
  • Explosive bats
  • Ninjas of wisdom (purple clad ninjas who can throw Windmill Shurikens), and flame ninjas (red clad ninjas whose blows inflict additional fire damage)
  • Silver samurais
  • Dino fiends (club wielding giants wearing triceratops skull masks)
  • Cat fiends (black and blue versions)
  • Crow shadows (commonly known as armored imps, sliders, etc)
  • Super MSATs, and super soldiers
  • Nightmare fiends (commonly known as Vigoorian Berserkers)
  • Black sargeras ( commonly known as armored moat fishes)
• New bosses
  • Doppelganger Fiend, Nicchae, and Ishtaros

Removed Features

The following were removed from the game, compared to the original Ninja Gaiden:

• The Armlet of Tranquility (from Story Mode, but available in certain Mission Mode missions)
• The future ninja costume, and the three ported SNES Ninja Gaiden Trilogy games unlocked as bonuses in Story Mode
• Successive Play

Mission Mode

On completing Story Mode for the first time, Mission Mode is unlocked. It comprises of eight sets of missions, each comprising of five separate missions, and Eternal Legend, which makes it a total of 46 missions. Eternal Legend is essentially Hurricane Pack 2 implemented with Ninja Gaiden Black's engine and features.

The player starts off with only the first two sets of missions unlocked. To unlock a new set of missions, the player has to complete any five available unique missions. To unlock Eternal Legend, the 40 unique missions have to be completed.

Completing a mission also unlocks the next level of difficulty for that particular mission. Difficulties in Mission Mode are Normal (default), Hard, Very Hard, and Master Ninja. The score one can obtain for a mission on higher difficulties is greater (Master Ninja difficulty yielding the highest scores possible) than the lower ones.

Each mission comes with its own weapons, items, and ninpos loadout.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma

Ninja Gaiden Sigma
"Ninja Gaiden Sigma" PlayStation 3 cover art.
Developer(s)	Team Ninja
Publisher(s)	Tecmo Eidos Interactive
Designer(s)	Yousuke Hayashi
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3
Release	JP: June 14, 2007 NA: July 3, 2007 EU: July 6, 2007 AU: July 13, 2007
Genre(s)	Action-adventure game
Mode(s)	Single player

Main article: Ninja Gaiden Sigma

Overview

After Ninja Gaiden Black's release, gamers were expecting Ninja Gaiden 2 from Tecmo. It was a surprise then that Tecmo announced in the September 2006 issue of Famitsu they will be remaking Ninja Gaiden Black (originally released on the Xbox) into 'Ninja Gaiden Sigma' and releasing it for the Playstation 3. This was officially announced by Sony at the Tokyo Game Show 2006. Yousuke Hayashi was appointed the game director of this port. Eidos managed to buy the publishing rights of Ninja Gaiden Sigma for Europe and North America.

Tomonobu Itagaki while having no direct involvement in the project, has stated that Ninja Gaiden Sigma is only for Playstation owners who never got the chance to experience what Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black had to offer, which is why Ninja Gaiden Sigma will remain exclusively for the PS3.

GameStop announced in April 2007 that it would be releasing limited sets of Collectors Edition of Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the North American market, which would be selling for ten US dollars more than the standard edition. Hopes for a European Collectors Edition were dashed with a followup announcement by Eidos.

Leah Dizon was contracted to be the celebrity promoter for the game. She appeared in the game commercial and sang the song in it. Her autographed posters were also part of the prizes for the game's Japanese launch event. Limited supplies of free t-shirts were also given to those who pre-ordered Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the North American launch.

Changes from Ninja Gaiden Black

• Graphics have been overhauled to take advantage of the high definition capability of the PS3. This includes additional frames of animation and new staggering animations for some humanoind enemies.
• Part of one FMV has been replaced with an in-game cutscene
• Changes to some of the original level designs and mission mode missions
  • Rachel's story chapters are inserted in amongst Ryu's
  • Some items have their locations moved
  • This includes the addition and removal of some encounters
  • One boss encounter has been reworked, with minor changes to two others
• Some enemies' specifications (AI, damage, etc) have been changed
• Changes to Ryu's reverse wind technique
• While floating, Ryu can now hop up and run and fight on water
• Ryu can now shoot arrows in mid-air
• The speargun is now classified as a projectile weapon
• Ryu can now use restoration items without going through menus

New Additions

The following are new additions:

• A new playable character, Rachel, the demon hunter
  • She is playable in only three of her own chapters and 11 missions in Mission Mode (two of which are missions requiring to be unlocked)
  • She can only use the Warhammer, the Peluda Tail, and Blades of Ouroborus as her weapons
  • Whereas Ryu unlocks costumes, she can obtain seven hairstyles (besides her default hairstyle).
• A new weapon for Ryu, a set of dual katanas called Dragon's Claw & Tiger's Fang
• Three new enemies have been added
  • MVATs (MSAT bikers), girtablilu (the mermen), and phantoms (balls of blue flames)
• Two new bosses have been added
  • Gamov, and Alternator (a Dynamo-like enemy)
• Shaking the Sixaxis controller will increase the strength of the ninpo being casted
• Many more save points and shop locations are added into Story Mode

Features Removed

Contrary to claims of this being the "more complete" version, the following has been removed as compared to Ninja Gaiden Black.

• The opening introductory movie of the legend between the Dragon Sword and the Dark Dragon Blade
• Movie Theater (this means the player will be unable to view the remaining 480p movies outside of Story Mode)
• Some encounters, and many puzzles from Story Mode
• Additional starting weapons on higher difficulties
• Trailing images and light effects from certain power moves
• Two costumes, and Ninja Gaiden Arcade
• The Armlet of Tranquility
• Gobdecks (a fire-breathing dinosaur with spikes), known by some fans as thorn gallas

Collectors Editon

GameStop announced the collectors edition would comprise of "a 2-disc set with special hi-res packaging, a behind the scenes DVD from Team Ninja, and special codes to unlock Ryu and Rachael mission modes". The hi-res packaging turns out to be a cardboard slip jacket featuring Ryu and Rachel on the front, and the only code in the product is applicable for all versions of the game.

The code is an input sequence ( Up, Down, Left, Down, Right, Up, Square ) which will unlock a set of hidden missions in Mission Mode.

Downloadable Contents

On August 3, 2007, Tecmo announced the downloadable content for Ninja Gaiden Sigma would be available from August 30, 2007 onwards. There would be three separate packages, each costing 315 yen to download from the PlayStation Store. Each package would add a set of themed missions (Weapon Master, Speed Master, Rachel Master) to the new Survival Mode option in the main menu. These missions would have their own online rankings.

Demo

On April 26, 2007, a demo of the game was released on the PlayStation Network American and Japanese stores, and later on EU stores.

Like the original Ninja Gaiden's demo, the player is restricted to chapter one's game world. However in this demo, for melee weapons, the player has the True Dragon Sword, the Lunar, the Dabilahro, the Nunchakus, and the Dragon's Claw & Tiger's Fang. Like the retail game, the demo allows the player a go at higher difficulties once he completes it. The player can also play as Rachel in a mission.

To the dismay of many Ninja Gaiden veterans, the scoring system of the demo has a scoring glitch which allows players to get exorbitantly high scores on the leaderboards.

Having downloaded and played the demo would also allow the player to start off with a bonus amount of yellow essence when starting the very first game on the retail version.

Homages

While it has been stated that the 2004 Ninja Gaiden universe is not the same as the one in the original Ninja Gaiden (taking place in the same continuity with another Team Ninja developed game series, Dead or Alive) , certain references make homages to the preceding games.

• Ryu's father Joe Hayabusa is mentioned but not seen. He plays a larger role in the first of the NES-games.
• A number of Ryu's special abilities and Ninpo-magic seen in the 2004 Ninja Gaiden are also in use in the NES-series, mostly as power ups.
• Some of the Fiends and other minor foes appear to be recreations of those seen in the NES-series. The mysterious Gamov wears an attire similar to that of the equally shadowy CIA-agents in the first Ninja Gaiden.
• The Demon, Deity of Destruction statue is reminiscent of the Dark Statue in Ninja Gaiden:Legend of the Ninja Dragon Sword.
• The theme of the elemental swords of light and darkness is reused from Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, in which the evil mastermind Ashtar wields the titular dark sword. Likewise, the chaotic nature and architecture of the final level appear to be heavily inspired by similar scenarios in the NES series.
• The Guillotine Throw-technique is reminiscent from the Ninja Gaiden arcade game, as is the manner of departure Ryu uses in the second final cutscene, seen originally in use at the end of every stage in the arcade game.
• The Doppleganger Fiend of Ninja Gaiden Black is an element from NG III. The doppleganger there is a BIO-NOID, and plays a major role in NG III as he impersonated Ryu and attacked Irene. However, in NG Black, the doppleganger doesn't actually appear in the plotline but just as a boss fight, with no explanation being given for his existence. In lieu, he's a Fiend and one of Ryu's opponents. Ryu faces him several times, namely in the Hard, Very Hard and Master Ninja difficulties where he uses several of Ryu's weapons against him.
• In Ninja Gaiden Sigma, the motorcycle bikers, who are the Vigoor Special Forces riding on motorcycles, are reminiscent of the bikers from the arcade version of Ninja Gaiden.

Dead or Alive References

The new Ninja Gaiden takes place two years before the first Dead or Alive game, the following items:

• Ryu's Izuna Drop is part of his moves as well in the Dead or Alive games.
• Ayane, a playable character in the Dead or Alive series, plays a supporting role helping Ryu in Ninja Gaiden.
• Ryu is 20 and Ayane 14 in Ninja Gaiden.
• One of Ryu's victory phrases in Dead of Alive, "Rin-Pyou-Tou-Sha-Kai-Chin-Retsu-Zai-Zen", can be seen in its kanji form in Ninja Gaiden. The words of the phrase are used as indicators for the number of 'Life of the Gods' upgrade gems Ryu has used.
• Ryu's costumes in Ninja Gaiden Black also appear as alternate costumes in the Dead or Alive series.

Weapons

Weapons can be obtained in Ninja Gaiden through purchase, conquest, exploration, or at a pre-destined point in the game. They can be classfied as melee, projectile and magic.

Melee Weapons

• Dragon Sword / True Dragon Sword - This is the katana which Ryu begins the game with. It is also one of the swords mentioned in the introduction, the sword of the good forces. This sword becomes the True Dragon Sword in its complete form.
• Plasma Saber Mk. I / Plasma Saber Mk. II - The lightsaber of Ninja Gaiden. The Plasma Saber is just a skin for the Dragon Sword, with a different soundpack. It exists only as a scarab reward, and in certain Mission Mode missions.
• Kitetsu - A katana which belonged to Doku. It can split into two for some attacks, and possess the ability to transfer the life force of its victim to its wielder. In Ninja Gaiden, this sword drains the Ryu's life while being wielded, and was un-upgradeable. In Ninja Gaiden Black and Sigma, it no longer drains Ryu's life and is upgradeable.
• Nunchaku - A simple wooden nunchaku. Acquired early in the game, it cannot be upgraded.
• Vigoorian Flail - Twin-linked sickles. Essentially, it works the same as the Nunchaku, but features several additional attacks, including its own variation of the Dragon Sword's Flying Swallow attack, and deals more damage. It can be upgraded once.
• War Hammer - Rachel's only weapon. Despite its name, it bears more similarities to a fauchard. Ryu can obtain it in the monastery after defeating Alma. It can break down weak walls.
• Dabilahro - A 100 lbs greatsword which resembles a Buster sword initially, but becomes serrated when upgraded. It is also capable of destroying weak walls.
• Dark Dragon Blade - A powerful sword that contains an essence of pure evil. Carved from the bones of a black dragon. It was sealed and put under the guard of the Hayabusa clan. In Black, the Dark Dragon Blade does the most damage per hit, second only to the Unlabored Flawlessness in its critical state. Un-upgradeable, it can be found in chapter 13 on successive play in Ninja Gaiden, and as a scarab reward and in certain Mission Mode missions in Ninja Gaiden Black and Sigma.
• Wooden Sword / Unlabored Flawlessness - A wooden training sword. The weakest weapon in the game, it has no Ultimate Technique. However when fully upgraded, it becomes the Unlabored Flawlessness (resembling an eku) which is the most powerful weapon in the game, especially when the Ryu is critically wounded (at which point the symbols on the weapon glows red).
• Lunar - A metal tipped Bo staff. It can destroy certain weak walls when fully upgraded. This weapon is unavailable in the original Ninja Gaiden.
• Dragon's Claw & Tiger's Fang - A pair of katanas. This set of weapon has the largest moveset of Ryu's arsenal. It is only available in Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

Projectile Weapons

• Shuriken - The weakest of Ryu's projectile weapons, though he has an infinite supply of them. When thrown during a jump, they can extend the 'hang time' of Ryu as well as granting additional height.
• Incendiary Shuriken - Despite the label, these are technically kunai which have a small explosive on one end. When an enemy has been struck with this, it will explode after a second, inflicting damage to foes within the area of effect.
• Windmill Shuriken - A giant shuriken with four folding blades, it will return to its owner when thrown. It can decapitate some enemies.
• Bow - A typical bow, the arrow shot travels in an arc and must be aimed accordingly.
• Strongbow - A composite bow made in Vigoor in medieval times. There is no parabolic arc in its flight, unlike the normal bow. In addition to normal arrows, it can fire the following ammunition.
  • Explosive Arrows - Arrows with an explosive tip.
  • APFSDS Cores - Despite its name, it has no discarding sabots, simply tungsten-coated arrows which are armor-piercing.
• Smoke bomb - Temporarily distracts all enemies in the area, making them target the spot Ryu was last at. The Smoke Bomb can only be used while Ryu is on the ground. They are only available in Ninja Gaiden Black and Sigma.
• Peluda Tail - Rachel's only projectile weapon. It is a whip which simply shoots out of her forearm.

• Spear Gun - Your typical speargun except it possesses an infinite supply of ammunition. It can be fired in and out of water, but inflicts minimal damage out of it. It is classified as a melee weapon in Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black, but as a projectile weapon in Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

Ninpo Techniques

• The Art of Fire Wheels - Fireballs revolve around Ryu, repelling and damaging man-sized and smaller enemies getting close to him.
• The Art of the Inferno - Ryu creates and shoots off a giant fireball.
• The Art of Ice Storm - A tornado of ice is created around Ryu.
• The Art of Inazuma - Ryu fires off lightning bolts in many directions.
• Blades of Ouroborus - Rachel's only magical attack. She fires off magical energies in many directions.

Decapitation between Regions

Human Decapitation Featured

	NTSC/J	NTSC/U	PAL
Ninja Gaiden	Yes	Yes	No
Ninja Gaiden Black	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ninja Gaiden Sigma	No	Yes	No

Being rated a 'Mature' video game, Ninja Gaiden can retain its heavy gore content (blood, violence, decapitations, grotesque monsters) without any censorship. However, the ratings systems for certain countries prohibit beheadings from being depicted in them. Some of these decisions were based on public opinion over current events, and as such there are differences in the rulings between versions.

Despite heavy suspicions that the European release of the game would be censored in some aspects, Microsoft reassured the crowd in March 2004 that the gore would be left intact. A month later, however they admitted the European PAL version would exclude decapitation of human foes. While the submitted material was uncensored, German law forbids the decapitation portrayed in the game, and this was likely why the PAL versions were censored. This is given credence when Ninja Gaiden Black has no official release in Germany and its PAL version feature human decapitations.

Japan has become more stringent with its violence rating system, CERO in 2006. As such, Ninja Gaiden Sigma cannot feature human decapitation unless it is willing to accept a 'Z' rating. As the decision was to market the game in Japan under the 'D' rating, the decapitations were taken out.

Reception

Ninja Gaiden Series Reviews

Publication	Ninja Gaiden	Ninja Gaiden Black	Ninja Gaiden Sigma
Gamespot	9.4	9.4	9.0
IGN	9.4	9.4	9.3 / 8.8
GamePro*	5	5	4.75
EGM	9.1	9.5	8.7
Eurogamer	9		7
Pro-G	9		8
Compilations of multiple reviews
Metacritic	91	94	88
Game Rankings	92.0%	93.9%	87.0%
* - score out of 5

Ninja Gaiden received near universal critical acclaim at the time of its release. GameSpot gave it 9.4/10 saying, "This is one of the best most challenging action adventure games ever made." IGN also gave it 9.4/10 and said that, "Ninja Gaiden sets a new standard for third-person action games in terms of length, depth, speed, and gore." GamePro commented on the game with lines such as, "The game simply knocks you on your ass and keeps kicking it throughout." and gave it a 5 out of 5.

Ninja Gaiden Black despite being an enhancement of Ninja Gaiden still managed to awe its reviewers. GameSpot hailed it having the best visual and audio presentation on the Xbox and its new features, "even better than before--mission mode distills the game down to its purest essentials". IGN hails it as a desired game which "It's a rare and welcome day when a re-release adds so much to the original that it can bring your excitement levels back to the first time you played the game."

From a technical viewpoint, Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black were regarded by the reviewers as epitomes of Xbox programming, software which fully utilized and pushed to the limits the resources of the console while still performing fluidly. GameSpot : "Absolutely first-rate presentation--visuals and audio still second-to-none". IGN : "This is one of the few games that can make you momentarily forget about the next generation of consoles". When the Xbox 360 was released, Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black were hailed as among the top games for the Microsoft console and listed for backward compatibility in all three regions right at the very start.

The game became quite well known throughout the gaming community for its difficulty which made it both a blessing and a curse. While it appeals to gamers who desire a challenge (Pro-G: "Ninja Gaiden IS bloody hard, but also bloody good"), especially to those who reminisces over the difficult old-school games, the new age casual gamers seem to find its learning curve daunting. Reviewers glowed over the difficulty but did caution those with lesser ambition, as IGN said, "Those with less than considerable ability won't get as much out of this game as others due to the incredible difficulty of most of the new content."

One common criticism of Ninja Gaiden is with camera placement. While the default camera controls are adequate for most fights in centering the action on Ryu and providing a view of his surroundings, there are certain fights in which the camera is locked on a certain object (usually boss fights), or lose track of Ryu himself. Although reviewers acknowledged the rotational control of the camera implemented inNinja Gaiden Black and the Hurricane Packs is an improvement, this is of no help when the camera angle is locked.

When Ninja Gaiden Sigma was released, the reviewing community was divided in its opinion over the technical aspects. While some gushed over the updated graphics (EGM: "We review a gorgeous reworking of the modern ninja classic."), others were harsh on it (Pro-G: "Technically mediocre graphics"). Reviewers commonly question the frame tearings, and the frequent loadings unseen in the Xbox versions (which refuse to go away despite installing the game on the local hard drive), as well as letting previous recognized flaws remain unfixed. EGM: "It's a shame, then, that weird glitches (sync problems that make the screen "tear" when the camera moves, odd bouts of loading where the screen briefly fades to gray, even in combat) make it feel like a bit of a slapdash port." Pro-G: "by next-gen standards they are decidedly average, and occasionally disrupted by tearing, jagged edges and miss matched collision between bloodstains and walls".

Besides the technical aspect, another criticism of Sigma was on the stasis of the game's development. Reviewers questioned the worth of buying a remake of a remake of a game which had very little attractive features added to it. Pro-G: "But what of the motivations to buy a game that has, in effect, been available for years in one form or another? It is here that Sigma's worth as a full priced PlayStation 3 game becomes questionable." Eurogamer: "Compared with the recent strides made by the likes of God of War 1 and 2, Ninja Gaiden Sigma lacks the wow factor". The implementation of the Sixaxis controller was also mocked, EGM: "And I doubt anyone will cheer the addition of some foolishly tacked-on Sixaxis functionality -- shaking the controller to magnify the power of your ninja magic just feels silly."

External links

• Official site for Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox
• Official site for Ninja Gaiden Black on the Xbox
• Iberian Warrior's Ninja Gaiden Fan site - many helpful resources including technique videos and walkthroughs