In a surprising turn of events, Keiji Inafune’s zombie-filled Yaiba is actually a collaboration with Team Ninja and Western developer Spark Unlimited, and the real name is Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z.

The news was revealed at an event in Japan, as the annual Tokyo Game Show gets underway.

In Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, players are not running around as Ryu Hayabusa. In fact, they want to kill him.

In a surprising turn of events, Keiji Inafune’s zombie-filled Yaiba is actually a collaboration with Team Ninja and Western developer Spark Unlimited, and the real name is Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z.

The news was revealed at an event in Japan, as the annual Tokyo Game Show gets underway.

In Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, players are not running around as Ryu Hayabusa. In fact, they want to kill him.

Hopefully it's not just Ninja Gaiden with a different player model, I've never been a NG fan but this teaser trailer seems interesting.

Are zombies even part of the Ninja Gaiden universe?

Neat!

Oh wow, so close. Anyway this is... Well, I've never been a Ninja Gaiden fan.

What? So this was the game Team Ninja was talking about. Can't be worse than Ninja Gaiden 3. I like the idea of Ryu being some kinda end boss. I wonder what the story is like. Did Ryu wrong this dude in some fashion, how shall they make Ryu the villain.

I'll just echo the "not a fan of Ninja Gaiden" trend. Zombies seems like an odd stab at something to get people interested. I mean, zombies have kind of been done to death at this point, right?

Would've liked for this to be in a new universe and not Ninja Gaiden. Oh well, probably wouldn't have played them again.

As long there is no lame twist where you end up teaming up with Ryu instead.

Oh Spark Unlimited. So you know it's good.

What? So this was the game Team Ninja was talking about. Can't be worse than Ninja Gaiden 3. I like the idea of Ryu being some kinda end boss. I wonder what the story is like. Did Ryu wrong this dude in some fashion, how shall they make Ryu the villain.

Are we talking Z like in "zed", Z like in "zee" or Z like in "zetto"?

Wow, Spark Unlimited? They are really getting involved in some huge projects.

I rather enjoyed parts of Legendary and though it had potential if it wasn't for a stupid publisher

their website says it's coming to PC, so there's that

@ImmortalSaiyan said:

Can't be worse than Ninja Gaiden 3.

This is entirely true. I absolutely don't think it's humanly possible to make a worse NG game than NG3. Holy moley what unadulterated trash.

Sounds cool, I think that Inafune could bring a new twist to the Ninja Gaiden franchise.

@SomeDeliCook said:

Wow, Spark Unlimited? They are really getting involved in some huge projects.

This was my first thought. I saw them hiring up like crazy like a year and a half ago, but I didn't think they were actually working on this kind of stuff.

They must have gone out and said that they'd help do the brunt of development for dirt-cheap.

@Hailinel said:

@ImmortalSaiyan

What? So this was the game Team Ninja was talking about. Can't be worse than Ninja Gaiden 3. I like the idea of Ryu being some kinda end boss. I wonder what the story is like. Did Ryu wrong this dude in some fashion, how shall they make Ryu the villain.

Ryu apparently killed Yaiba, and now Zombie Ninja Yaiba is seeking revenge.

Meanwhile, to Ryu it was Tuesday.

Cool.

Wow. I totally tuned out with Ninja Gaiden 2 and 3 but as a fan of the (Xbox) original + anything INAFKING touches I'm really interested in this.

@RockmanBionics: It's Japan so obviously Zetto.

It looks good. I really dig the style.

I dig the style.

Infaune making a Ninja Gaiden spin-off co-developed by Spark Unlimited. I think my brain just melted.

Sick to death of zombies, to be honest. Developers need to get creative and come up with something else.

@msavo said:

I dig the style.

@buzz_killington said:

I really dig the style.

Eh.

Well, this could be potentially awesome.

@Mr_Scumbag said:

Sick to death of zombies, to be honest. Developers need to get creative and come up with something else.

Yep. Totally agree.

Can the next twist be actually playing as all the zombie clan ninjas that hunt Yaiba hunting Ryu?

Wonder if the next game will be something where you are a zombie hunting ninjas. After the last Gaiden game, think I'll pass.

Branding.

Spark Unlimited

wah wah wah

Zombies.

:(

Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait...

Did you seriously just say that Keiji Inafune is working with...Spark Unlimited...

...on a new Ninja Gaiden spin-off?

Fuck me running sideways. I hope this is a train wreck.

@Cyrisaurus: Yes, they are. There are even zombie dragons! One of my favorite levels from the original Xbox NG was the Underground Cemetery, where there were ample zombies; including a room where they spawn endlessly while you fill a chalice with their blood. Oh, and the zombies are blind too. Clearly these aren't the same zombies though.

And to echo what others have been saying, I like the style of this game too. Not too sure on the "comcept" though. (See what I did there?)

It feels like Inafune is attached to a lot of projects these days. You have to wonder just how involved he actually is in each of them.

Maybe this'll finally be a Ninja Gaiden I can stand, I fucking hate the other three.

Sick to death of zombies, to be honest. Developers need to get creative and come up with something else.

If the subtitle of the game is "The dead will die again" I'm in. It's so stupid, I love it. Also, it's the truth

Wow, someone has some faith in Spark To give them the run on Capcoms Lost Planet 3 and A new Team Ninja game. What games have these guys made

love the style, but ugh more zombies

Team Ninja.. Inafune and... Spark..? weird. it looks alright but killing more zombies doesn't sound very appealing

@Sifighter: It is indeed baffling as to why Capcom- and now Inafune and Team Ninja have put so much faith in Spark lately, given their track record: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spark_Unlimited

Read that list and react accordingly. :P

Their latest game was Legendary. So... I suppose Capcom and the others might have been impressed by their Werewolf AI? (Cause the Werewolf AI in Legendary was its best asset arguably from what I've seen)

Cause other than that- your guess is as good as mine. o_o

That said- I will be keeping an eye on this, just as I have been keeping an eye on Lost Planet 3. I.E: Probably not for the right reasons. :P

So it's a Ninja Sidestory, sidestory? Um, great, I guess?

Given what Ninja Gaiden 3 ended up being i'm highly skeptical of this. And Spark? fuck...

What!?

My interest level just went up a few notches. Which is neat, because it was at 0.

@NTM said:

@msavo said:

I dig the style.

@buzz_killington said:

I really dig the style.

Eh.

I triple dig this style, just use your imagination.

On board, whatever, let's do this.

Love the art style.

Wait, zombies Ninja Gaiden Kenji Inafune what the heck is going on?? I don't know if I'm supposed to be genuinely hopeful or more cynical than ever before! Help me, the Internet!

So, Ninja Gaiden: Gaiden?

It should've been a game about zombies trying to kill Ryo Hazuki instead.

The zombies would be all "Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiooooooooooooooo"...