Ninja Gaiden

Overview

Ninja Gaiden is a series of fast-paced action games by Tecmo. The series was originally named Ninja Ryukenden (Legend of the Dragon Sword), but it changed when the series came to North America. Gaiden literally means "side-story," usually a word reserved for spinoff games. In the PAL region, the series is known as Shadow Warriors. The creators of the NES mythology were Masato Kato and Hideo Yoshizawa. The modern black wetsuit redesign of Ryu Hayabusa was modeled by Hiroaki Matsui, pretty much permanently replacing the retro blue and red ninja garb.

The series has had a variety of installments (many just titled "Ninja Gaiden"), spanning many consoles. The series gained popularity in the original Nintendo Entertainment System trilogy for its fast-paced, gritty action, detailed graphics, and cutscenes (one of the first games to feature this innovation). The series has appeared (in various forms) on the arcade, NES, Game Boy, SNES, Master System, Game Gear, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, and Wii Virtual Console. A beta version has also been uncovered for the Mega Drive (Sega Genesis in North America). Various other ports on PC or other systems have been created, but they haven't reached the popularity of the other versions.

Ninja Gaiden Shadow on the Game Boy isn't technically part of the Ninja Gaiden series, as it is a licensed edit of the NES game Shadow of the Ninja, from Natsume.

Franchise Evolution

The Ninja Gaiden franchise has had many different gameplay changes over the years that the series has been on the market.

The Original Arcade Game

Ninja Gaiden's first entry as an arcade brawler has been overshadowed by the popularity of the ambitious action platformer released later in the same year on the NES. The player takes control of an unnamed ninja as he travels to various locations in North America, fighting a cult.

Other than sharing a name, this title is not considered canon to the official series and storyline.

Nintendo Era

The installments on the NES, SNES, and Game Boy are all of the same gameplay. The NES games introduced many ideas that have now become standard in the series. The trilogy introduced the "Ninja Arts" (also known as "Ninpo"), detailed story cutscenes, incredibly challenging difficulty level, and the various power-ups of the series. The games centered around Ryu Hayabuse fighting an ancient evil that a cult headed by a character known as Jaquio is intent on resurrecting to his benefit.

The three NES games were remade for the SNES game Ninja Gaiden Trilogy. Not many things were improved besides graphical detail and soundtrack (which made the game receive some critical reception), but the game is still somewhat of a rare collector's item.

Ninja Gaiden Shadow on the Game Boy isn't technically part of the Ninja Gaiden series, as it is a licensed edit of the NES game Shadow of the Ninja, from Natsume. However, it shares much of its gameplay with the Ninja Gaiden series.

Franchise Dormancy

The franchise remained totally dormant from 1993 to 2003. It the mid to late 90s, game design auteur Tomonobu Itagaki began including Ryu Hayabusa in the roster of his Dead or Alive 3D fighting games. The increasing popularity of the Dead or Alive games games rekindled interest in the Hayabusa ninja in pop culture, due to the novelty among gamers of including the protagonist of a retro NES series.

Modern 3D revival

Itagaki proposed a modern revival of the Ninja Gaiden series to Tecmo and development began for the Sega Dreamcast. When Sega shocked the industry by deciding to stop production of the Dremacast, Tecmo mandated that development continue as a release for PlayStation 2. Itagaki has always harbored a dislike for the Sony PlayStation brand for reasons unknown, with a strong passion for Sega consoles which is what led him to push for exclusivity for Microsoft's new Xbox hardware. After many delays the series finally saw a revival in 2004 with Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox. It differed from its 2D ancestors, making the gameplay into a 3rd-person "character action game" instead of the side-scrolling platformer of yesteryear. The highly responsive controls and combat system were almost universally acclaimed upon release. Critics only stopped short of calling the game a Masterpiece because of the problematic camera system. The game was further refined with Hurricane Packs as DLC releases and the game received a final polish for its definitive edition, Ninja Gaiden Black. Ninja Gaiden has been a mainstay in gaming ever since.