Ninja Gaiden (2004 video game)

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Ninja Gaiden
Box cover art for Ninja Gaiden
Developer(s)	Team Ninja
Publisher(s)	Tecmo EU Eidos Interactive (Sigma)
Designer(s)	Tomonobu Itagaki Yosuke Hayashi (Sigma)
Series	Ninja Gaiden
Native resolution	480p 720p (Sigma)
Platform(s)	Xbox PlayStation 3 (Sigma)
Release date	Ninja Gaiden NA March 2, 2004 JP March 11, 2004 EU May 14, 2004 Ninja Gaiden Black NA September 20, 2005 JP September 29, 2005 EU October 21, 2005 February 11, 2008 (Xbox Original) Ninja Gaiden Sigma JP June 14, 2007 NA July 3, 2007 EU July 6, 2007 AUS July 13, 2007
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	Ninja Gaiden Black Sigma ESRB: M M M BBFC: - 15 15 OFLC: MA15+ - MA15+ USK: 18+en/16+de 18+ 18+ CERO: 18+/D* 18+/D* D - not submitted or unavailable * pre-2006 and post-2006 ratings

Ninja Gaiden is an action-adventure game developed by Team Ninja for the Xbox video game console. It went through five years of development before its release by Tecmo in 2004. The game was a hit in North America; it sold 362,441 copies in the first month. Reception in Japan, however, was poor; consumers bought around 60,000 copies in the four months following its release.

Ninja Gaiden used the name and the main character, Ryu Hayabusa, of the 1990s series that ran on the Nintendo Entertainment System; those were, however, the only direct connections between the two games. The 2004 version of Ninja Gaiden had a new story that takes place in the settings of another Team Ninja game, the Dead or Alive series. An evil force has raided the Hayabusa village and stolen the Dark Dragon Blade from its care. The player controls Ryu in his quest to avenge the deaths of his clan and to reclaim the stolen blade. The game featured the use of many weapons and magic spells to destroy hordes of enemies.

Ninja Gaiden was the focus of an online series of matches that spanned North America, Europe, and Japan. Record-breaking numbers of players took part and the final took place at Tokyo Game Show 2004. The game continued to evolve in the three years following its release through content downloaded from Xbox Live and re-releases. Ninja Gaiden has also received much critical acclaim; several critics named it as one of the best and most difficult games ever made.

[edit] Gameplay

The primary game mode of Ninja Gaiden is Story Mode. It follows the structure of a typical action-adventure game; the player is weak at the start and grows more powerful as the story develops. The player controls Ryu Hayabusa from a view taken over the shoulders of the character. As a ninja, Ryu has several acrobatic skills. He can jump off walls, swing from pole to pole, and run along walls. He can also swim and run across water.^[1]

Several regions make up the game world.^[2] Most of them connect to one another via the city of Tairon, which functions as a hub.^[3] In a manner similar to The Legend of Zelda video games, players have to fight through enemies, find keys, or solve puzzles to open new areas.^[1][4] The game hides the loading of an area into memory by showing in game cut scenes on the players' entry.^[5] In the course of the game, players can find or buy items to upgrade Ryu's skills and weapons. They can also use dragon busts scattered throughout the regions to save their progress and resume it later.

The remakes Ninja Gaiden Black and Sigma introduced Mission Mode; it focuses on action and sets players up with short sessions of combat. These missions mainly take place in small areas and instruct players to "destroy all enemies".^[6] In both modes, the game awards players with scores based on their speed in clearing encounters, their number of kills, their number of unused ninpos (magic spells), and their collected cash. Players can compare their scores on online ranking boards.^[7]

[edit] Combat system

Ninja Gaiden had a smooth and responsive control system; players could easily control Ryu with the left thumbstick, two attack buttons, and a block button.^[8][9][10] The games industry praised it for having one of the deeper combat engines among Xbox games. Ninja Gaiden stood up well against the PlayStation 2 action-adventure games, God of War and Devil May Cry. Eric Williams designed the combat engine for God of War. He explained that the combat engine of Ninja Gaiden prohibits players from stopping or changing attacks in mid-stroke. In contrast, God of War allows players to do so and Devil May Cry grants this freedom to certain attacks. Williams said that compared to those two games, the combat system in Ninja Gaiden was harder for players to master; however, it let players fight the computer controlled foes on equal terms.^[11]

In Ninja Gaiden, players can draw in essences to launch ultimate techniques that allow them to damage enemies without taking damage to themselves. Click here to watch an ultimate technique in action.

Ninja Gaiden offers the player a large selection of weapons. There are one-handed swords such as the Dragon Sword and Kitetsu; they allow quick attacks and a move called the Flying Swallow that allows Ryu to leap and slash through enemies. Ryu can also perform his signature Izuna Drop—a spinning pile driver—and smash foes into the ground with these weapons. Heavy weapons, such as the Dabilahro and the Unlabored Flawlessness, are slow but powerful. The player can make Ryu string together long sequences of attacks with flails and staves. Ryu can also throw shurikens and shoot arrows at distant foes.^[1][12]

Another part of Ryu's offense involves essences. Essences are colored globes of energy released on the death of enemies. They are an important part of the gameplay; they serve as power-ups by healing Ryu, restoring his magic, or increasing his cash. The globes go into Ryu's body when he is near them. The player, however, can make Ryu draw in essences to unleash powerful attacks known as ultimate techniques.^[10] These techniques deal heavy damage and make Ryu immune to enemy attacks for a short time.^[13]

Ninpos are the magical weapons in this game. The player can make Ryu shoot fireballs, ice storms, or bolts of lightning. These spells function in a similar manner to the bombs of shooter action games; they allow players to inflict heavy damage on enemies and avoid damage from their attacks.^[14] Tomonobu Itagaki, the game director, was not content with the visual effects for ninpos. As such, he wanted to deter players from using them. He set the game to give bonus points when players cleared stages without casting ninpos.^[15]

For defense, the player has two options for Ryu. First, Ryu can stand still and block attacks. However, certain enemies can break his guard with strong attacks or grapple him. The second option is for the player to make Ryu dodge attacks by rolling in a maneuver called "reverse wind".^[10]

[edit] Plot and setting

Ninja Gaiden featured a mix of real world architectures such as this Gothic-styled monastery.

Ninja Gaiden takes place in the fictional world of another Tecmo game, Dead or Alive (DOA).^[16] The locations in Ninja Gaiden are mainly in Japan and a fictional country in Asia. The Japanese locales are a fictional ninja fortress and village. They are set in the mountains and comprise of Heian period structures. The fictional country is the Vigoor Empire and Tairon is its capital city. The style of Vigoor structures is a blend of various real world architectures. European structures line the streets of Tairon and Arabic letterings are on several gates.^[13] The monastery in Tairon bears the marks of Gothicism; it has a large tall hall, pointed arches, and large stained glass windows. Statues with the heads of cats and walls covered with carvings and hieroglyphics are features of the hidden underground level. Team Ninja also placed an Aztec pyramid and a labyrinth in Vigoor.^[3] The hodgepodge of styles was the result of Itagaki putting in the game whatever he wanted to create.^[16]

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of Ninja Gaiden characters

Ryu Hayabusa, the super ninja, is the protagonist of Ninja Gaiden.^[17][18] He is also the only character that players can control in Ninja Gaiden. Itagaki believed that creating extra player characters would distract his team from making a good character out of Ryu.^[19][20] Ryu has a long history with Tecmo; he was the star in the old 1990s Ninja Gaiden series and was part of the DOA roster since 1996. His roles in these games played a part in his popularity among fans and the game industry.^[21][22][23] As Ninja Gaiden takes place two years before the first DOA game,^[16] it shows events that lead to Ryu becoming the stoic and reliable character in DOA.^[21]

Rachel is the leading female character and tragic heroine of the game. She and her twin sister, Alma, suffer the blood curse that turns people into fiends.^[24] The Greater Fiend, Doku, took advantage of the curse to turn Alma into a fiend. Rachel thinks that there is no cure to this curse. As such, she seeks to kill Alma to redeem her sister's soul. The relationship between the sisters and Doku serves as a plot device to move the story.^[25] Rachel also serves as the occasional damsel in distress for Ryu to rescue. She is not a player character in Ninja Gaiden. However, players can control her in a few sections of the remake, Ninja Gaiden Sigma.^[4]

Two other characters help the player in the game. Ayane is a female ninja and one of the DOA regular cast members. She acts as a guide throughout Ninja Gaiden by giving objectives and tips to the player. The other character is Muramasa. He is a bladesmith and has shops spread over the game world. He sells players items and upgrades their weapons. He also gives back-stories, quests, and crucial information; he tells Ryu to find the Dragon Eye jewel at the Hayabusa village to upgrade the Dragon Sword to its full potential.

Team Ninja created many types of enemies for Ninja Gaiden. Itagaki found it more interesting to create nonhuman creatures than to create human soldiers and ninjas.^[26] As such, most of the enemies in the game are fiends, which are humans changed into monsters by the blood curse. Three Greater Fiends lead the fiends against Ryu and play major roles in the story. First, there is Alma. The story between Rachel and her is a major part of the game. Doku is the main antagonist of the game; he raids the Hayabusa village, steals the Dark Dragon Blade, and causes the discord between the sisters. The last Greater Fiend is Marbus who is responsible for the last set of challenges standing in Ryu's way to the Emperor of the fiends.^[27]

Team Ninja based their 3D computer models on real world material; the pistols of the henchman, Gamov, were faithful models of real world handguns. Team Ninja also created the character models based on studies of human anatomy. Besides this, the team hired martial artists and digitally captured their moves. They did not use the motion captures directly for the game. Their animators used these captures as a basis to give a sense of realism to the game characters' exaggerated moves. Team Ninja also gave players the option to customize the player characters; this came as costumes for Ryu and hairstyles for Rachel.^[4]

[edit] Story

The story of Ryu and his quest for vengeance spans sixteen chapters. Each chapter starts and ends with a cut scene. At the start of the game, the player takes control of Ryu as he invades the Shadow clan fortress. Ryu is there to visit the clan leader, Murai, who is his uncle. During their chat, Ayane runs in and delivers news of a raid on the Hayabusa village. Ryu fights his way back to his village and encounters Doku who has taken the Dark Dragon Blade and killed Kureha, the Hayabusa shrine maiden. The encounter ends with Doku cutting Ryu down with the Blade. Before the screen fades out, it lingers on a falcon watching over Ryu's body. The falcon is the spiritual animal of the Hayabusas and brings Ryu back to life offscreen.^[28]

Kureha's death serves as the motivation for Ryu to seek revenge on the raiders.^[19] He learns from Murai that they were from the Vigoor Empire and hides on a Zeppelin to sneak into the country. Ryu fights through the streets of Tairon, cutting down those who stand in his way. The player also faces several bosses in Ryu's rampage through Tairon. These bosses include the three Greater Fiends. Ryu first defeats Alma in a battle that wrecks the city. He leaves Alma to her sister's mercy, but Rachel cannot bring herself to kill Alma.^[29] Rachel later falls to Doku who prepares to sacrifice her in a ritual to enhance Alma's power. Ryu rescues her with Alma's help and destroys Doku's spirit. Doku, however, casts the blood curse on Ryu with his last breath.^[30] The only way for Ryu to lift the curse is to kill the Emperor. He invades the palace and kills Marbus. This clears the way to the Emperor's personal realm. The player has to clear two successive boss fights to destroy the Emperor. The realm starts to collapse on the Emperor's death and the player has to navigate Ryu up a series of ledges to escape.

Ryu loses his grip on the recovered Dark Dragon Blade in his escape. It lands at the feet of the Dark Disciple who has been shadowing Ryu throughout the story. The Disciple picks up the Blade and unmasks himself as Murai. He admits that the raid on the Hayabusa village was part of his plan to restore the Blade's evil power with souls gathered from Ryu's quest of vengeance.^[31][32] The restored Dark Dragon Blade enhances Murai with its dark powers, setting up the final boss fight. Ryu defeats Murai and shatters the Blade with the True Dragon Sword. He tells Rachel that "It's over ...", turns himself into a falcon, and flies to the Hayabusa village. In the final scene, Ryu places the Dragon Eye back on Kureha's tombstone and disappears into the night. The story of Ninja Gaiden continues in Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword and Ninja Gaiden II.

[edit] Development

In 1999, Team Ninja started work on the "Next-Generation Ninja Gaiden Project".^[21] In the first stage of development, they created the game on the Sega NAOMI arcade system board. The next part of their plan was to move the project to the Dreamcast console for further development and release. However, this came to a halt when Sega announced the end of Dreamcast product line in 2001.^[2] At this point, Tecmo decided to make Ninja Gaiden as a launch title for the Sony PlayStation 2 in the United States.^[33] Itagaki, however, had other plans; the Team Ninja Leader was impressed with the software development kits for the Xbox and pushed for his team to develop games for the Microsoft console.^[21] The company kept silent on this change in development. Hence, Tecmo surprised the games industry when they announced at E3 2002 that Ninja Gaiden was exclusive to the Xbox.^[34] This also surprised the fans; most of them who voted on Tecmo's poll wanted the game on the Nintendo GameCube.^[35]

Ninja Gaiden was Team Ninja's first action title. Its original concept had nothing in common with the old Ninja Gaiden series.^[36] Tecmo, however, wanted to link the game with the old series. The old series, which ran on the Nintendo Entertainment System, had fans in the West who enjoyed Ryu's adventures.^[21] If the new game had ties to the old series, it would gain a measure of visibility in the market. Tecmo asked Itagaki to adopt the theme of the old series and to target the foreign market.^[36][2] Itagaki examined the old series and believed that its violence appealed to the players. He put gory content, such as beheadings, in the Xbox game to keep that spirit.^[2] He also aimed to make the game hard but appealing;^[16] it would challenge players on their reflexes rather than on their memories of layouts and timings.^[9] His team also made it a point to make the game flow smoothly with high-quality animations that react quickly to the player's input.^[16] As the game director, Itagaki did not follow the story of the old series and created a new one. However, he paid homage to the old series by creating updated versions of foes and special attacks from the old games and placing them in the new game.^[1][14]

In 2004, Tecmo released a demo disc of Ninja Gaiden in Japan. It was bundled with the February 26 issue of Famitsu Xbox magazine.^[37] The demo let players try the first chapter of the game on two difficulties with a few fully upgraded weapons and ninpos.^[38] On March 2, Tecmo finally released Ninja Gaiden after a year of delays since the first announced release date.^{[34][39][40][41][42]}

[edit] Post-release

Team Ninja kept working on the project after its release. They wanted to push the envelope of the action genre for their first such title as far as they could.^[26] The Hurricane Packs were their ideas of letting players download additional game modes. The Packs were also free of charge. Itagaki said that as the Packs were born out of his team's interest, they did not care to charge players for their efforts.^[43]

The two Packs were available over Xbox Live in the third quarter of 2004. Hurricane Pack 1 was a revamped version of Story Mode; Team Ninja tweaked the encounters and artificial intelligence (AI) of foes. The changes were to increase the difficulty of the game. The Pack also introduced foes such as humanoid cats, giants who wear Triceratops skulls, and cyborgs. Team Ninja made a key change to the camera system; players could control the camera and change the angle at which they view the scene.^[44] A unique feature of the Pack was the "Intercept" skill; this skill let players counter any enemy attack with the proper timing.^[45]

Hurricane Pack 2 kept the enhanced combat engine of the first Pack, but took place in a world comprising only two regions. Players have to fight through several encounters to rescue Rachel from two new bosses, Nicchae and Ishtaros. The Pack introduced the Lunar staff and fiends who wield giant swords and cast fireballs.^[46]

Team Ninja later compiled the Packs and added new features to create Ninja Gaiden Black (Black). The game, which Itagaki deemed as the final version of Ninja Gaiden,^[47] went on sale on September 20, 2005.^[48] A few years later, Team Ninja upgraded the graphics of the game and ported it to the PlayStation 3 (PS3). Tecmo released this version as Ninja Gaiden Sigma (Sigma) on June 14, 2007. Black later became an Xbox Original game on February 11, 2008.^[49]

[edit] Regional censorship

Ninja Gaiden contained bloody acts of violence, beheadings, and grotesque monsters in its uncensored form. As such, the North American games rating body, Entertainment Software Rating Board, rated it as a "Mature" game.^[50] However, similar agencies in several other countries take a stricter view and consider beheadings as unsuitable content for young gamers.^[51]

In Germany, the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) deemed the beheadings in Ninja Gaiden excessive and refused to rate the game. This could put the game on the "List of Media Harmful to Young People". Shops cannot put listed games on their shelves, nor advertise them. Furthermore, the shops can only sell these games on request to customers who are 18 years or older.^[52] Hence, Tecmo censored the European PAL version of Ninja Gaiden to obtain a USK rating.^[53] A year later, Tecmo managed to release Ninja Gaiden Black uncensored under a USK 18+ rating. However, they later released a censored version of Ninja Gaiden Sigma under the same rating.

Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) has stricter standards;^[52] its highest rating for video games, MA15+, meant such games have to be suitable for those 15 years and above. The sales of these games are also legally enforced. Very gory games, especially those with beheadings, tend not to qualify for this rating. If the game cannot qualify for MA15+, the OFLC will usually refuse to rate it. It is illegal to sell or own such games in Australia.^[54] As Tecmo never submitted Ninja Gaiden Black to OFLC for rating, the game never saw release in Australia.^[55][56]

Japan's Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO) rated Ninja Gaiden and Black, on their release, as 18+ games.^[57] At that time, CERO ratings acted as guidelines for consumers. However, on March 1, 2006, the CERO rating system changed. CERO updated their ratings to a scale from A to D, and Z. Games with heavy amounts of gore and sexual content fall under the Z rating. The Z rating is also legally enforced; it is illegal to sell games rated Z to those under the age of 18.^[58] Tecmo took out the human beheadings in Sigma and got it a D rating for the East Asian market. CERO also updated their ratings for the two previous games to D despite the games having human beheadings.^[57]

[edit] Master Ninja Tournaments

The finalists played on walkways above the crowd while commentators talked about their actions on the big screen.

The Master Ninja Tournaments were three online contests held in 2004 by Microsoft and Tecmo. They took place over Xbox Live and were open to players in Europe, Japan, and North America. Players took part by uploading their scores of completed games to ranking boards.

The first two contests, Master Ninja Tournament 1 and 2, were also regional playoffs of the Ninja Gaiden Master Tournament World Championship. The championship was very popular; both playoffs broke the record for online participation of Xbox Live tournaments.^[59][60] Players had 14 to 24 days to complete the required games and submit their scores.^[61][62][63] Six of the highest scoring players in Europe and North America won bokkens bearing Itagaki's signature.^[59][64] The playoff winners for each region also proceeded to the final. As Master Ninja Tournament 1 was not open to Europe, the region could only send one regional winner.

The playoffs were not without controversies. Players complained about Microsoft's tardiness in posting the official rules for the first playoff. They also deemed that the top score was not possible by fair means.^[65] The officials, however, stated the score was possible and allowed the results to stand.^[66] In the second playoff, Microsoft named the runner up as the winner for North America.^[67] However, they sent the second runner up to the final.^[68]

The Ninja Gaiden Master Tournament World Championship final took place at Tokyo Game Show 2004 on September 25. The five finalists played a custom game at the same time while commentators called out the action. They had 15 minutes to clear the game and post the highest score. The champion emerged only in the last 20 seconds when Yasunori Otsuka cleared the game and outscored the rest. At the prize ceremony, the finalists received their prize plaques from Itagaki.^[69][70]

Master Ninja Tournament 3 started on September 27 and lasted 26 days. It used the players' Hurricane Pack 2 scores to decide the rankings, and the prizes were Tecmo apparel and Team Ninja games.^[71] Master Ninja Tournament 3 marked the end of official tournaments for Ninja Gaiden. Although the tournaments have ended, Microsoft let the ranking boards remain active for players to upload their scores.

[edit] Remakes and merchandise

Tecmo published two remakes of Ninja Gaiden: Ninja Gaiden Black and Ninja Gaiden Sigma. They are at heart the same game as the original, telling the same story about Ryu and the Dark Dragon Blade. Itagaki deemed Black as the final version of Ninja Gaiden.^[47] However, Tecmo brought the game to the PS3 and released Sigma as the last remake of Ninja Gaiden.

[edit] Ninja Gaiden Black

Tecmo announced at E3 2005 that Team Ninja was working on Ninja Gaiden Black.^[72] They later showed a working version of the game at Tokyo Game Show 2005.^[73] Black is a reworked compilation of Ninja Gaiden and the two Hurricane Packs.^[47] The game featured new foes such as exploding bats and the doppelganger fiends who can imitate Ryu.^[74] It contained more costumes than Ninja Gaiden, and swapped the unlockable NES games for the arcade version.^[75]

One key feature was the two new difficulties: the easy Ninja Dog and very hard Master Ninja.^[10] Itagaki added Ninja Dog after he heard complaints of Ninja Gaiden being too hard.^[76] However, he thought that any player could persist through the tough parts of the game and beat it.^[77] Hence, he made Black put on a mocking tone for those playing on Ninja Dog; the players receive pink ribbons as accessories and watch Ayane treat Ryu as an inferior. Itagaki also made the other difficulties in Black harder than they were in Ninja Gaiden. He changed the foes to be stronger and more aggressive and toned down moves that were too powerful such as the Flying Swallow.^[10]

Another key feature of Black is Mission Mode, which comprised 50 missions of pure combat action. One mission is adapted from the game played in the Ninja Gaiden Master Tournament World Championship final. Furthermore, the last five missions linked together to compose Eternal Legend; this linked series of missions was a revamped Hurricane Pack 2 using the game engine of Black.^[75]

[edit] Ninja Gaiden Sigma

In 2006, Tecmo and Sony announced the development of Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PS3.^[78][79] Eidos got the European publishing rights for this game.^[80] Itagaki had no direct role in this remake and judged it as a flawed game.^[81] He, however, said that Sigma was to let PlayStation owners have a taste of Ninja Gaiden.^[82]

The Cell processor of the PS3 let Team Ninja overhaul the game to use larger and more detailed textures.^[4] The game world also had a few changes. The team added a few new areas and several save points and shops.^[83] Changes to the game engine let players shoot arrows in midair, fight on water surfaces, and play as Rachel in a few chapters and missions.^[4][84] Players can also shake the Sixaxis controller to increase the power of their ninpos.^[85] Team Ninja added foes and bosses such as bikers, fish-men, and Gamov. They also added a pair of katanas called the Dragon's Claw and Tiger's Fang.^[4][83] Although marketed as the "more complete" version of Ninja Gaiden,^[86][87][88] Sigma left out several features found in the Xbox games. It did not have the opening movie or the unlockable games. It also had fewer costumes than Black did.^[4][84][89]

In Japan, Tecmo engaged a local-based singer, Leah Dizon, to promote the game. Aside from appearing in a commercial and singing its song,^[90] she signed posters that Tecmo gave away at the launch of the game.^[91] In North America, GameStop sold special editions of Sigma in their stores.^[92][93][94] They claimed that the special edition had an exclusive "behind-the-scenes" DVD and a code to unlock extra missions. The code, however, proved to be usable on normal copies of the game.^[94][95]

Tecmo released a demo and a new game mode, Survival Mode, for Sigma over the PlayStation Network.^[96] The demo limited players to the first chapter of the game but let them play as Rachel in a separate mission.^[97] Survival Mode comprised missions in which players keep fighting until they have killed all the foes or their character has died.^[98]

[edit] Merchandise

Tecmo has built up a line of merchandise around the Ninja Gaiden name. Its online shop carries apparel and accessories such as caps, wristbands, T-shirts, key holders, and mugs. Most of the merchandise is associated with the launch of the Ninja Gaiden games or given as prizes in the Master Ninja Tournaments.^{[99][100][101]} Tecmo has also published the original soundtrack of the game under their record label, Wake Up, on March 20, 2004. Kotobukiya, a figurine maker, had 1/6th scale plastic figures of Ninja Gaiden characters in their range of products. As of 2007, they have produced figures of Ryu, Ayane, Kureha, and Rachel.^[102]

[edit] Reception

Ninja Gaiden received a lot of critical acclaim. GameSpot called it as "one of the best most challenging action adventure games ever made".^[1] IGN said that it "sets a new standard for third-person action games in terms of length, depth, speed, and gore".^[14] Critics also put forward the game as one of the most difficult games up to 2007.^[125][126] Its remake, Ninja Gaiden Black, still impressed critics. GameSpot hailed it for having the best visual and audio presentation on the Xbox. They also praised its new feature, Mission Mode, for "[distilling] the game down to its purest essentials".^[6] IGN called its release as "a rare and welcome day", which "[brought their] excitement levels back to the first time [they] played the game".^[103]

From a technical point of view, critics regarded Ninja Gaiden and Black as the best of Xbox software; they pushed the console hardware to its limits without showing significant drops in performance. GameSpot was impressed with their "first-rate presentation" and said that none of the games at that time came close in visuals and audios.^[6] IGN said the games could "make [them] momentarily forget about the next generation of consoles".^[103] Ninja Gaiden and Black were top-selling Xbox games, which led to them being compatible with the Xbox 360 for all regions on its release.^{[127][128][129]}

However, critics varied in their views on the technical aspects of Ninja Gaiden Sigma. The gaming site, 1UP.com, called the updated graphics as "a gorgeous reworking of the modern ninja classic".^[109] Pro-G, however, said that they were average by next-generation standards and showed occasional "tearing, jagged edges, and miss matched collision between bloodstains and walls".^[7] Various flaws also troubled 1UP. They encountered frequent loadings, even in combat despite installing the game on the local hard drive. They also saw visual glitches such as screen tearing when the camera moved. These flaws made the game "feel like a bit of a slapdash port".^[109]

Although critics praised Sigma for retaining the gameplay in the previous games,^[89][109] its lack of new attractive features made them question its worth as "a remake of a remake". Pro-G said that Sigma was not worth a full priced game because it "has, in effect, been available for years in one form or another".^[7] Eurogamer stated that Sigma lacked the "wow factor" when compared to God of War and its sequel.^[110] The 1UP critic said that shaking the Sixaxis to power up a ninpo was "silly" and a "foolishly tacked-on" way to use the controller.^[109] IGN was not excited about playing as Rachel and wished to "get back to Ryu's sections simply because he's more fun to play".^[104] DailyGame, however, said that her slow pace brings "much-needed respite for newcomers and provide something new for experienced players".^[130]

A common criticism of the Ninja Gaiden games was with the camera. The default camera system centers the action on Ryu and his surroundings. It has also improved with the use of manual controls since the Hurricane Packs.^[44][6] There are, however, times when the camera locks on to an object and loses track of Ryu, which made the critics mad.^[103][3][5] However, most critics judged that either the camera was usually decent or the gameplay was good enough to cover up its flaws.^[6][104]

The Ninja Gaiden games gained a reputation throughout the gaming community for their difficulty and details.^[21][131] Although they appealed to gamers who are like Pro-G in wanting a "bloody hard, but also bloody good" challenge,^[111] casual gamers might find the learning curve daunting. IGN warned that gamers with lesser skills might not "get as much out of this game as others due to [its] incredible difficulty".^[103] Clive Thompson focused on Ninja Gaiden in his Slate article on the rewards of beating difficult games. He said that there are games so hard that players get mad in trying to beat them and stay mad even after doing so. Ninja Gaiden, however, rewarded players who beat the game; it brought them "a sort of exhausted exhilaration, like finally reaching the end of War and Peace". The game was a success in striking balance between challenge and reward.^[132]

Consumers have bought 1.5 million copies of Ninja Gaiden and Black as of August 2007.^[133] The sale figures reflected Tecmo's decision to design and cater the game for foreign gamers. The Japanese were not excited over the games. According to Itagaki, they bought 60,000 copies of Ninja Gaiden in the four months since its release.^[26] Famitsu also wrote that Sigma sold 76,095 copies in its first six months.^[134] However, according to the NPD Group, the games saw great sales in the United States; in their first month, Ninja Gaiden sold 362,441 copies and Sigma sold 63,637 copies.^[135][136] Next Generation also claimed that consumers bought 470,000 copies of Sigma in Europe and North America as of April 2008.^[137] The critical and commercial successes of Ninja Gaiden have led CNET and GameSpot Asia to induct the game into their Halls of Fame.^[138][139]

[edit] References