Ninja Gaiden 3 and Sigma Plus PSVita Hands-On, Studio Head Interview

In a small room in mid-town Manhattan yesterday, I joined up with several journalists to sample the best of what Tecmo Koei had to offer in the coming months. After getting comfortable on the couch with a Playstation Vita in my hand, I was introduced to Yosuke Hayashi, head of Team Ninja. He was generous enough to answer a few questions about the Vita launch title, Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus and the much-anticipated Ninja Gaiden 3.

The Vita update of the original Ninja Gaiden looks gorgeous. The controls are still as fluid as I remember, and with the power of the hardware and button configuration, it felt exactly like playing with a gamepad. The touchscreen is used for entering first-person mode quickly, which makes it useful but not intrusive into the experience.

Michael Futter: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. It’s great to be able to see both of these titles, Hayabusa’s beginning and his latest adventure, side-by-side. Can you tell me what prompted you to bring back the original Ninja Gaiden story for the Vita’s launch?

Yosuke Hayashi: Bringing Ninja Gaiden to the Vita in the form of Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus was a great fit. First, we had a very limited time frame to prepare a game for the Vita, so it made sense to bring Ninja Gaiden to a new audience. Also, this will help get people excited about the franchise with the release of Ninja Gaiden 3 coming so soon.

MF: What were some of the challenges and some of the joys in adapting the original Ninja Gaiden to the new hardware?

YH: For the development team, it is always fun to work on new hardware. The tight time frame made it challenging, but Team Ninja sees the challenge as part of the fun.

MF: Given how difficult the Ninja Gaiden series is, I can tell you take that to heart. Speaking of which, what can we expect in terms of challenge for both Sigma Plus and Ninja Gaiden 3?

YH: Handheld systems aren’t exactly like cell phones, but people now expect to be able to pick up a game and play for a short amount of time. Because of that, we wanted Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus to be accessible to casual players. We’ve added a “Hero Mode” for this audience. While the Normal and Hard modes will still provide the challenge that the series is known for, Hero mode gives a helping hand with auto-blocking and auto-evading when you are wounded. You can always switch down to this difficulty level, too, if you want to try the game out on the normal difficulty.

MF: Finally, what did you learn from working with the Vita hardware? What will you take with you to your next project on the system?

YH: Adapting the game for a broader audience was a challenge. We didn’t want to take anything away from the challenge that fans love, but we wanted as many people to feel comfortable experiencing it as possible. Hero mode solves both problems. We brought that sensibility to Ninja Gaiden 3, also. You can switch to Hero Mode at any time in that game.

I’m excited to give the full version a go when it arrives. I loved the original Ninja Gaiden, but hit a brick wall with the difficulty. I’m thrilled to finally be able to go back and finish it, with Hero Mode if necessary. It sounds and looks as good as you remember it, which is an impressive feat given the fog of nostalgia.