RipTen Videogame Blog » Ninja-Gaiden

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus Dated for PS Vita Launch, Stunning New Screens

Garrett Hartman — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:44:58 +0000

Tecmo Koei has announced today that Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus will release on February 22nd – the PS Vita launch day. Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus will be much more than a simple remake of its PS3 brother as it will make use of Vita features such as the touchscreen, gyro sensor and rear touch pad. Players will also have the ability to toggle through first and third-person view.

As you can see from the screens below, it’s quite a good looking portable game.

Ninja Gaiden Fan Film Brings the Original NES Classic to Life

Garrett Hartman — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:56:52 +0000

Ah, Ninja Gaiden on the NES. Such a groundbreaking game when it came out. Perhaps the first game to have “cinematic” cut-scenes which complemented its mind numbingly difficult gameplay. While it was absolutely nothing like its arcade counterpart, Ninja Gaiden on the NES became a classic and spawned a successful fanchise.

Thanks to 12KingFanFilms, we can see Ryu Hayabusa’s first 1989 adventure brought to life on film. Is it awesome? About as awesome as an 8-bit classic brought to life can be.

Watch it below and read what the filmmakers had to say about it:

Ninja Gaiden : Fan Film – [2011 Release] from 12KING Fan Films. This short film is based on the original NES Game (1989) and focuses particularly on it’s famous “Cutscenes”. It is experimental in nature and it’s intentional cartoon effect is reminiscent of the days of classic gaming.

Aside from the narration present in the film, there is no audible dialog, we considered that it would be interesting to let the images tell the story. If you are not familiar with the original Ninja Gaiden storyline, we encourage you to look it up.

In the film, Ryu Hayabusa’s costume design as well as his Dragon Sword were inspired by the Box Art from the original game (The look is also somewhat featured in the arcade version of the game). Many of the “Game Stage” designs are included and re-interpreted with 2D and 3D renders within the film. A rudimentary “Green Screen” was used to incorporate the actors into the virtual scenes. The challenge was to make as much as possible with what little was available at the time and still make it all work somehow. We hope to have achieved this goal. The entire production cost was no more than 350$ CDN in weapons and costume materials.

We had a great time making this film and we are all proud to share it with you. It is dedicated to all Ninja Gaiden fans. And most importantly…We hope you sit back and enjoy it!

Itagaki vs. Tecmo: Dead or Alive Creator Fired

Justin Arnold — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:49:43 +0000

Tokyo, Japan – As the second day of proceedings in Itagaki v. Tecmo commence, it has been revealed that Tomonobu Itagaki was fired June 18.

The firing of Itagaki comes after the embattled developer released a statement to Kotaku.com stating that he would be leaving Tecmo due to a financial disagreement with corporate president Yoshima Yasuda. Itagaki had announced that he would be leaving Tecmo on July 1 and suing the industry mainstay for $1,380,000 for unpaid bonuses.

Itagaki presented an affidavit from Yoshifura Okamoto who produced Ninja Gaiden II in which Yasuda is claimed to have been taped in secret.

Source: Kotaku

360 Review: Ninja Gaiden 2

John Robertson — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 05:22:06 +0000

Ninja Gaiden 2 is the game many 360 action fans have been waiting for. Promising in-depth combat as well as groundbreaking graphical quality, it has been very difficult not to get excited about this particular release. With the announcement that this will be the series’ final farewell, does the gaming world’s second most famous Ryu live up to the expectations?

Well, no. But then again, what games ever live up the kind of hype this game has had? MGS4, maybe? But while NG2 is far from perfect it still has a great deal to offer.

I’m going to completely bypass talking about the story, firstly because I don’t want to ruin it for you, secondly because it’s bloody difficult to follow anyway (without reading every text you come across while playing), and thirdly because the story is clearly an afterthought with this series. What I will say though, is that new character Sonia has breasts so large that you could write a story based on their daily trials (like the difficulty in finding a large enough bra, for example), and it would be more interesting than the story that plays out here.

So, on to the game itself, then. Well, Ninja Gaiden aficionados will be pleased to know that it’s still incredibly challenging. The sheer number of enemies that you’re expected to battle against at one time is enough to make all but the most hardcore of gamers put it down before the opening chapter is over.

You’ll need to master Ryu’s combos and the attack patterns of your enemies quickly if you harbour the ambition of finishing any level without constantly dying.

There are some concessions to the more casual gamer nonetheless. Ryu now has the ability to heal himself after disposing of all the enemies in his vicinity, and save points are now much more liberally spread around than in previous NG games. Some of the NG elite will find these additions hard to swallow, but in general they make the game much more manageable, especially during shorter gaming sessions.

Once you’ve mastered the combat, though, the action is largely spectacular; you’ll be slicing enemies with your Dragon Sword (or a number of other gruesome looking weapons) left, right and centre, leaving a horrific scene of blood and gore in your wake. When you get into a rhythm and you’re really laying the smack down on the bad guys this game is truly a wonder to behold. Action is fast and fluid and you’ll be in awe of just how good the game plays and allows you to link combos together for devastating effect.

This is, however, if you’re not fighting in an area where you’re constantly being showered with bullets, or flaming arrows, from enemies in unreachable locations. Here it is– these areas should not have been included in a game like this, period.

It’s hard for me to think of many times throughout my life that I have been as frustrated as I was while playing certain chapters in this game. For the life of me I can’t understand why, in a gaming series based on mastering your techniques and overcoming obstacles using pure skill, Team Ninja has decided to add these elements. All too often I’d be happily slashing my way through a group of ninja wolves holding swords in their mouths (yes, that’s a type of enemy in this game) only to suddenly die at the hands of some guy standing half a mile away firing a rocket in my direction.

These sections are what makes the game truly difficult, as at points you’re at a loss to see just how you are supposed to deal with the onslaught. Many times it was pure luck that I was able to progress, down to the fact that Ryu wasn’t hit with enough to projectiles to end his life. These enemies can be killed, but the majority of your projectile weapons are underpowered and take a little too long to use, meaning enemies close by end up killing you instead.

Inconsistency is also a bit of a problem. While each level does generally get progressively more difficult the bosses certainly do not.

The game’s opening bosses are possibly the most difficult. I suspect the overwhelming majority of players, even the most experienced Ninja Gaiden veterans, will need multiple attempts to defeat these guys on the first play through. In fact, the opening bosses are so difficult that you’ll be dreading the level to end, signifying your next boss challenge.

Fear not, however, as after you’ve negotiated the early guys the rest are somewhat tame in comparison. In some cases (including one time where you must fight an early boss further on in the game) the later battles are so easy that you’ll barely have to put any effort in as they seem all too eager to walk into your blade. It seems like an odd decision to arrange these fights in such a way as the more casual gamer is certainly not going to progress past the opening boss encounter, and hence, will see very little of the game.

Despite this, all the enemies in the game look fantastic, from the lowest ninja to the mightiest giant demon. Both the design and animation quality is second to none, and it’s almost worth the price of admission just to experience some of the bizarre creatures you’ll have to go up against. Ryu himself also looks fantastic, particularly when the camera moves in close as you perform a devastating finishing blow to your opponent resulting in their beheading, or some other act of extreme malevolence.

Now we get to the games harshest of obstacles– the camera. No matter how many enemies you’re facing, or how many flaming arrows are being sent in your direction, it’s the camera that’s usually your biggest foe. In comparison with the original Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Sigma, the camera is now a little tighter and closer to the ground, which if anything, makes the situation worse. The problem is most acute when you’re passing through cramped areas (such as a narrow cave) where the camera constantly moves to a position where it’s not possible to get a look at the enemies you’re attempting to attack.

You have the ability to reset the camera directly behind Ryu at any point (just press the right trigger) but even then, the view is far from perfect. By the time you’ve completed the game the right trigger will probably be worn out due to the frequency you’ll need of camera resets you’ll need to perform.

Talking of cameras, it seems that NG2 has gone to the movies. The “Ninja Cinema” feature allows players to record themselves showing off their flashiest moves and combos for the whole world to see (other NG2 owners to see anyway). You have the ability to turn this on at any moment and start recording.

While it’s a nice idea, and it does work, it tends to slow the game, and can be a little frustrating when you’re attempting the intricate timing needed to pull off the game’s most devastating combos. For some reason this isn’t always a problem (in fact, generally it’s not a problem at all) but it does happen often enough to make it worth pointing out.

Now, from reading the above you might feel that this game is not actually worth the effort, although in a strange way it is. The feeling of accomplishment you get from the game after finishing a particularly difficult section is “hard to beat”, and the majority of the game is generally very fun. The character Ryu himself is also just as badass as ever, and cutscenes look mighty impressive.

There is a lot of enjoyment to be hard from this game, it’s just that the whole experience has a cloud cast over it by a few sections of the game that are truly disappointing. Ninja Gaiden was never a series where you rely on luck to progress, but here you rely on it all too often.

Perhaps this is the right time to put the series to bed after all, as it seems as though Itagaki and his former Team Ninja associates have run out of ideas and are clutching at straws in terms of finding new elements to add to the gameplay. Ninja Gaiden 2 is largely enjoyable but disappointing overall.

What does this score mean? Check out our review scoring breakdown

DS Review: Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword

Kat Bailey — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:40:57 +0000

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is the kind of game that can only come out well into in a system’s life cycle. Like many launch titles, early Nintendo DS games were generally ugly, clunky games that featured tacked on stylus support. But, as Dragon Sword demonstrates, the difference between games like the hand-cramping Super Mario 64 DS and latter day titles can be startling.

Dragon Sword is one of the best looking, best sounding Nintendo DS games to date, featuring silky smooth stylus controls that allows players to effortlessly use a variety of visually impressive moves from Ryu’s substantial bag of tricks and Ninja Gaiden’s trademark action.

It’s hard to believe that the precise controls of the Xbox original could be so handily translated to the DS stylus, but it all ends up feeling so natural that I would go so far as to wonder if it could be translated to the PSP half as well.

But that’s not to say that the stylus controls are a direct translation. For example, a great deal of the original game’s combat seemed to be predicated on bouncing off walls in an effort to evade the enemy while pulling off a variety of combos. Put simply, if you stayed still for even half a second, you died. Dragon Sword’s combat remains satisfying, but a great deal of the depth has been stripped away, with rote combos activating by simply slashing a lot at the screen.

There’s a rhyme and reason to the stylus movements that veteran players will quickly master, but most players will probably be able to make it through the entire game with just a few trusty moves. But despite being able to effectively spam just a few moves, Dragon Sword is not a game in which you can just scribble your way to victory. The wall bounces are gone, but you will definitely find yourself hitting that guard button, then leaping and rolling.

Dragon Sword certainly isn’t difficult to the point that you’ll be utterly destroyed by the first boss unless you’ve mastered the controls (something that should ring a few bells for fans of the Xbox version), but the enemies are certainly competent, and newer players in particular will find that they are forced to master the game’s combat system to some extent.

Unfortunately, Dragon Sword’s bosses, while certainly large and impressive on the small DS screen, require little thought to beat. Most players will be able to beat them on the first or second try simply by rolling around a bit and slashing as much as possible.

While higher difficulty levels can be unlocked following the game’s completion, the diamond hardcore of action fanatics who comprise Ninja Gaiden’s most loyal supporters are likely to be disappointed by the combination of the shallower combat system and lower difficulty. But for the rest of us mere mortals who were crushed repeatedly by the NES and Xbox games or just never got around to playing them in the first place, Dragon Sword is a refreshing introduction to the series for a larger segment of the market.

When you’re not killing a variety of supernatural creatures with impressive looking combos and magic, you will spend a great deal of time running around a hub village as you unlock the secrets of the Dark Dragonstones via a variety of lush, 2D cutscenes. Once you set out on whatever task you’ve been given, you’ll find yourself spending a great deal of time in subterranean catacombs, caves and forests solving the odd puzzle that requires the use of magic or blowing into the microphone.

The puzzles and the narrative get the job done, but it’s obvious that Dragon Sword was designed to be based around the combat, and that’s what you will spend most of your time doing. As the combat is generally quite fun, there’s hardly much to complain about there.

But in the end, the graphics are the real selling point for players approaching the series for the first time. If the graphics have any fault though, it’s that Ryu seems to spend a great deal of time fighting in large, open areas, which results in the camera being pulled well back to accommodate it.

The camera doesn’t really diminish the overall presentation, but the enemies do tend to look quite a bit muddier from this perspective, and the smaller characters can strain the eyes a bit. The game is at its very best when the camera switches from the isometric angle to a more traditional third-person view for the impressive-looking boss fights.

Special mention should also be given to the sound, which is understated and yet quite pleasing to the ears, mostly consisting of drums and flutes that sound very nice on even the DS’s limited sound chip.

The voice acting is largely limited to grunts of surprise, but the samples are quite clear, and the sound effects are second to none for a portable system. Ninja Gaiden has a strong audio tradition dating back to the NES, so its nice to see Dragon Sword picking up the gauntlet on the DS.

Dragon Sword’s excellent graphics and sound, nicely balanced difficulty and satisfying combat system ends up culminating in a great six-hour adventure, more than enough for a portable system. While dedicated gamers can whip through it in a couple nights, more casual players will probably spend a week or two on it. This doesn’t sound like much, but when you consider that even quality home console games like Call of Duty 4 and Portal are featuring single-player games that fail to hit the ten-hour mark, Dragon Sword seems perfectly acceptable.

And once the initial adventure is over, players will probably find themselves unable to resist returning for another run through on a higher difficulty level. Because while Dragon Sword is short, sweet and linear, its easily the best game to be released on the DS so far this year, and a must buy for anybody who is even remotely interested in going ninja on a bunch of supernatural thugs (read: everybody).

Thirty-Two Enter, Only One Will Be Crowned “King Of The Game”

Chad Lakkis — Sun, 27 May 2007 21:22:17 +0000

This is what we have all been waiting for … a battle for the ages, and the time is now. We have assembled 32 of the finest video game characters that have ever called a console home, and a five round single elimination tournament of speed, skill, strength, and determination stands between them and being named pixel for pixel the baddest that ever was, the “King of the Game”.

Can Marcus Fenix roadie run his way through a bullet blazing, one liner laden, no holds barred battle with the one and only Duke Nukem? Will Metal Gear’s main man Snake slither his way to victory against the Splinter Cells triclops, Sam Fisher? Metriod’s Samus Aran, or the combat evolved Master Chief? The king of cold: Sub Zero or the queen of hot: Lara Croft?

We here at ripten have been working for over two months, researching, arguing, and eating lots of junk food, all in the name of bringing you an accurate account of each characters quest for video game immortality. The results are in and over the coming weeks, you will lay witness to five rounds of sword swinging, scope sniping, chainsaw buzzing intense action.

Below you will find division one of the first round match ups, division two will be up tomorrow. We would love to hear your comments on how you think things should go down and who you would like to see win it all.

DIVSION ONE

Update: June 4th, 2007

Hello everyone,

Division One has changed slightly based on the feedback we received from readers. Lara Croft will now be facing off against “Pitfall Harry” and Ryu of Ninja Gaiden fame will be swinging his sword against Mr. Joe Shinobi.

We thank you for the feedback! To see the division two matchups click here. Check back tomorrow for matchups to start posting to the site in comic book page format featuring the artwork of various artists!

Thanks,
Mad Gamer

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