Ryu Hayabusa suddenly emerged from oblivion after seven years: the episode disappeared from radar after the release of Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden in 2014. Nevertheless, the most severe ninja in the history of video games returns in one of the best guises: Team Ninja decided to re-release the trilogy of three-dimensional action games on all current platforms. How Hayabusa feels in the remasters of the games, the first of which turned, in fact, seventeen years old, we will talk below.
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First blood
Screenshot from Ninja Gaiden Sigma
The original Ninja Gaiden from Team Ninja was released in 2004 on the Xbox and was a relaunch of the classic NES trilogy that started back in 1988. The studio positioned the new part as a prequel, but at the same time the events took place in the world of another developer series, Dead or Alive. All this, however, was completely unnecessary.
The player took on the role of “super ninja” Ryu Hayabusa, who went to avenge the murder of Kuryoha, a temple minister in the hero’s home village. The villain Doku not only desecrated the temple, but also stole the legendary Dragon Blade and killed Hayabusa. Fortunately, the clan falcon revived the ninja as a “soldier of revenge”, and Ryu was forced to embark on a long journey full of violence and cruelty.
By the way, the new version is not the first reissue of the title. A year after the original, Ninja Gaiden Black came out (again on Xbox), featuring several new opponents and costumes, a mission mode, and an expanded choice of difficulty levels. A year later, in 2006, Ninja Gaiden Sigma was released for PS3: it expanded the plot, adding a new playable character, changed several mechanics, introduced new weapons and opponents, and tightened the graphics. True, the difficulty has decreased slightly, which, however, is not so bad – Ninja Gaiden is a really difficult game. Finally, in 2012, Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus was released for PS Vita, in which the “hero mode” first appeared – for those who just want to learn the story, and not fight the complexity. In many ways, it was the latter that became the basis for a new reissue.
Justified cruelty
Screenshot from Ninja Gaiden Sigma
Speaking of difficulty, it’s worth noting that Ninja Gaiden is an unfairly tough game even in the Sigma version. In the modern world, it is customary to call Dark Souls the measure of difficulty, but it pales in comparison to the adventures of Ryu Hayabusa – you will die very, very often, in battles both with bosses and with ordinary opponents.
This is largely because the action offers extremely high speed and is almost unforgiving. Users are required to react with lightning speed to what is happening and memorize existing combos and mechanics such as running on walls, jumping “cansels”, competent use of throwing weapons, as well as understanding the strengths and weaknesses of a rich arsenal. Despite the fact that it is based on the usual formula for the genre – controlled by a ninja stick, fights with the help of strong and weak blows, knows how to block incoming attacks, jump and dodge – it is the dynamics that makes Ninja Gaiden really difficult.
In the best moments, the player can easily feel much cooler than the same Kratos from God of War (classic, not restart) or Dante from Devil May Cry – and the next moment die from an unsuccessful reading of an incoming attack. It is easy to make mistakes: most often, local battles not only take place quickly, but also include many enemies. And, unlike many other titles, local opponents do not hesitate to attack simultaneously, both in melee and in ranged combat, or even use explosives, the damage of which cannot be blocked. You have to rely on instincts and constantly move – both horizontally and vertically, not forgetting about jumping and running along the walls.
The first part is more difficult than the other two – largely due to the local health system. In the original, the only way to restore lost HP points, apart from the occasional blue spheres falling out of opponents, is only with the help of potions, of which there are not so many at the levels. Of course, you can buy them, but often the local currency that drops out of opponents is much more needed to improve weapons and purchase scrolls with new combat techniques. Finding a balance between a lack of health and the desire to make your existence a little easier through upgrades can be very difficult.
You only live twice
Screenshot from Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
The sequel continues the story of the first part: Ryu managed to return the Dragon Blade, but the enemy is not asleep. This time, a statue of a demon is kidnapped from their native village, with the help of which the ninja of the Spider clan open portals to another world and release demons to Earth. The legendary ninja, of course, has no choice but to go to fight evil and return the statue to the possession of the Dragon clan.
Like the first game, the second does not differ in the depth of the plot – all the forces were spent on working out the gameplay. It is not that it has changed radically in comparison with the first part: the combat system remained the same, like most combos, but the timings became much easier to read, and the already excellent control approached ideal. Ninja Gaiden 2 has added a system for dismembering opponents: in battle, they can lose a limb, which greatly slows them down and changes their behavior.
The main innovation is the updated health system. Hayabusa in the sequel receives permanent and temporary damage: the first is reflected by the reddening of the HP bar, the second leaves it transparent. After the end of the battle, the health level rises to the border of the red zone. In addition, now save points restore HP to the maximum, and the blue spheres heal the “red” segment. After the merciless first part, such a decision seems like heavenly manna.
The Sigma edition, which formed the basis of the remaster, is known for a number of changes, not all of which were warmly received by fans. If the opportunity to play for new heroes (of which there are already three), an extended storyline and new bosses delighted fans of the original, then not everyone liked the decrease in the number of opponents.
The real stumbling block has been the reduction in violence. The original is considered one of the bloodiest games in history, but Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 has become much more “toothless” in this regard: severed limbs instantly disappeared, bloody splashes became much less, and even cut-scenes were re-edited to reduce the degree of violence.
And yet the sequel was warmly received for a reason: it’s still furious action, testing the player’s strength over and over again. Some simplifications, of course, make life easier, but they do not turn it into an easy walk.
Pray for death
Screenshot from Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge
The final part of the trilogy became the most controversial in the series due to the shift in the tone of the narrative. Yes, the first two could not boast of depth, but at least they tried to play serious. Ninja Gaiden 3, on the other hand, throws all the developments of its predecessors out the window, not caring what the players think about it.
After the events of the second part, representatives of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces turn to Hayabusa. They ask the ninja to meet with Regent Mask – the head of a terrorist organization. He said that if the meeting does not take place, the country can prepare for the worst. Of course, Ryu could not stand this and went to talk to a mysterious ill-wisher. When they met, he put a curse on Hayabusa, connecting the Dragon’s blade with the ninja’s right hand: the Regent said that in this way he wants to make the hero feel all the pain that Ryu caused in numerous battles to his opponents. Gradually, the “grip of murder” should finish off Hayabusa, and now he has to figure out how to escape from this alteration.
Trikvel shows the protagonist as an almost invincible ninja who, with full awareness of his own coolness, destroys everyone and everything. This is aggravated by the fact that the tone of the previous games simply does not hold up, and the difficulty is much lower than before – so much so that the items of treatment were removed as unnecessary, like the store with the statues of conservation. Pumping is now carried out simply from the pause menu, and you can save with special birds that now and then come to the aid of Hayabusa.
The story in places resembles teenage fanfic based on the adventures of the legendary ninja. Which, however, is not particularly surprising: the creator of Hayabusa’s modern look, Tomonobu Itagaki, left the studio and was replaced by new people, Fumihiko Yasuda and Yosuke Hayashi. The branched levels were replaced by “guts”, the enchanting complexity of the original games came to naught, and the gameplay from exciting turned into almost rehearsal. Ninja Gaiden 3 is still considered the weakest game in the series, despite the innovations designed to diversify the gameplay.
The latter include, for example, new finishing mechanics, the ability to climb certain surfaces with the help of kunai, and, most unexpectedly, stealth sections. Now Hayabusa, as befits a ninja, can sneak up on opponents and eliminate them with one precise blow – not quite what you expect from a series of extremely fast action games.
Following the player’s dissatisfaction, Team Ninja decided to release an extended version of the title, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge. It added a dismemberment system and several other mechanics from the sequel, new old weapons (it’s hard to believe, but there was no classic staff for the previous parts in the triquel) and another playable heroine. Plus, they improved the intelligence of opponents, slightly reworked the levels and removed the controversial decisions of the original like QTE in finishing moves. The extended version (which got into the re-release) was received warmer – but if the gameplay got better, the change in tone, alas, could not be fixed, and Razor’s Edge is still a “black sheep” in the family.
Upgrade
Screenshot from Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge
But let’s talk about the ports themselves. Versions for all platforms strive for a stable 60 FPS, which generally works without any problems. On consoles, it is difficult to find fault with the game: everything works stably, the picture quality is tightened up in comparison with the versions more than a decade ago, and the gameplay still feels unusual today. PC players were less fortunate: as is often the case with Japanese games, the consoles were clearly the focus.
On a PC, the game does not have any graphical settings and always runs exclusively in a window. To change the resolution (of which there are only three: 720p, 1080p and 4K), users must manually register this in the properties of the shortcut or in Steam – there are simply no other options. After launching the game, you can expand it to full screen, but it’s still borderless windowed mode, which may not suit everyone. As if that weren’t enough, none of the three games support keyboard and mouse controls – not even menus. And the coveted Alt + F4 combination refuses to do anything, so you can play here only with a gamepad. The only key that does anything is Escape, which returns titles to windowed mode.
If we close our eyes to the lack of seemingly familiar functions, the port does not perform so badly: the game runs at fair 60 FPS and runs on not the most powerful machines. The picture, of course, cannot be called outstanding, but the graphics remain stylish enough so that you do not want to spit when you see it. More importantly, PC players finally have the opportunity to touch one of the main slashers, who previously ignored the platform with all their might – so, you see, other representatives of the genre will look at the light. There are still not enough of them.
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