IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

Ninja Gaiden 3 Targeting Mainstream

Posted January 25, 2011 by M.H. Williams

Ninja Gaiden has always been known for utterly destroying everybody but the excessively skilled of game players. In fact, ex-Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki used to revel in that fact. With the studio under new management, it seems that it’s attempting to reach out to gamers who could not beat level one in previous titles.

"Team Ninja's aim with Ninja Gaiden 3 is twofold: to be the number one 3D action game of the time, and secondly, the main character is Ryu Hayabusa. They're the two things we're focusing on," new Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi told Eurogamer. "Then, providing excitement, which is not only from the difficulty. That's just one of the elements. It's more like having excitement from fighting an exciting boss. That is what we needed."

Tecmo Koei is pegging Ninja Gaiden 3 as a chance for the new Itagaki-less Team Ninja to stand out after Metroid: Other M, a game that sold below Nintendo’s expectations. Hayashi is clear that he’s looking to protect an unsung partner of your game-playing habits: your television.

"With the previous Ninja Gaidens, you were playing and you were excited, but it was more about putting the controller into the TV screen or something. That kind of excitement we were focusing on and aiming for. So that's why for you maybe it was too difficult at that time,” said Hayashi. "That's one of the elements. We're not focusing on it, but focusing on providing excitement."

So will Ninja Gaiden 3 be easier than previous titles, the first of which called the easy mode, “Ninja Dog” mode?

"Not easy, but it will enable more people to play. More accessible. We don't plan to have Ninja Gaiden 3 only for the really good, skilled people,” explained Hayashi.

M.H. Williams has been writing in some form or another for ten years and has been a hardcore gamer since the NES first graced American shores.  You can catch him on Twitter as @AutomaticZen, Google+ as himself, or on his personal Facebook page.