Joystiq [Xbox]

Ninja Gaiden

Pulling a page from Tecmo's back catalog, Itagaki spent five years with Ninja Gaiden before finally releasing the title on the Xbox in 2004.

Originally planned for release on Sega's Dreamcast, Tecmo held the project back anticipating the title as a PlayStation 2 launch game. Itagaki, impressed with the Xbox development kit, pushed Tecmo to reconsider and allow the game to become an Xbox title.

At E3 2002, Tecmo shocked onlookers when Ninja Gaiden was revealed as an Xbox-exclusive.

Hailed by gamers and critics world-wide, the game was known for its extreme difficulty and fluid animation. The only issue widely discussed with the title was its poor implementation of a 3D camera which tracked players, but would not allow for manual adjustments.

Only taking the name of the classic arcade and NES character, Itagaki's Ninja Gaiden was the same Ryu Hayabusa seen in the Dead or Alive universe and not that of the late 80s-early 90s hero.

While the game was somewhat commercially successful in North America (selling around 400 thousand copies in its first month) it did not strike a chord with Japanese gamers (only selling 60 thousand in its first three months).

Want to learn more about Ninja Gaiden? Check out our retrospective on the series called, A History of Violence: A Ninja Gaiden Retrospective.

05/06/08