Yuji Nakao Nakao, producer/director on Ninja Gaiden 4 has posted a lengthy blog explaining the origins of the title, and how the new main character was born.
On the official PlatinumGames blog, Nakao explains: “At PlatinumGames, I held the role of producer for Bayonetta 3 and The Wonderful 101: Remastered. Even before joining PlatinumGames, most of my experience was in developing action game titles. Once discussions between PlatinumGames, Xbox Game Studios, and Team NINJA of Koei Tecmo came to fruition and it was decided that we would be working together on a new title in the NINJA GAIDEN series, I instantly raised my hand to be a part of the team.”
Nakao continues: “During the process of making NINJA GAIDEN 4, there was one thing that I made sure to always keep in mind: being faithful to the NINJA GAIDEN series. As the latest entry is being developed at PlatinumGames, we naturally included some elements that fit our flavor of action such as Yakumo’s Bloodraven Form and Ryu’s Gleam Form. But above all, we have made sure to never forget the core elements of NINJA GAIDEN, and to stay true to the series’ legacy.”
For example, the Bloodraven Form is very visually dynamic, so some might think it seems overly flashy, going against the subtlety of NINJA GAIDEN. But actually, many of the new action elements (taught to you by the character Tyran) have a wide range of combat usage, from attack cancels to handy maneuvers and even little tricks that branch off from other combat skills. So, I hope you can think of all these as just a new way to experience the combat that NINJA GAIDEN is known for.
We have also meticulously studied the techniques and moves used in the previous titles of the series. Most of these have been implemented just as they were in the past titles, with a few of them slightly adjusted to match the combat pace and feel of this new installment. We’ve got all the classic tricks like shuriken cancels and Flying Swallow links from Wind Run, and so many more that I can’t even list them all here. If you’re a big fan of the series like me, please check out the training mode that we added into the game to try them out for yourself.
We’ll leave you with more words from the producer/director, as Nakao says: “If there is one takeaway from all this, please just know that NINJA GAIDEN is a series with deep mechanics that just feels so good to play.”
Ninja Gaiden 4 is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on October 21st.
