Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2: Not just another port

Designer Yosuke Hayashi introudces Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2

On Tuesday, Tecmo unveiled the upcoming Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 for the Playstation 3, touting it as the "ultimate" game of the Ninja Gaiden series.

Designer/producer Yosuke Hayashi was on hand at the debut event in San Francisco's Metreon Center. He explained through an interpreter that, when it releases in fall this year, it will be "the total package, the ultimate package, the one you will always remember as the one that ended up incorporating everything that you have seen and experienced throughout the Ninja Gaiden franchise. "

According to Hayashi, the game will add two new female characters to the familiar lineup: Ayane from the Dead of Alive series, and Momiji from Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, which released for the Nintendo DS last spring.

The traditional main character, Ryu Hayabusha, will remain the protagonist of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2.

In addition, the new title will be the first to incorporate online cooperative play.

"I am confident that a lot of our fans have been waiting to play Ninja Gaiden, any Ninja Gaiden, not just as an offline single player experience but with another partner online," Hayashi said.

Hayashi also fielded questions from the two score journalists on hand, including queries about Tomonobu Itagaki, the series' creator whose acrimonious and highly publicized departure last year from publisher Tecmo and design studio Team Ninja became fodder for enthusiast and industry media.

"The DNA still exists as Team Ninja, even though maybe the face has changed, the leader has changed, and whoever was the so-called creator of the series may have left, the team still exists. So the essence, the DNA is still there," Hayashi said, adding that his absence wouldn't be a question once Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 hits shelves. 

"I'll be able to prove that with my game, and not have to speak about the game," he said.

A complete recording of the half-hour unveiling event can be heard on the GameHounds Podcast website.

For those who'd rather not sit through a recording, here's a transcript of the question-and-answer session held after the debut:

Will there be a PSN demo?
That's something that we'll take into consideration. We've already been talking about it, and obviously, in order for users to get a feel for what the game is like we'd like to be able to provide that.

Are the two new playable characters available right from the start of the game?
Ryu Hayabusa still remains the super ninja of the franchise, so the story is obviously written in a way that he's the main character. You won't be able to play them from the beginning. Momiji and Ayane, they have been added on as playable characters and their stories exist, with the main story still being Ryu Hayabusa's adventure. On the online co-op side you'll obviously be able to play any other characters.

Where's Rachel from Ninja Gaiden 2?
I'm glad that everyone loves Rachel and still cares about her, and so she's a very important part of our team, our games. And that's where she should stay and she'll exist, right? She's a very important pat of Team Ninja's games, now and in the future.

Who's the new girl?
That is Momiji from Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword on the DS.

Do the attacks differ depending on which character you are?
Each character has his own set of skills, weapons, and they're all brand new tailored to the character. For those you who played Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, you'll notice her skills have been incorporated, like the double jump and her naginata weapon. It's not just we've added new character with the same set of weapons and same set of skills as Ryu. They each exist in their own ways.

Do you know if any new weapons will be available in the game?
I don't know if you caught it — Ryu is already carrying a brand new weapon in this trailer, and so compared to Ninja Gaiden 2, yes, Ryu will have a new set of weapons. And to go back to the female characters, yes, they'll have new weapons as well.

Any chance the new content will be DLC for the Xbox?
Only on Playstation. Just like the slogan, right? So, no is the answer.

Is there a Japanese track on the English language version of the game?
Japanese will be available on the English version.

When Itagaki was still with Team Ninja, he denied vehemently that a Playstation version was coming, and he said it would be a "loss of face" for everyone involved if it did happen. So, how long has this been in development for and what do you think about that comment?
In terms of actually development when this project kind of kicked off for Sigma 2, it's only after we read about the user and the fans feedback, so it's not something that was already conceptually available and existing from the very beginning. We only started working on this after Ninja Gaiden 2 came out last summer. Internally, the staff is comprised of both Ninja Gaiden 2 team as well as the Sigma team.

Are there a lot of co-op moves. How did that affect game play design?
Not necessarily in terms of affecting the game play design aspect of things. We definitely wanted the story-mode, single-player and the online co-op to have the same pace, the same timing speed and action battle. So we didn't have to make any adjustment, so to speak, just making sure the online co-op mode will retain the Ninja Gaiden essence we all know and keeping true to that.

Why has Itagaki been so vocally against the Sigma series?
Well, personally, there's nothing that I would sort of put against, or be against in the Sigma series. The DNA still exists as Team Ninja, even though maybe the face has changed, the leader has changed, and whoever was the so-called creator of the series may have left, the team still exists. So the essence, the DNA is still there. There's no reason why I could be against the Sigma line or the Sigma series for Ninja Gaiden. I think it's very proper to have a different sort of line going off the number Ninja Gaidens to be able to add more and then to be able to say this is a different sort of branching out of the series.

Did you find it hard to fill the huge ego void Itagaki left?
I'll be able to prove that with my game, and not have to speak about the game.

Can you characterize the experience you had programming for the PS3 versus the other games that were written for the Xbox, and did it present any challenges for you?
Rather than thinking about what Team Ninja did for Ninja Gaiden 2 and how we can add on these little components, or upgrade or enhance it, once we realized we had a really great concept in positioning Sigma 2 as sort of the complete and ultimate package of the Ninja Gaiden series, it was more about putting the focus on that and make that a part of itself. So it wasn't really a comparing of, "They had this so we're going to do this." It was really thinking of this as a grand product and see how much we can push in each element in both the single player aspect of it and in the online multiplayer.

Will there be any versus for online players?
Battling against each other, meaning attacking and fighting against each other, is not necessarily going to define the online co-op mode in Sigma 2. It's really cooperating with your partner in order to accomplish your missions, and really more about trying to survive whatever your missions throw at you at that stage.

Will there DLC for this PS3 version, like online multiplayer?
We're very serious about coming up with new content that will be available for DLC or as downloadable content. We don’t have any specifics yet, but I think it's only natural to think that downloadable content for the PS3 platform and for the audiences is proper and continuing the momentum with the game, so we'll have more details to share with you soon, but we’re definitely considering new content.