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Ninja Gaiden 3's 'Hero Mode' allows more players to experience the story
Ninja Gaiden 3 is Team Ninja's first full Gaiden game post-Itagaki, and it looks like things are progressing a little differently. For one thing, it's got a sort of easy mode called "Hero Mode," which adds automatic dodging and blocking of most normal attacks, to which I can imagine Itagaki's head shaking, making waves in a cloud of cigarette smoke. I asked director Fumihiko Yasuda (who also did design work on Sigma 2) about why such a ... friendly mode would appear in such a typically unfriendly series. "We really wanted to flesh out the story this time around," Yasuda said, "so we wanted people to enjoy that story and get used to the game as it is. In the past the games were really hardcore and we couldn't get players to stay with us and complete the game." Team Ninja is "redefining" Hayabusa's image, and wants people to experience that whole story without dying over and over again or throwing the game into the disposal in frustration.
Ninja Gaiden 3 preview: The evolution of mammals
When I asked Ninja Gaiden 3 lead Fumihiko Yasuda how the protagonist was able to glide through the air with nothing more than a black, skin-tight suit, I committed the sin of dragging logic into a discussion that was utterly incompatible with it. Ryu Hayabusa can fly because he's a ninja, and that's an axiom you'll just have to accept. The legitimate mystery is why an army of hapless (and soon-to-be-headless) soldiers would stomp all the way through the brutally extracted entrails of their comrades, and still insist on fighting an enraged man who literally just flew in. The gushing violence signals a welcome change from Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2's purple energy nonsense and comes across as silly and satisfying, rather than OH GROSS. Hayabusa's sword never seems to clip through enemy bodies so much as it slides and scrapes through them.%Gallery-125744%
Wii U's Ninja Gaiden 3 based on 360/PS3 version
Though still presented under a working title, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge is one of the first third-party games to be announced for Nintendo's upcoming Wii U console. Fumihiko Yasuda, lead on Ninja Gaiden 3, told Joystiq that Razor's Edge would be based on next year's Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, but would offer some changes beyond the addition of a subtitle. "Ninja Gaiden 3 for PS3 and 360 is the base of the Wii U version," Yasuda said during an E3 meeting. "Of course, we understood that we would need to implement a particular gameplay experience with Wii U, so we are studying what we can do with that console. We're thinking of different modes and different combat action -- something different." While Team Ninja attempts to figure out the best, ultra-violent uses for Nintendo's controller-screen hybrid, it remains in the planning stages for a 3DS Ninja Gaiden game (announced at E3 2010). As it's so early in development, Yasuda could only suggest that it "may not be a sequel to Dragon Sword."
