Demonstration: Ninja Gaiden DS stylus controls
Captured at Tecmo's recent "Night Out '07" event in Japan, the above video delves into the control scheme of the upcoming stylish and stylus-driven Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. In what could either be a profoundly intuitive adventure or a fundamentally awkward disaster, series protagonist Ryu Hayabusa is controlled entirely by taps and slashes on the DS touch screen, with blocking being handled by any one of the neglected buttons. The demonstration makes jumping, attacking and flipping out seem pretty simple in the face of multiple enemies, but it's impossible to tell just how accurate and responsive stylus strokes really are.
Though it's graphically quite a departure from the Xbox and forthcoming PS3 iterations, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword still manages some impressive character models, no doubt enhanced by the use of scrolling, prerendered backgrounds. Static backdrops open up the (trap)door to camera issues and off-screen attacks, but the angles don't seem to be too obtrusive in the demonstration. Outspoken designer Tomonobu Itagaki's appearance at the end of the clip is at least comforting -- we know he's somewhat of an expert at touching hostile targets.
