X3F talks difficulty concerns with Ninja Gaiden II's Itagaki

by Scott Jon Siegel { Jan 15th 2008 at 6:04AM }

Gamerscore Blog recently afforded our buddies over at X3F the opportunity to ask Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagaki one question about the upcoming Ninja Gaiden II on the 360. They chose to ask about the sequel's adjustments to the original's infamous difficulty, specifically the addition of a automatically-regenerating health system, seemingly added to widen the game's appeal to less-hardcore players.

Not to disappoint the fans, Itagaki coolly (oh so coolly) explains that the health regenerating system was added to keep players immersed in the game, rather than having to constantly access the game's menus to use potions.

Of course, Itagaki assures the hardcore audience that the game will still appeal to their masochistic sides, but that they hope to increase the audience in the sequel with more adjustability in the difficulty levels. Good news for everyone?

Tags: ninja-gaiden, ninja-gaiden-2, ninjagaiden, ninjagaiden2, team-ninja, teamninja, tecmo, tomonobu-itagaki

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Schuey19 @ Jan 15th 2008 6:58AM

Best part of Ninja Gaiden was the balancing of using elixers to survive until the boss fight or saving them for the boss fight (looking at you Alma).
Can't help but feel this will lessen the challenge too much, but still can't wait for the game though :)

t_m @ Jan 15th 2008 9:47AM

agreed... they'll have to rebalance a lot

Sokkratez @ Jan 15th 2008 7:05AM

Cool, looks like I'll actually be able to play this installment of Ninja Gaiden. In the first game, I eventually "saved" myself into a corner with too few potions.

marcin @ Jan 15th 2008 7:48AM

omg , nice ...
i remember first time i playded ninja gaiden on pagazus

Anticrawl @ Jan 15th 2008 7:55AM

Sounds good to me, but is "uhhhh" the "ummm" trans "uhhh" lator "ummmmm... uhhhh" translat "uhhh" ing "uhh" every "umm" "uhhhh" umm & uhh? Does "ummmm" the Japanese "uhhhhhhh" langugage "ummm" suffer "uhhh" from "ummm" the "uhhh" spoken "ummm" brain fart that "uhhh" the "ummm" English language does? It's "uhhh" becom "umm" ing an "uhh" epidemic here in "uhh" America.

waynski1457 @ Jan 15th 2008 8:03AM

as long as the option to turn it off (or even automatically off on harder difficulties) then im completely fine with it. after seeing how well the first one turned out, i cant imagine that they would add anything in that would "ruin" the game at all.

KushielsScion007 @ Jan 15th 2008 8:07AM

I'm really tempted to go rent the 1st Ninja Gaiden to see what all the fuss is about regarding this difficulty. I consider myself to be pretty skilled when it comes to games, etc so I don't think it would THAT hard but the way people talk about this game you'd think it was impossible to beat.

Hopefully it will retain that hardcore difficulty in the sequel so I can truly know if I'm as good as I think I am!

TraceRT @ Jan 15th 2008 9:20AM

You're not as good as you think you are if you haven't played Itagaki's ninja festival of pain. It will humble you. It will haunt you for the rest of your life. On your deathbed, you will lament that your only regret in life is getting pwned by Ninja Gaiden. Your will be consoled and comforted with the thought that just about everyone was pwned rather hard by it, and it wasn't just you, as you pass to the next stage of existence or lack thereof.

Or you'll just throw the game across the room, never to play it again after Alma decimates you for the 40th time.

You know, either way works.

Rubix42 @ Jan 15th 2008 9:23AM

Do yourself a big favor. Buy it, not rent it. It is one for the ages.

I also have a consideral amount of skill at these types of games, and the original took me well over 40 hours to beat. It is a relentless game. Combining good tactics, fast reflexes and serious button combo's to be able to pass.

If you can beat the game on normal, try out hard and see what you think. Nothing worse than random badguy ninja's sticking you with pinpoint accurate exploing shuriken's that eat your health. Or a string of 3 boss battles and no chance to save, buy potions, etc.

Ninja @ Jan 15th 2008 9:56AM

I love Ninja Gaiden's difficulty. It's a total throwback to games like Contra (and, of course, the NES's Ninja Gaiden). They seem impossible at first, but once you figure out what weapons are best where and memorize your enemies' attack patterns, they become completely doable (if really hard.) If I can beat the game on Very Hard, along with both of the Hurricane Packs, so can you.

Eric @ Jan 15th 2008 11:33AM

The First one is the hardest game I have ever played, And Also the only game i own that i can not beat. I so freaking hard. I will own you, but in a good way.

elpmis @ Jan 15th 2008 9:14AM

Going to the menu for potions? The trick was to gather blue spheres from slaughtering enemies - you wanted to use as few potions as possible. This way you COULD stock up potions for bosses, but I enjoyed figuring out how to take them down while getting hit as few times as possible.

Gaiden was like sex, you weren't good at it the first go round - you had to take it to bed a few times to get it just right.

It's very upsetting to hear they are noobifying this sequel.

Jayslacks @ Jan 15th 2008 9:21AM

The first game was amazing, but so hard you couldn't finish it. Hopefully the new one will be a little more in reach for people who can't hit twelve buttons at once.

Rubix42 @ Jan 15th 2008 9:24AM

Had to double post after reading Trace RT's commment.

Seriously, Alma will mess you up so hard the first few hours you spend trying to beat the pink b***h.

-Z- @ Jan 15th 2008 9:32AM

"Just let me get a groupie, do some coke and play a shitty rock show. Then I'll get around to making Ninja GAI-den easier for all you American pussies."

I personally think he's messing it up because he sucks at it.

Mark @ Jan 15th 2008 9:38AM

Man it was not that hard. It took me a little over a week to beat NG. You just had to learn how to block. Some of the other bosses were kind of hard, but that is why they are called bosses. Please keep it challenging.

Chris @ Jan 15th 2008 10:13AM

This is Itagaki we are talking about.

All this means is that the game will be super hard to compensate.

You will have a hundred ninja's attacking you at once. You won't have time to regenerate health. Only after you survive will you be able to rest.

Worsel @ Jan 15th 2008 11:29AM

I broke three controlers playing Ninja Gaiden, or as I like to call it Ninja GODDAMNIT!!! *SMASH*

But then I got the hang of it and had fun with my second playthough. Totally stoked for number 2.

Worsel @ Jan 15th 2008 11:45AM

Im sure the difficulty will be just fine on Ninja Gaiden 2.

*press start*

YOU DIED.... CONTINUE? YES/NO

Repeat until you smash the controller or kick your pets.

DCBlack @ Jan 15th 2008 11:59AM

Any chance this will someday be released for the PS3?

Worsel @ Jan 15th 2008 12:07PM

Nope! Microsoft is putting it out so it looks like it will stay on the 360

Rob Accomando @ Jan 15th 2008 12:37PM

The default difficulty better be on par or harder then NG1 (not Black) or I will be extremely disapointed.

chris @ Jan 15th 2008 5:05PM

I really don't know why so many people complain about Ninja Gaiden's difficulty level. I've finished it multiple times, including on very hard, and I don't regard myself as super great at any games apart from a few PC FPS titles. Alma is easy as anything once you know what you're doing. I still think the hardest part of NG are those Black Spider ninja guys who're just as fast as you and spam those incendiary grenades like crazy. Though the ghost fish things toward the end are probably the worst if you don't know to use your flails on them.