Highlights

  • Ninja Gaiden (2004) paved the way for modern Soulslike games by emphasizing precision and brutal difficulty in its combat mechanics.
  • The influence of Ninja Gaiden's high skill ceiling and fast-paced combat can be seen in Team Ninja's recent titles like Nioh and Wo Long.
  • Given the popularity of the Soulslike genre, a true Soulslike Ninja Gaiden game from Team Ninja seems inevitable.

Despite its beginnings as an arcade title, many fans remember Ninja Gaiden thanks to its console trilogies. The first three Ninja Gaiden games on NES stand as some of the most challenging and demanding action-platformers of all-time, and the same can be said of the series' revival as a character action game during the 6th and 7th console generations. After a long period of dormancy, Team Ninja would rebirth the Ninja Gaiden franchise with an initial game on Xbox, following it up with two sequels for the Xbox 360 and Wii U. And, thanks to Team Ninja's pivot into its own brand of Soulslikes, Ninja Gaiden's DNA is still felt in the developer's games more than two decades later.

Considering that the Ninja Gaiden franchise is one that's always been synonymous with difficulty, it makes sense that its 2004 reboot would follow a similar pattern. It may have borrowed some of the design principles of other character action games at the time (specifically, Capcom's Devil May Cry), but Ninja Gaiden is a much more brutally difficult game, requiring the kind of precision and technical skill of a fighter as opposed to a traditional action title. In the years since its release and subsequent sequels, the spirit of 2004's Ninja Gaiden is clearly felt in Team Ninja's modern games.

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How Ninja Gaiden Would Lay the Groundwork for Nioh and Wo Long

Long before the term "Soulslike" had entered the gaming lexicon (and 5 years before FromSoftware would release the progenitor of all things Souls with Demon's Souls), the reboot of the Ninja Gaiden franchise on Xbox would exhibit many of the qualities fans now consider going hand-in-hand with the Soulslike genre. Sure, the title owed a heavy debt of gratitude to the burgeoning character action genre and games like Devil May Cry, but Team Ninja (under direction of designer Tomonobu Itagaki) would mold Ninja Gaiden into its own unique spin on the formula, with the series' trademark difficulty in tow. As a result, Ninja Gaiden walked so that Nioh could run.

Ninja Gaiden (2004) is Like a Soulslike Prophecy

Many of the mechanics that players now associate with Soulslikes (specifically, Team Ninja's own unique brand of Soulslike) are present in 2004's Ninja Gaiden. Players need to embrace Ryu's speed and fluidity, being careful about their positioning and ready at a moment's notice to cancel a combo string or switch gears mid-fight to deal with a new threat. Additionally, players can make use of invincibility frames to exploit enemy behaviors and earn the chance to fight another day. Ultimately, though, Ninja Gaiden's combat shares more in common with the ultra-high skill ceiling of a fighting game, and it's something that Team Ninja has continued to implement in both of the Nioh titles and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.

Thanks to Ninja Gaiden's Continued Influence, a Modern Reboot is a No-Brainer

The Soulslike subgenre of action-RPGs is arguably stronger than it ever has been, with plenty of non-FromSoftware studios now producing games that hold their own against the likes of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro. Among these, Team Ninja's games continue to have their own unique identity as being incredibly fast, offering plenty of diversity in character builds through expansive gear systems, and featuring combat that incorporates multiple levels of depth through move-cancelling, stance-switching, and the all-important parry mechanic. Essentially, all of Team Ninja's games continue to carry the torch for Ninja Gaiden.

With Team Ninja about to release its latest game, the historical epic Rise of the Ronin, the studio's next project is up in the air but has a clear direction to go in. 20 years after the franchise's revival as a character action game, it's arguably the perfect time for Team Ninja to come full circle and develop a Ninja Gaiden Soulslike utilizing all of its experience over the past several years. Ryu Hayabusa is one of the more legendary video game protagonists and the Ninja Gaiden series' influence continues to reverberate into the modern era, making it high time for a comeback.