Team Ninja has stabbed Ryu Hayabusa 🇸🇪

This post is tagged as:

I've never made a secret of the fact that I really love ninjas in general and especially Ninja Gaiden in particular. At least Tomonobu Itagaki's version. The first one for Xbox (preferably the Black variant) stands as one of the best I've ever played, and Ninja Gaiden II was also a pure pleasure.

But... Tomonobu Itagaki seems to have been a rather toxic gentleman and got the kick under quite a lot of attention. And nothing new Team Ninja has achieved with Ryu Hayabusa has been as good, not the Sigma versions, especially not Ninja Gaiden III nor Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound from last summer.

Soon it's time for Ninja Gaiden 4 and of course I hope it will be a highlight. But I'm not particularly positive despite the fact that PlatinumGames is responsible for the development, a studio that consistently makes games I like. Ryu Hayabusa has for some unclear reason had to stand aside in favor of a new player who gives me "Poochie the Dog" vibes (or why not "Spartan Locke" vibes?) with terrible design - and to top it all off, PlatinumGames and Team Ninja seem to have completely forgotten what made Hayabusa so mgenuine.

It wasn't his sizzling haircut, his alien-inspired weapons, an overdesigned suit or bodybuilder body. On the contrary, quite the opposite. Had Itagaki designed Hayabusa that way, he would never have become so big to begin with.

I really hope that my fears will be put to shame and that it is a great game that will be released on October 21. At the moment, however, I'm more dreading the premiere than looking forward to it.