After Ninja Gaiden 2, We Need A Remake Of Ninja Gaiden Black

The recent surprise reveal of Ninja Gaiden 4 shook me to my character-action-loving core and instantly placed me in a state of hyperfixation I haven’t experienced since… well, it happens all the time, but not usually this strongly or quickly. After I eventually stopped squealing like a ninja dog being faced with the Flying Swallow, I did the only thing that made sense – start replaying the entire original trilogy back-to-front.

My journey back through the hallowed halls of the 3D Ninja Gaiden trilogy (I’m not quite hardcore enough for the real OGs) was a bit all over the place after technically starting with Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, but once that was done, I Izuna Dropped straight into the best version of the game that started it all – Ninja Gaiden Black.

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Ninja Gaiden Black Is My Least-Played Game In The Series

While all of my screaming from the rooftops about Ninja Gaiden 2 might paint the picture of a true veteran of the series, I actually got to the first game late. Growing up, Ninja Gaiden 2 was the first game in the series I played and fell in love with (and in fact one of the first games of its genre I tried), which then led me backwards to the first Ninja Gaiden to see where it had all begun.

Whether it was the fact that I was playing the watered-down Sigma port on PS3 (a running theme for Ninja Gaiden) or just had unrealistic expectations after playing the dialled to 11 sequel, I never really understood the original game. Its less bombastic approach to combat and focus on exploration might have made for a good start to a series, but it was hard to go back on what I’d established as the ‘point’ of Ninja Gaiden – its blood, gore, and balls to the wall action.

I don’t think I ever finished Ninja Gaiden Sigma all those years back, but I did gain a new appreciation for the first game when the Master Collection released in 2021. Still, while I did finish it and have a good time, that’s barely scratching the surface of any Ninja Gaiden game, making my latest revisit more than an excuse to press Square, Triangle, Square, Square, Square, Triangle as much as possible.

My Ninja Gaiden Replay Finally Made Me “Get” The First Game

Considering how muted I’ve been about Ninja Gaiden Black ever since first playing it, I didn’t know what to expect this time around, especially since I was once again going in having just played the all-timer sequel. After clearing the game on its normal difficulty and going straight back in with hard mode, I’m happy to say that I finally get why some people prefer Ryu’s first outing. I’m not one of them, but at least I understand it now.

Ninja Gaiden Black can be a little obtuse and unsurprisingly outdated for a game that first released more than two decades ago, but it absolutely holds up thanks to its combat and movement. While it goes in a less caffeine-riddled direction than its sequels, the core tenants of intense difficulty driving every action and making you feel every hit, swing, and miss are still here in full force.

In fact, the combat is almost more finely tuned than in Ninja Gaiden 2. Although whiffing an attack in that game usually spells danger, your combos are long and flashy enough to keep you going, and you’ve got more defensive capabilities at all times. Not so in the first game, as Ryu is much more grounded unless you’re spamming Flying Swallow, and has shorter but more impactful attacks.

This, combined with the enemies being tougher to take out, makes the combat a more intimate affair that you really have to learn inside and out without relying on charged ultimates or busted Ninpo. Ninja Gaiden is like the Monster to Ninja Gaiden 2’s Red Bull – both have similar tastes, but only one of them will make you bounce off of the walls.

A Ninja Gaiden Remake Would Be Perfect After 2 Black

Beyond having a newfound appreciation for Ninja Gaiden’s formula-starting combat, slightly more interesting story, honest-to-god platforming instead of endless arenas, the main thing that stood out to me is how perfectly suited Ninja Gaiden Black is to get the same treatment its sequel did.

Not only does it make sense to shine up the oldest game in the 3D trilogy, but the fundamentals of Ninja Gaiden Black are still so strong that a remake mostly focusing on giving it a fresh coat of paint sounds like the perfect way to bring it to a new audience in time to celebrate its big return later this year.

If Team Ninja follows the same approach that it did with Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, it also means that some of the elements of the original game that haven’t held up, like its camera, poor checkpointing, and the controls for using the bow, can all be tweaked. They’re small annoyances, but just like how 2 Black fixed the blacksmithing from Sigma, a remake offers a chance to put some wrinkle cream on the ageing parts of an otherwise classic game.

I generally don’t go to bat for remasters and remakes, especially when they more often than not don’t lead to new games. But with Ninja Gaiden’s future already being secured with the long-awaited fourth game and 2 Black bringing more people into the series than ever before, remakes seem to be working for the series. Why not take that energy into another game that could benefit from it and open Ninja Gaiden up even more?

Whether or not Team Ninja decides to go back and bring the first game up to the quality that its successor is now at, Ninja Gaiden Black is absolutely still worth playing through the Master Collection, whether you’re a newcomer or a lapsed fan like myself. As someone who finally gets how it kickstarted a whole new era for Ryu Hayabusa, I’m hoping it gets its chance to shine like Ninja Gaiden 2 has.

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