Ninja Gaiden is a series of videogames created by Japanese developer Tecmo that began in 1988 with the release of the first game in the series, Ninja Gaiden, for both the Nintendo Entertainment System and arcades. While frustratingly difficult, the game spawned two sequels in 1990 and 1991 and even a few spinoff games developed by fellow Japanese game developer Sega.
The series rose to real prominence, however, after it was given the soft reboot treatment in 2004 (in which the events of the original games are mentioned but never discussed) with the release of the similarly titled Ninja Gaiden for the original Xbox, the first game in a brand-new trilogy. Following the success of the 2004 game, Tecmo wisely followed up with Ninja Gaiden II in 2008 and Ninja Gaiden 3 in 2012, and all three continued the series tradition of being frustratingly difficult but not impossible to beat.
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The series centers around the adventures of Ryu Hayabusa, badass ninja extraordinaire, and his quest to dismember and eviscerate as many evil-doing humans and fiends (monstrous creatures that are basically devils) as possible in often unnecessarily violent and gory ways. Of course, there is a bit more to what is going on in the story than that, but the Ninja Gaiden series, much like its contemporary, Mortal Kombat, has never been one to shy away from blood, gore, and violence. Ninja Gaiden and Mortal Kombat are quite comparable to each other concerning the levels of violence shown on screen. This is not bad in any way. All it means is that they have the same target audience.
Said target audience, however, was recently graced with a brand new Mortal Kombat movie that featured just as much blood, gore, and violence as the games, so the market for such a movie clearly exists. All that needs to happen is for someone else to take advantage of it.
Eye-Catching Characters
Team Ninja & Tecmo
The Ninja Gaiden series, going all the way back to the first one, actually shares continuity with another of Tecmo’s long-running video game series, Dead or Alive. Unlike the Ninja Gaiden games, which are third-person action/adventure games, Dead or Alive is a series of fighting games featuring characters from different walks of life, some of which are ninjas. Ryu Hayabusa is a playable character in the Dead or Alive games and is a known associate of the series’ main characters, Kasumi and Hayate. The two series really have nothing to do with each other; they merely take place in the same universe and feature some of the same characters. The thing about Dead or Alive that has made its way into the Ninja Gaiden games is the particular way in which it portrays its characters, both male and female, but especially the females.
There have always been issues with how female characters are portrayed. Some of the characters are longtime fan favorites and have maintained a consistent look in the games. As a result, fans expect them to always look a certain way. With this in mind, every female character in the Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden series is a bombshell. Even in the 2004 Ninja Gaiden game, one of its central female characters, Rachel, goes into battle wearing what can only be described as a skintight leather dominatrix outfit, and no one questions why.
Series main character Ryu Hayabusa is not exactly innocent of this either, as he goes into battle wearing a skintight leather outfit that shows off his muscles. So really, the issue here for the producers to wrap their heads around is whether to adapt these characters exactly as they appear in the games or update their appearances so that they are less racy, and both answers will make at least some people mad.
Off-The-Wall Levels of Brutality
As was stated earlier, the Ninja Gaiden series is comparable to Mortal Kombat in terms of how much blood, gore, and violence it shows. Much like the appearances of its female characters, Ninja Gaiden has always been a “style over substance” type of game, wherein things like plot or character development are passed aside in favor of style. The brutal and unnecessarily violent ways Ryu Hayabusa disposes of his enemies have always been one of the game’s major selling points.
With this in mind, a film or series will need to adapt this same philosophy if it wants to appeal to the fans of the game and general audiences. That being said, the style is already there, which is why the story can be better written. Not that there needs to be much of a story, so much as an excuse for Ryu Hayabusa to slice things into literal ribbons.
