The ultra-hard Ninja Gaiden franchise may being getting a more casual-friendly makeover with the first non-Itagaki developed game in the series. Tecmo Koei has announced that is going for more accessibility, but isn’t planning on putting the entire game on the infamous “Ninja Dog” difficulty setting.
“Team Ninja’s aim with Ninja Gaiden 3 is twofold: to be the number one 3D action game of the time, and secondly, the main character is Ryu Hayabusa. They’re the two things we’re focusing on,” new Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi told Eurogamer. “Then, providing excitement, which is not only from the difficulty. That’s just one of the elements. It’s more like having excitement from fighting an exciting boss. That is what we needed.”
“With the previous Ninja Gaidens, you were playing and you were excited, but it was more about putting the controller into the TV screen or something. That kind of excitement we were focusing on and aiming for. So that’s why for you maybe it was too difficult at that time,” said Hayashi. “That’s one of the elements. We’re not focusing on it, but focusing on providing excitement.”
As long as you can still have the option to play it on Ninja Dog, then things are fine. All this means is fresh new blood to be exposed to the game.