Ninja Gaiden has been on hiatus for a long, long time, with nearly a decade having passes since the last mainline release in the series- and as one of the best character action franchises out there, its absence really stings. The wait for a new game in the series is still on, but until then, series fans do have something to look forward to. Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo are ready to unleash the rebooted trilogy with update visuals and performance with Ninja Gaiden Master Collection, and to learn more about what fans can expect to it, we recently reached out to its developers with a few of our questions. You can read our conversation with head of Team Ninja Fumihiko Yasudan below.
"For our development team we wanted this to be an opportunity for them to get involved once again with the Ninja Gaiden franchise."
What was behind the decision of including the Sigma games in the Master Collection instead of the original releases?
The Ninja Gaiden series along with the Dead or Alive series is Team Ninja’s signature franchises. And it’s been on our minds for a long time that the Ninja Gaiden series hasn’t been available on the Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox One generation of hardware as well as PC, and also the timing fit since we had completed work on Nioh 2.
In addition, the number of staff at Team Ninja who are of the generation that grew up playing Ninja Gaiden is slowly increasing. So, for our development team we wanted this to be an opportunity for them to get involved once again with the Ninja Gaiden franchise.
What sort of visual and performance upgrades can players expect from the Master Collection?
4K resolution and 60FPS for PS4 Pro, PS5, Xbox One X, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam (hardware requirements necessary). Resolution and FPS may fluctuate during gameplay, and players will of course need to have a 4K TV or monitor to play in full 4K/60FPS.
With the online multiplayer components of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 and Ninja Gaiden 3 not being included in the Master Collection, what led to dropping that content?
In order to perfectly replicate the online system used from the past, not only would it require a great deal of time and money, it would also place limitations on the platforms we could release it on. And given that dilemma we decided to increase the number of platforms we would release the collection on in order to reach as many players as possible rather than pursue the multiplayer feature. Nevertheless, a ranking system for competitive scoring has been implemented, and of course our signature Ninja Gaiden action can still be enjoyed to the fullest in classic single player mode.
Is there any content or DLC from the trilogy that won’t be included in the Master Collection?
Online play (Mission Mode in NG2, Ninja TRIALS and Clan Battles in NG3) are not included. Also, the Turbo Mode implemented in Sigma 2 Plus is not included.
"For a proper next-gen version, it would actually require a complete remake. We did consider it, but we also wanted to get the games into the hands of players sooner than later."
Ninja Gaiden Master Collection will be playable on PS5 via backward compatibility, but do you have plans for eventually releasing a native next-gen version as well?
There are currently no plans for a next-gen edition. For a proper next-gen version, it would actually require a complete remake. We did consider it, but we also wanted to get the games into the hands of players sooner than later. Also, if we had the time and resources for a remake we felt it would be a better served opportunity to create a new game, so that’s why we decided to go with this collection at this time.
Will the game take advantage of the PS5 and Xbox Series X and S in any meaningful way?
We focused on replicating the original games so there are no PS5 or Xbox Series X/S specific features implemented into the game.
Should fans take the launch of Master Collection as indication that there’s more to come from Ninja Gaiden in the future?
That’s a very sharp observation! If and when we have news to share, we’ll let you know!
What resolution and frame rate does the game run on on PS4, PS4 Pro, Xbox One, and Xbox One X?
4K resolution and 60FPS for PS4 Pro, PS5, Xbox One X, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam (hardware requirements necessary). Resolution and FPS may fluctuate during gameplay, and players will of course need to have a 4K TV or monitor to play in full 4K/60FPS.
"In the Switch version, it is 60FPS and 720p in both docked and undocked modes. This might fluctuate during gameplay, but it has been designed to prioritize stabilizing the frame rate so that the game can be played as comfortably as possible."
What frame rate and resolution are you targeting on the Switch in both docked and undocked modes?
In the Switch version, it is 60FPS and 720p in both docked and undocked modes. This might fluctuate during gameplay, but it has been designed to prioritize stabilizing the frame rate so that the game can be played as comfortably as possible.
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