| |
01-31-2008, 05:54 PM
|
#1 (permalink)
|
|
Top 10 Ninja Gaiden Moments
Quote:
Top 10 Ninja Gaiden Moments: Itagaki Style
The Team Ninja leader delivers his favorite moments from Ninja Gaiden.
by Tomonobu Itagaki
January 31, 2008 - If I were to start talking about Ninjas in a broader context, we'd never finish this article, so I'll limit my "Top 10" to moments that relate to Ninja Gaiden 1. Remember, I received Ninja training as I was growing up. If you don't believe me, go ahead and come to Japan. I'll teach you all about Ninjas.
Now, let's begin.
Number One
The moment when I was extremely surprised by the fluid mobility of Hayabusa. This is when I knew that my right-hand man was a genius. I'm talking about Hiroaki Matsui, a man who has been right alongside me as we created all of Team NINJA's games together. After this moment, I gave complete control over Hayabusa to Matsui, and focused my efforts on perfecting the AI for the enemies that Hayabusa fights.
Number Two
The time that I became infatuated with Murai's cool nunchaku abilities. It was just too amazing. That may have contributed, however, to Murai being a little bit too tough for some people. (laughs)
Number Three
Isn't the horse-mounted samurai boss great? The image of him hoisting you into the air on the tip of his spear and then rubbing your face in the dirt is just superb. If I recall correctly, that was a boss fight we added in just a few months before the game was finished. If you're going to give an enemy a spear, you should make him like this guy.
One of Itagaki's favorite enemies from Ninja Gaiden 1.
Number Four
Now that I think of it, most action games that have been born out of fighting game franchises tend to fail miserably, and that's a problem for me. I'm looking at you, Death by Degrees and Virtua Quest. I would have hated for Ninja Gaiden to be viewed in the same light as those two. I hope that those teams persevere on and make some good games next time.
Number Five
Oops, I almost forgot about the Greater Fiend Marbus. When he was being made, I was almost completely spent. After all, I had been designing the AI for all of the enemies. The game would be no fun if the AI routines were all similar. Even with all of that, though, when I came up with the insane AI patterns for Marbus, I thought I had received the power of the Fiends as well! And let us not forget about the skeletal monster, the horror that is left after the skin of the Holy Vigoor Emperor is removed. He's great, too. I'm willing to say that it's because of these two that we were able to finish the game.
Number Six
This would be the moment when I received piles of hate mail from fans of the NES side-scolling Ninja Gaidens. "Why are you making this 3D?" "Don't do anything stupid." "Don't mess up my childhood memories!" When I bring this up, you may think that I'll say it was all in the past, right? Unfortunately, that's not the case. (laughs)
Number Seven
The moment when I realized that the Ninpo in Ninja Gaiden 1 turned out to be lousy beyond belief. That was definitely not the Ninpo I had been envisioning in my mind since I was a child. I have been successful at addressing this shortcoming in Ninja Gaiden 2, however. I'm sure you've all seen screenshots by now, but I can assure you that the Ninpo in Ninja Gaiden 2 is true Ninpo.
The Ninpo in Ninja Gaiden 2 is the "true Ninpo," unlike this.
Number Eight
The number of bugs in the game. There were several times as many as in any of the DOA games. Just like revelations from the heavens, bugs come fluttering down from the sky. Now imagine them completely covering the ground. I pray to God that Ninja Gaiden 2 doesn't meet the same fate.
Number Nine
Definitely the Hurricane Packs. I think that was a great concept that really utilized the fledgling scheme of Xbox LIVE to its fullest. For us, though, it was just about us wanting to evolve the gameplay.
Number 10
After finishing Ninja Gaiden 1, for the first time I realized how much easier it is in so many ways to make a game where the lead character is male.
|
I thought this was cool. I've been playing NG since the very first one. I own every one of them... I still play my Nintendo for NG and a few other games.
__________________
|
|
|
Register
Home
Leaderboard
If a door is closed, karate chop it open.
(located bottom left of their posts)
Linear Mode
