A Ninja Gaiden reboot is apparently in the works. Ninja Gaiden is a prominent action game brand that began in 1988 with a beat ’em-up arcade game and a beloved 2D action platformer for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Ninja Gaiden has remained mostly silent since the completion of the Team Ninja trilogy in 2012 and a hack-and-slash spin-off in 2014. That looks to be changing, with Team Ninja announcing the return of Ninja Gaiden.
While the original Ninja Gaiden action-platformers are still popular, most Ninja Gaiden fans will connect the term with Team Ninja’s trilogy of tough 3D action hack-and-slash games. Ninja Gaiden games were both lauded and derided for their brutally challenging cinematic action and graphic brutality when they were released in 2004, 2008, and 2012. Ryu Hyabusa, the series’ protagonist, would slice at exceedingly difficult adversaries, frequently dismembering or decapitating them – at least until the savagery was toned down in Ninja Gaiden 3.
