Ninja Gaidenfans were treated to an exciting reveal last month, whenKoei Tecmo confirmed it was releasingNinja Gaiden: Master Collectionduring a Nintendo Direct presentation. The trilogy will bring together the three games from the rebootedNinja Gaidenseries, but astute fans will have noticed that the team is using theSigmaversions of the first two games, rather thanNinja Gaiden BlackorNinja Gaiden 2.
Ninja GaidenSigmaandSigma 2were updated re-releases of the first two games made for the PS3 in 2007 and 2009 respectively. Considering they were marketed at the time as the “more complete” versions of the games, it would seem to make sense to incorporate them intoMaster Collection, but in reality bothSigmagames ended up changing or removing a few things.Sigmaleft out much of the bonus content from the original game and its first remake,Ninja Gaiden Black, whileSigma 2removed the admittedly rather excessive gore and violence system fromNinja Gaiden 2.
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Unfortunately, the reason why these versions are included isn’t due to choice but necessity. Theoriginal code forNinja Gaiden BlackandNinja Gaiden 2was unsalvageable. In an interview with Famitsu Weekly, Team Ninja brand manager Fumihiko Yasuda explained the decision: “To be honest, there are only fragments of the data that remain. We couldn’t salvage them. However, when developingSigma PlusandSigma Plus 2[re-releases of theSigmagames for the PlayStation Vita], we got as much of this kind of data together as we could and organized it.”
WhileNinja Gaidenfans are no doubt pleased that the code of some version of the games has survived to 2021, it’s likely difficult for them not to feel a little put out by what they’re missing. The firstSigmagame infamously got rid of several unlockable costumes, along with versions of the original SNES and arcade games and some of the cutscenes.With a June release date looming, it’s uncertain whether Team Ninja will be adding any of that content back in, so prospective players who missed out on the Xbox versions back in the mid-2000s might simply be out of luck.
TheNinja Gaidensituation is emblematic of a larger issue in the games industry at large concerning the preservation of games as more servers and hard drives are lost to time along with the code sitting on them. With the recent news thatSony is shutting down the PS3, PSP and PS Vita shops permanently, discussion is raging in the community about what to do when certain games are on the precipice of being lost forever.
Still, whatever small shortcomingsNinja Gaiden: Master Collectionmight have, it’ll still be good to have some version of these iconic games playable on modern consoles. And if the stark difficulty of the mainNinja Gaidengames doesn’t appeal, perhaps a possible appearance fromseries protagonist Ryu Hayabusa inSuper Smash Broswill do the trick.
Ninja Gaiden: Master Collectionlaunches on June 10 for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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