I have a soft spot for stupid games; not necessarily “bad” games, but the nonsensical ones. Grasshopper Manufacture, along with Goichi Suda (Suda51) are among my favorite people in the gaming industry, due to the wild ideas that they decide to roll with. To greatly simplify some of their games, we’ve seen a game that features an otaku assassin; we’ve followed a hispanic, illiterate demon-hunter into the underworld; we’ve seduced women and killed the supernatural as another assassin; we’ve liberated a country as the mech-piloting President of New Japan.
…Ridiculous.
While this didn’t originate from Grasshopper, I had my fingers crossed that Yaiba would fall under the same umbrella of nonsensical plots…and boy, does it ever. Frankly my expectations- if I even had any- weren’t that high for Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z. From a conceptual idea, I was interested; this seemed to have that same level of nonsense that I adore so much from video games: Yaiba Kamikaze is slain by Ninja Gaiden protagonist Ryu Hayabusa; resurrected through technology, Yaiba returns as a cyborg, hell-bent on exacting revenge…all while dealing with a zombie outbreak.
That sounds like the one golden apple, found within the infinite depths of a Ninja Gaiden fan-fiction forum.
A baby no one could love.
I wasn’t sure how to grasp the idea of Team Ninja, Spark Unlimited and Comcept Inc. working together for a Ninja Gaiden spin-off; Yaiba is the child of former Mega Man developers, former Call of Duty: Finest Hour developers, and the current Ninja Gaiden developers. Having spent some time with it…I still don’t really know what to make of Ninja Gaiden Z. It’s caught somewhere between being almost a stand-alone title, and almost being a Ninja Gaiden title. All of the elements are kind-of there, but not quite.
Yaiba’s swordsmanship is very reminiscent of Ryu’s in Ninja Gaiden 3, as it possess both quick, flowing strikes, and a few charge-moves. However, once the sword is removed from the picture, Ninja Gaiden Z is a completely differnt animal. Yaiba’s cyborg arm is used as a heavy punch, and as a long-range flail. All of his attacks can be chained together to create unique combos, charge-attacks, openers and launchers, but the player ends up “committing” to that combo. I found myself mashing the controller in hopes of finding some hidden way to dodge-cancel a combo to avoid critical damage, only to watch as an enemy just decimates me while I’m in mid-animation. I can see the lack of a combo-cancel mechanic as being a tier of strategy, but Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z launches hoards upon hoards of enemies at the player at a time. Fortunately, Yaiba Kamikaze is able to parry or counter enemies with a well-timed block…Unfortunately, well-timed isn’t very consistent, nor does it cancel out of a combo-string.
There were several instances where I found myself grinding my teeth, as what would have been a countered acid ball or mortal fire, ended up being a well-timed hit to the face, and a farewell to half of my health.
Difficulty isn’t something that bothers me, unless it’s “Difficult by Chance”: I like to classify challenging games as “Difficult by Design” and “Difficult by Chance”, where one presents a challenge to the player within a controlled environment (Ninja Gaiden, Battletoads), and the other presents challenges through sucker-punching the player (I Wanna be the Guy, Mario Frustration, or Syobon Action). I would definitely say that Yaiba falls under the “Difficult by Design” category, but it suffers from an irregular difficulty curve.
Now…I was born in the “NES hard” era, where I grew up with Battletoads, the original Ninja Gaiden trilogy, Gradius and the sort; as I grew, I graduated to Ikaruga, the current Ninja Gaiden games, Dark Souls and a personal favorite, Hard Corps: Uprising. That said, I still found Yaiba to be frustratingly difficult at times. As with most games, the difficulty ramps up over time- and in some games, exponentially.
Rather than a curve, Yaiba’s difficulty would look more like a heart monitor.
I don’t think I’ve ever gone from “I’ve got this” to “I want to crush Heaven beneath my infinite hatred” and back, so many times in one playthrough. Yaiba introduces players to standard enemies, then “special” ones in controlled settings, then throws both at the player, then throws an army of special enemies, then a boss, then an army of specials with a few bosses together, then it goes back to platforming, then it throws an amazingly difficult boss fight at the player, then goes back to platforming, and by this point the player probably needs to go out and replace their recently broken controller. This is the aftermath from one of those moments:
The aftermath of one particular boss fight.
I did enjoy the hard comic cel-shading presentation, though at times when the action gets to an overwhelming point, it becomes impossible to really figure out what on Earth is happening on the screen. It didn’t help that the camera just decided to do whatever it pleased, either. Art style aside, I found that Yaiba has an enjoyable cast of misfits. Yaiba Kamikaze is portrayed as an asshole, but not as a complete dirtbag; through the thick of it, I found myself still routing for the guy, even if he didn’t have the best intentions. Miss Monday is your sexy scientist trope (NCIS’s “Abbey”, but way raunchier), and Del Gonzo is your corporate, Spanish pretty boy that you love to hate, who probably moonlights as a Salsa dancer.
Is Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z something I would recommend? I really have no idea. As far as mechanics go, it’s a solid game, but it’s ridden with nonexistent mechanics that don’t become apparent until you need them- like combo-cancelling, and a consistent parry system. It has that “grindhouse”, bathroom-humor that I enjoy, but that probably just appeals to a niche audience. It’s essentially a self-aware title that relishes in its own stupidity. On paper, Ninja Gaiden Z is a fairly short game; once difficulty is factored in, players are looking at maybe a 5-8 hr experience. Apart from having Ryu and Momiji, there’s very few ties with the Ninja Gaiden series, so I can’t really recommend this towards Ninja Gaiden fans.
….I suppose this is one to either steal from a friend, grab out of curiousity, or purchase when it ends up in the bargain bin.