Hayashi: Ninja Gaiden II and Bayonetta "Already Outdated"
by Nicholas Taylor, posted on 15 March 2011 / 1,733 Views
Yousuke Hayashi, the man who took over at Team Ninja after Tomonobu Itagaki's resignation, has quite a bit to say about the 2008 entry in the Ninja Gaiden series. Namely, he says that now, less than 3 years after the release of Ninja Gaiden II, the game is already outdated.
“I think Ninja Gaiden II is already outdated,” he said, talking to Play. “That’s why we are making Ninja Gaiden III from scratch.” he continued.
He isn't just going to trash-talk his own company's products, though. He also has jabs ready for Platinum Games' action title Bayonetta, from legendary game designer and father of Devil May Cry Hideki Kamiya. “Bayonetta has some good stuff but Bayonetta is old, game design wise, already,” he said.
He doesn't seem particularly interested in ramping the difficulty up for this new installment of the series either, saying that “We are aiming to be the number one 3D action game. If we can do that we are fine not focusing on difficulty level. We don’t care.”
He wants fans to rest assured that it'll still be more of what they love, though. “But to prevent misunderstanding, Ninja Gaiden fans will still really love it. That is our responsibility. We make sure the fans of the series are satisfied by our game.”
Ninja Gaiden III is the first game in the series without any involvement whatsoever of Tomonobu Itagaki. However, it sure sounds like Yousuke Hayashi has more than enough cockiness and confidence to fill his predecessor's shoes.
