March 28, 2007 - While Team Ninja's dabbling in DS development has been known since the system's launch over two years ago, we've at last learned the true identity of the mystery project. The latest issue of Famitsu reports that the DS will be getting an original installment in the Ninja Gaiden series. That's right, Ninja Gaiden is back on Nintendo!
Fully titled Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, the Team Ninja-developed title is a 3D action game that makes full use of the DS's most standout feature: the stylus. The entire game can be controlled almost entirely with the touch-based motions. You guide Ryu Hayabusa about the play field by tapping in the direction you'd like to go. Slashing the touch pen from down to up makes Hayabusa launch an enemy into the air, into a perfect position for combos. You make Hayabusa jump by tapping the screen twice, and can then point to enemies to shoot shurikens at them and perform a downward thrust attack. Even your ninja arts make use of the stylus, requiring that you draw shapes in order to perform the special attacks. Buttons are used only for defensive moves.
If an all touch-based Ninja Gaiden wasn't a big enough surprise, Ninja Gaiden DS has one additional peculiarity. The game is meant to be played by holding the DS with both screens lined up horizontally. This has presumably been done to give a tall view of the action on the touch screen, as the left screen is used to display maps.
Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki is producer on Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword. In an interview with Famitsu, he revealed just how long the game has been in development, noting that Team Ninja had plans to make this sort of touch-based game when they first announced their support for the DS. Incidentally, the ability to use the stylus is what made the team go with the DS instead of the PSP.
Itagaki also revealed that Ninja Gaiden DS will feature an all new character, a mysterious female ninja whose name is currently unknown. You'll first take control of her during the game's tutorial sequence. Itagaki and crew felt that the game needed a tutorial due to its unique control scheme, but that it wouldn't be right to have a super ninja like Hayabusa fumbling about. Instead, Hayabusa shows you how to perform all the moves, and you follow as the girl.
Team Ninja is working to make this a 100% pure action game, Itagaki promised in closing comments to the magazine. The game is set for Japanese release in 2007, and will surely make its way internationally as well.
