Review cover Ninja Gaiden Master Collection (Computer)
Official GBAtemp Review

Product Information:

  • Release Date (NA): June 10, 2021
  • Publisher: Koei Tecmo
  • Also For: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Game Features:

Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative
Up for review today is Team Ninja’s Ninja Gaiden Master Collection, featuring Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor’s Edge. Now available on modern consoles and PC, how do the games hold up?

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They’re Just Ports. Yay? 

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Did you like the Ninja Gaiden reboot in 2004 and its sequels? Do you wish you could play those games on modern consoles or PC without having to resort to emulation? Well congratulations, now you can thanks to the Ninja Gaiden Master Collection from Team Ninja Studios! But is the collection any good? 

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Well...yes and no. First I want to start off by saying that I was kind of expecting this to be a “Remastered” collection of games, but that’s not really what is offered here. None of the games are remastered or changed at all beyond being ported to new platforms; there are no QoL changes, no fancy “HD” textures or even lazy upscaled textures, nothing has been changed whatsoever. So if you were expecting to enjoy the three Ninja Gaiden games in a nice, moderately good looking package you’ll probably be disappointed. Secondly, if you’re planning on getting the PC version, I’ll just stop you right there and say “yeah don’t,” because the PC port especially is extraordinarily awful so just don’t bother. These games are such straight ports from their original console releases that they didn’t even bother offering any kind of in-game graphical options whatsoever. Want to change your resolution? You have to use launch options on Steam, and can only use 720p, 1080p, and 4k. Want the game to start in full screen? Too bad, it doesn’t, you have to hit the maximize button every single startup. Want KB/M controls for some reason? Well too bad, you literally cannot use KB/M in the game whatsoever (you can’t even Alt+F4). It’s such a console-like experience that you really might as well just buy the console version instead, or emulate them in RPCS3. But what about the games themselves, how well do they hold up? The next few sections will deal with some quick reviews on the games themselves since these are just ports of games that have been around for years now, starting off with Ninja Gaiden Sigma. 

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Ninja Gaiden Sigma originally released as a PS3 exclusive back in 2007, as a “sort of remaster/sort of remake” of the original Xbox version of Ninja Gaiden Black (which was basically a “GOTY'' edition of the original with some extra features). Hailed as one of the more difficult games of the era, the Ninja Gaiden reboot is a third person action/hack-n-slash game inspired by the original, also very difficult Ninja Gaiden series on the NES. The reboot follows the story of Ryu Hayabusa and his quest to retrieve the Dark Dragon Blade that was stolen during a raid of the Hayabusa clan’s village. The story isn’t particularly amazing these days and mostly exists to get you moving through levels, but given the era it’s about as good as you might expect. Where Ninja Gaiden Sigma really shines is its gameplay, which I find still holds up today. You’ve got your usual light and heavy attacks, you’ve got upgradeable weapons which can be purchased with Karma that you collect from enemies, you’ve got your dodge and your block to avoid damage, and you’ve got ranged attacks in the form of throwing weapons/Ninpo (AKA magic). For the most part, this is basically what you’d expect from any modern action hack-n-slash, and yet despite being some 14 years old at this point, it still holds up really well today! Combat has a nice fast-paced fluidity to it, you’ve got fancy combo attacks that look really cool, and combining all this with the wall-run ability makes playing Ninja Gaiden Sigma still so much fun. And boy is this game still just as hard as I remember it being way back when, especially with some of the latter Mission Mode missions. All in all, if you’re a fan of both hack-n-slash games and a steep difficulty curve, you’ll certainly love Ninja Gaiden Sigma. 

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Next we have Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, again following our favorite protagonist Ryu Hayabusa, this time as he works to stop the resurrection of the “Archfiend”...and again, not a particularly compelling story (and to be honest I found it fairly confusing at times). But as before, it really only exists as a mechanism to shove you into more enemies and bosses. Combat-wise Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is much the same as its predecessor, still maintaining that fast-paced fluidity that felt so good in the original...but also ended up feeling fairly repetitive, especially when playing this game right after the first (as you might do with a collection like this), as Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 doesn’t seem to improve upon much which is kind of a shame. Difficulty-wise, however, is where Sigma 2 ramps it up. Where the prior game tended to be more “difficult, but fair”, Sigma 2 unfortunately straddles that “unfair and unfun” line more often than not. Levels have so many more enemies in them (even with the “enemy reduction” the Sigma release originally saw), and they tend to gang up on you in much larger groups compared to the previous game. The combat also requires a lot more focus on combos than the “you could probably mash buttons and finish it” style that the first game had, which isn’t so bad but will certainly turn away any casuals/newcomers to the series just looking for a nice hack-n-slash to relax with. I can’t necessarily complain, since I personally love ball breaking difficulty like this, but there were certainly times I had to quit the game because of some of the more bullshit normal encounters. There’s also the rather unfortunate “censorship” the Sigma version of Ninja Gaiden 2 received, with blood effects being mostly replaced with a “purple mist” and some cinematics were changed to remove dismemberment and other blood effects. Some may applaud these changes, but given that they were re-added in the PS Vita port of the game I find it fairly silly they didn’t bother doing so here...but again, these seem to be more lazy ports than anything proper. Overall, it’s an ok sequel but I personally enjoyed Ninja Gaiden Sigma much more than two. 

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And finally, there’s Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge. Once again we follow Ryu Hayabusa in another wacky zany adventure, this time to stop a terrorist group led by the spooky Regent of the Mask, who attacks and kills the...British Prime Minister? Yeah, again, just kind of ignore the story and slashy cutty the bad guys. Gameplay mechanics this time takes the same, usual hack-n-slash combat and refines it down to a tighter experience, and adds quite a few new mechanics like the Steel on Bone technique, which (in the Razor’s Edge version of the game), acts as a kind of counter for enemy grab moves that you can then chain to other enemies to quickly take them out. There’s also Bloody Rage, which acts as a Karma multiplier that activates after killing enemies in quick succession that rewards you with an Ultimate Technique. But once again, the difficulty of the game gets a major change, however this time in the opposite direction: instead of being ball breakingly difficult, the developers opted to design the game for a more casual audience. Even accounting for the improved AI that was upgraded in the Razor’s Edge release, I found the game way easier on Normal mode than it was in either games. Again, not necessarily a bad thing (and, to be honest, I kind of appreciated it after going through Sigma 2), keep in mind you should probably up the difficulty in this particular title if you’re looking for that ball busting time the previous two games provided.

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So should you buy the Ninja Gaiden Master Collection? If you’re on PC, honestly just don’t bother. You’d be better off emulating the originals, because you’ll manage to get more graphical options here than you do on the PC side. If you’re on any other platform this is releasing on (which are PS4, Xbox One, or Switch), then I think the Master Collection is absolutely worth buying if you’re a fan of the Ninja Gaiden reboot, or if you’re looking for a new action hack-n-slash that will make you rage quit but still manages to be fun. 

Verdict

What We Liked ...
  • All three Ninja Gaiden games in one decently priced package.
  • All three games still hold up fairly today.
  • Difficult games are fun <3
What We Didn't Like ...
  • Basic game ports, no enhancements or "de-censorship" of NGS2.
  • Awful PC port, emulate them or buy it on console.
9
Gameplay
Gameplay-wise, each game in the Ninja Gaiden Master Collection still play just as good as before, and while the difficulty curve kind of varies between the three games, they're still quite challenging in a way that most modern games ignore.
5
Presentation
Honestly, I'm not much impressed by this collection presentation-wise. This is not an HD remaster collection, you're going to be playing these games as they were released years back. As such, I really find it difficult to score this high. The games still look ok enough, for 8-14 year old games.
8
Lasting Appeal
As each of the games in the Ninja Gaiden Master Collection are the "improved" Sigma/Razor's Edge versions, there's plenty of replayability with mission modes and challenge modes across each of the games, and if you're a fan of ball-breaking challenges you can certainly play through the stories of each game multiple times from multiple difficulty levels.
6.9
out of 10

Overall

Overall, if you liked the Ninja Gaiden reboots, you should pick up this collection. While the PC port is not worth bothering with, the games themselves certainly are on other platforms and get a big recommendation from me.
Nice to see that KOEI still haven't learned how to do a proper PC port after being in the industry for over 40 god damned years.
No point in supporting a company that is being kept afloat by 2 franchises that are mediocre at best.

Great review Tom!
 
I'd argue that once you work around the technical issues in the PC ports and play the games, they're not THAT awful.
the catch is that they're direct ports, so if the game supports 1080p/60fps by default, and you're used to play games above that resolution/framerate, then yeah, it'll be a mess to you.
gameplay-wise, it seems to be fine even on PC. I already played the first sigma for 2 hours and didn't encounter any issue.
 
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A mess of a port, still censored, half assed, a complete cash grab. That's koei when porting to pc in a nutshell.
 
Direct ports that have even less festures than the originals because they decided to axe any multiplayer from the games. I was really looking forward to the multiplayer since me and my brother grew up playing this series.
 
I'd argue that once you work around the technical issues in the PC ports and play the games, they're not THAT awful.
the catch is that they're direct ports, so if the game supports 1080p/60fps by default, and you're used to play games above that resolution/framerate, then yeah, it'll be a mess to you.
gameplay-wise, it seems to be fine even on PC. I already played the first sigma for 2 hours and didn't encounter any issue.
They play fine, which is all well and good, but nobody should be ok with a 0 effort port like this, especially when Koei Tecmo should know better given their history with their other shitty PC ports. The fact that they couldn't even bother setting up an extremely simple launcher should tell you how little Koei Tecmo cares about anything other than getting their grubby hands on your money.

I'd rather support the devs by buying the games elsewhere than support this kind of behavior.
 
Well, it's called a ''master collection'' after all, not a ''re-master'', so I get some people aren't satisfied with these ports
 
Anyone complaining you can't use mouse and keyboard to play the game must've never actually played the game.

Like, good luck. It's 100% made for a controller like 90% of action games. Really any PC gamer who doesn't own a gamepad is a caveman and a moron. Welcome to the year 2000 grandpa. Mouse and keyboard were never even designed for gaming. They just kind of work for it. Versus a peripheral literally designed from the ground up to actually be fun to play games with. Kind of a no-brainer.

I laughed when people tried to make Dark Souls work with mouse and keyboard...Ninja Gaiden is 10x funnier.
 
Anyone complaining you can't use mouse and keyboard to play the game must've never actually played the game.

Like, good luck. It's 100% made for a controller like 90% of action games. Really any PC gamer who doesn't own a gamepad is a caveman and a moron. Welcome to the year 2000 grandpa. Mouse and keyboard were never even designed for gaming. They just kind of work for it. Versus a peripheral literally designed from the ground up to actually be fun to play games with. Kind of a no-brainer.

I laughed when people tried to make Dark Souls work with mouse and keyboard...Ninja Gaiden is 10x funnier.
in my opinion, it could still work with keyboard and mouse. I understand your point and I agree that its meant for controller, but I suppose some may prefer PC controls
 
Are there any indications this will have a serious modding community on the PC that will use this as the basis for some mods like we saw for Dark Souls and other such sub par ports? I still have Black on the original xbox and 2 on the 360, have been curious to see if Razor's edge did indeed drag 3 up to something maybe worth considering (I was there very early for 3 on the 360... what a disappointment that was).

I will also assume they did not have the rights to Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z.

As far as keyboard and mouse. Been playing games like this since... around the time of the first Tomb Raider on PC with such things. This being marginally more combo and timing focused than some would present a bit of a challenge over most and I don't know if I would lean into gaming mice tending to have many buttons or WASD with Q and E doing some modifiers to the attack, or maybe the PC gets some kind of aim assist.
 
It's really unfortunate for these devs that Ninja Gaiden Black and Ninja Gaiden 2 runs so perfectly on One X and Series X. I mean, I do get the appeal for having these games on PC, but the 4k treatment they get on the enhanced XBox consoles pretty much makes it the definitely way to experience these games. I guess you can make your argument for Sigma 1, but I really only ever played that on my Vita because it was portable. Gaiden 3 always looked skippable anyway. I dunno. Maybe with a deep discount, but this isn't the kind of effort I want to reward with much of my money.
 
Really any PC gamer who doesn't own a gamepad is a caveman and a moron. Welcome to the year 2000 grandpa. Mouse and keyboard were never even designed for gaming. They just kind of work for it.
That's me - become very generic and you become pointless. Stick to the genres you know.
 
An opinion.
I love those game. So happy to have them all on Nintendo Switch. No complaint here. Perfect.
 
Review cover
Product Information:
  • Release Date (NA): June 10, 2021
  • Publisher: Koei Tecmo
  • Also For: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Game Features:
Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative

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