Tomonobu Itagaki talks Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, Ninja Gaiden sequel, and Tekken

Tomonobu Itagaki of Team Ninja fame, and admittedly one of the videogame industry’s more controversial identities to date, recently sat down in an interview to talk about all things Ninja Gaiden – specifically, about the series coming out on the DS, as well as a possible sequel to the awesome next-gen slash-em-up.

We also get a few juicy hints about the games Team Ninja’s hard at work on, as well as his opinion about Tekken (which, by now, should probably be a knee-jerk reaction, wouldn’t it?). We give you all the details and more.

The full details of the interview after the jump!

 

Tomonobu Itagaki of Team Ninja fame, and admittedly one of the videogame industry’s more controversial identities to date, recently sat down in an interview to talk about all things Ninja Gaiden – specifically, about the series coming out on the DS, as well as a possible sequel to the awesome next-gen slash-em-up.

We also get a few juicy hints about the games Team Ninja’s hard at work on, as well as his opinion about Tekken (which, by now, should probably be a knee-jerk reaction, wouldn’t it?). We give you all the details and more.

In this interview, the mind behind the critically-acclaimed Dead or Alive beat-em-up series revealed a few hints about Code Chronus. While he kept mum about the details, he did confirm that Code Chronus would be a side-game, much like how Dead Or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball was to the original DOA games. He also let slip that it would be more of a “core” game, and that it would be sporting DOA characters in its roster. Nice.

The game talk then segued into Ninja Gaiden – one of this generation’s hottest titles, sporting awesome visuals and wickedly-awesome slash-em-up mechanics. He reassured us that the entire development team, including Itagaki himself, is hard at work to deliver and exceed the fans’ expectations of how the sequel should be.

This means that, if everything works out well, Ninja Gaiden 2 would definitely be a fantasy-fulfillment game for those of us looking for the ultimate Ninja experience. Sweet!

From the massive next-gen title that should be Ninja Gaiden 2, Itagaki moved on to something smaller (but no less terrible) – Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for the Nintendo DS. He explained that the game is a wholly original title for the DS, and not a bite-sized port of any game currently out for the handheld.

When asked about what he thought about the PSP and if he was developing anything for it, Itagaki replied that he thought about the PSP as a console more than a handheld, and that no, he wasn’t making anything for the system.

Well, that’s certainly a wealth of information coming from Itagaki-san himself. Especially the news about Code Chronus – will we be able to control Ayame and Kasumi in ways we could only imagine? Here’s hoping so. As for his opinion on Tekken?

Tekken sucks.

Fighting words indeed, Itagaki-san. Updates as we get them.