10 Video Games The World Wasn't Ready For
6. Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z
After three high fidelity and at least comparatively more serious entries, in 2014 Team Ninja wanted to do something different with the Ninja Gaiden franchise by giving it a well deserved and high energy spin-off.
In terms of the gameplay, Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z is just as good and as challenging as the core series, requiring focus and keen reaction time. Where it sings though, is also where it lost a lot of love from the franchise’s established audience. This time around your foes are largely zombies, and your adversary is mainstay protagonist Ryu Hayabusa.
Completely shifting gears, Ninja Gaiden Z has a far more comedic tone the main games, poking fun at tropes of the genre and the series itself and generally being bombastic and ridiculous.
In a post-Doom 2016 world, which celebrated the series by honouring it and playfully mocking it, you have to wonder if this cheeky side-game would’ve landed better with Western audiences than it did in 2014.
Western critics gave it some brutal reviews, which were in a strange juxtaposition to Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu’s strong score of 36/40. Detaching yourself from expectation of canon and tone, which is a much more Japanese approach to gaming, and you’ll find a beautifully cel-shaded, arcade-y, hack and slash romp. Think of it as the Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon of the series.