Ninja Gaiden 2 – 10th Anniversary
Every Major Video Game Anniversary in June 2018
Before the Dark Souls series was the benchmark for difficulty in 3D action games, Team Ninja’s Ninja Gaiden series held the crown. The action hack-and-slash game was an iconic franchise of the gaming industry since as far back as the NES era, but the 3D reboot reinvented the series in a darker, more violent, and punishingly difficult new image. The original reboot first appeared in 2004 and spawned a series of games that did extremely well during the seventh console generation.
The sequel we’re remembering here didn’t necessarily make humongous improvements on its predecessor but it was plenty entertaining. It was certainly gory, with Ryu able to dismember opponents with his blade making for a firmly R rated experience.
Ninja Gaiden 2’s 10 year anniversary comes a year on after Team Ninja’s most recent and highly successful game, Nioh. And it’s easy to see the lineage that’s created one of the PS4’s most challenging action-RPGs.
