Review by Matt S. The ninja has become an almost mythological figure within Japanese history and culture. In reality, they were actually reasonably mundane; the ninja “tradition” has been born of a combination of spies that the samurai would use to keep an eye on one another, and guerrilla warrior…
Read MoreRetro by Matt S. Once upon a time, when arcades were still a big deal, the beat-em-up was a major, major genre. It was popular for the same reason that shooters and the like are popular today; the beat-em-up was visceral in its violence, and it was designed around the…
Read MoreBlog by Lindsay M. The appeal of saving the princess is universal. It’s quite simple: if you save the princess, you also save the world from imminent disaster. The damsel in distress is a common element across video games as a whole, however the theme is especially defining of the…
Read MoreNews by Lindsay M. Call it a money-grabber all you want, I’m happy to hand Nintendo over my hard-earned cash for the Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System. Instead of launching anything substantial for this year’s holiday season, this is what Nintendo is putting forth. Due for release in Australia…
Read MoreScrew it. It’s been a long week, and after a few beers on a Friday evening all I can think about is which characters I wouldn’t say no to existing in the real world. But let’s intellectualise things just a little. While I believe that the “hottest characters” lists are…
Read MoreReview by Nick H. When you see the name Ninja Gaiden, certain expectations spring to mind. My own history with the series dates back to enjoying the simple side scrolling arcade brawler in very difficult NES titles. After the shift to 3D gameplay the series has instead been interested in bathing…
Read MorePreview by Matt S. I was able to get some hands-on time with Tecmo Koei and Keiji Inafune’s upcoming Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z. It’s a game that didn’t really appeal to me beforehand – it’s another zombie game, after all. But then I started to play and something happened. I…
Read MoreEveryone likes a top-10 list. They’re a bit of fun, and always good for discussion. And so each week we pull together a “top 10” list. These are here for fun and laughs – we’re not pretending that we’re the authority of good games taste in the world and this…
Read MoreYosuke Hayashi has had the ultimate trial by fire. Taking over one of the most popular game development teams within the Tecmo Koei group from Tomonobu Itagaki – that’s Team Ninja for the uninitiated – was always going to be a challenging mission. Itagaki is, after all, one of the…
Read MoreI was one of the rare few that enjoyed the original Ninja Gaiden 3. While I understood what put people off the game, there was a dynamism and intensity in the game that I hadn’t experienced before or since. But the game was indeed a critical disaster, and impressively, in…
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