Unlike the main combat system of the Ninja Gaiden series, where players fight many common enemies, some boss fights in past games felt like "walls" that needed to be hammered to progress. According to Ninja Gaiden 4 producer Fumihiko Yasuda, the sequel will offer more interesting boss fights, taking into account the shortcomings of past installments.
In an interview, Yasuda noted that Ninja Gaiden 4 feels similar to Ninja Gaiden 2. This is because Yuji Nakao from Platinum Games, the game director and producer of the new game, is a big fan of the 2008 hack'n'slash project.
While previous installments in the series did well with the dynamics of combat with regular opponents, boss fights were not as popular. Yasuda admits that this was due to shortcomings of Team Ninja, and adds that fans seem to enjoy fighting regular enemies more than bosses.
Based on these observations, Team Ninja asked Platinum Games to increase the number of regular enemies in the rail-shooter stages. Yasuda says that the decision added to the game the feeling of a typical installment in the series.
As for the bosses, Yasuda assures that the fights with them will be "much more interesting than in previous games." The team carefully discussed each encounter, including the difficulty, and eventually found a balance between fun and challenge for all players.
Ninja Gaiden 4 will be released on October 21 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
