Ninja Gaiden developer Team Ninja has come out and said that they plan to make Ninja Gaiden 3 more “accessible”. “Team Ninja’s aim with Ninja Gaiden 3 is twofold: to be the number one 3D action game of the time, and secondly, the main character is Ryu Hayabusa. They’re the two things we’re focusing on,” Team Ninja boss Yosuke Hayashi said.

“Then, providing excitement, which is not only from the difficulty. That’s just one of the elements. It’s more like having excitement from fighting an exciting boss. That is what we needed. With the previous Ninja Gaidens, you were playing and you were excited, but it was more about putting the controller into the TV screen or something,” Hayashi said. “That kind of excitement we were focusing on and aiming for. So that’s why for you maybe it was too difficult at that time. That’s one of the elements. We’re not focusing on it, but focusing on providing excitement.”

Asked whether the Itagaki-less Ninja Gaiden 3 will be easier than the previous entries in the series, Hayashi came back with: “Not easy, but it will enable more people to play. More accessible. We don’t plan to have Ninja Gaiden 3 only for the really good, skilled people.”