Reboots In The Works For Tecmo Classics – Dead or Alive And Ninja Gaiden

Dead or Alive is one of Tecmo’s most renowned and best-selling fighting game series. Produced by Team Ninja, a division of Koei Tecmo, the franchise has not seen a single release since its last game release back in 2019. There were doubts over the series’ future.

MAJOR TAKEAWAYS 

• Two of Tecmo’s classic series, Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden, are getting new games with a possible reboot of both series.
• The announcement was made by Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo director, Yasuda Fumuhiko during the G-Star conference 2021 in South Korea, as reported by the South Korean news site Ruliweb.
• He did not provide much information regarding the games. 
• He also did not specify a release date for either game.

But it appears that the series’ maybe getting a reboot as revealed by Team Ninja during G-Star Conference 2022. The announcement was made by the Director of Team Ninja, Yasuda Fumuhiko. He was giving a lecture presentation on Team Ninja’s future goals and plans.

He also announced that another of Team Ninja’s creations, Ninja Gaiden, will see a reboot. As the team is working on the new Ninja Gaiden game. Ninja Gaiden’s last game, Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, was released in 2014.

During the presentation, Yasuda Fumuhiko talking about the internal game development policy of Team Ninja said that the team will focus more on the “quality” of the product rather than only focusing on originality. He summed it up with a new team motto, “10% original” and “90% art.”

This means that development should not proceed with 100% originality from the beginning. This is because, ultimately, the meaning of the phrase does not mean to put in 10% effort, but it can be seen as meaning ‘to put 90% effort into 10% originality’. Originality is an important thing, but it also means that a proper product cannot come out if the basics are not supported.”

Further explaining this he stated that while originality is important, so is the art of the maker. The artist can not be bound by the studio’s perception of originality. In Yasuda’s words, “Break the mold. But that doesn’t mean it’s inconvenient.”

Dead or Alive series, originally released in 1996, was first released as an arcade fighting game for SEGA. The series is based on an international martial arts tournament, Dead or Alive World Combat Championship.

Run by a reclusive DOATEC, Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee, the tournament features fighters originating from all over the world.

While Ninja Gaiden is a much older fighting game series that began in 1988. This too originated as an arcade game, much like most games in that era. This series has been more popular overseas than in Japan. Japanese sales of the game account for only 10% of the total, as revealed by Team Ninja Director.

Yasuda Fumuhiko did not provide any more information regarding the games’ releases. He also did not state any time frame for the releases. But this news is sure to please the fans of the games, as they are held dearly by many around the world.

What do you think? When will these games be released? Discuss in the comments section below.