Yaiba is Actually the Next Ninja Gaiden Game

Earlier this week, Keiji Inafune announced his first game with his new company Comcept. The game, codenamed Yaiba, had a trailer released which showed a ninja fighting zombies. We didn’t know much else about the project. But then Inafune just told us.

Yesterday, during a press conference at the Tokyo Game Show, Inafune announced that Yaiba is actually a collaborative between Comcept, Team Ninja, developers of the Ninja Gaiden series, and Spark Unlimited, the developers of Lost Planet 3. The three studios are teaming up to make Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z.

You won’t be playing as Ryu Hayabusa, though. Players will be taking control of Yaiba, a dead ninja who was brought back to life and given cybernetic upgrades. His goal is to hunt down his killer, Ryu Hayabusa. So that’s pretty cool.

No release or platforms were announced, but Inafune did say that he is “targeting current generation consoles,” so we could be seeing it in 2013.

I think this is a good move on Team Ninja’s part. Ninja Gaiden 3 didn’t do so well, and changing up the look of the series like this could really help. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to have Inafune’s name on your game, either. I am excited for this game and cannot wait to see more of it.

Speaking of more of it, here are some screen shots: