This. Back when I was a kid this was pretty much the coolest thing ever:j-e-f-f-e-r-s said:That was thanks to Itagaki, who is now no longer part of Team Ninja.
Believe it or not, the original Ninja Gaiden was the first game to introduce cutscenes and a complex storyline to videogames. Before then, plots were throw-away, or non-existant. The original Ninja Gaiden introduced a plot that had multiple characters, each with their own motivations, key narrative events that shaped what happened in the game, and cutscenes which illustrated key plot points. For the time, it was nothing short of a revolution. While I love how the new series has updated its hack-and-slash roots for the new millenium, I was always slightly saddened by how storytelling took a definite backwards step. For all that it gets laughed at, the original Ninja Gaiden pretty much invented modern storytelling techniques on games.
While I doubt that the new game will have anywhere near the impact of the original's story, I applaud the fact that the Mr. Hayashi is going to strive for a more emotional narrative. If they can pull off an engaging story, while still keeping the brutal difficulty and amazing fighting engine of the previous two NG games, then they'll have created a game that is a true successor to the original Ninja Gaiden. And that would be a fucking amazing game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rkaiKYEkDQ