After taking a few years off, the Ninja Gaiden franchise is returning in a new adventure that involves globetrotting, ancient magic, and lots of blood. The renewed Team Ninja has been working on Ninja Gaiden 3 for a while and now it’s very close. How close? It’ll be out March 20 of next year, and star Ryu Hayabusa is bringing some friends along with him in the form of a demo.
Above: We got a helpful video walkthrough from a developer just last week
The title hits 360 and PS3 March 20 in the US (March 23 in the UK) with a standard and collector’s edition. The $99.99 limited release comes with an art book, CD soundtrack, a special figure, and a Dead or Alive 5 demo that has playable DOA legends Ryu Hayabusa, Hayate, Ayame, and Hikari. For those sticking with the standard edition, there’s still a way to get early access to the demo, as those that preorder Ninja Gaiden 3 from Gamestop or Amazon get the same demo, only with half the fighters.
Gamestop buyers get a download code for a DOA5 sneak peek with Hayabusa and Hitomi included, while the Amazon demo has playable Hayate and Ayame. We got our first hands-on with all of those combatants in our recent Dead or Alive 5 preview as well as a fun playthrough of both Ninja Gaiden 3’s single player and online multiplayer. The full DOA5 is planned for release some time in 2012.
