ONM preview – Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword

Are developers still naming their games according to the rule of getting a DS mention in there then? Clearly, someone at Tecmo didn’t get the memo telling them that people stopped doing that ages ago. If they had, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (DS, see?) might have a different name altogether. Not that it really matters much, though. With Tecmo taking a brave and ultimately successful approach to squeezing its ninja-laiden series onto the DS, the name must have been the last thing on its mind.

Of course, the brave approach ONM are referring to isn’t as original as you might expect. After all, Nintendo’s own Zelda: Phantom Hourglass has already proven that entirely touch-based controls can work when done properly. Tecmo, however (to its credit), is the first third-party developer to hit the same level of success with such a control scheme and, to a degree, even improve on what it can do. It’s even decided to turn the DS on its side for Dragon Sword, meaning anyone watching you play it on the train will think you’re enjoying a spot of Brain Training. Even though you’re actually slicing armies of evil ninjas in half. Genius.