Ninja Raiden: A Kojima/Itagaki Production

Konami has some really good franchises. As far as genres go, they are also fairly well balanced. They have experimented with 3d action in the past, but this lead to several mediocre Castlevania games. The Playstation 2 installments had potential, but in a world with Devil May Cry, they simply didn't have a chance. I love Castlevania, but sadly it seems Konami might milk the 3d version of the series over on the Wii. While this is certainly tragic for me, I have been doing a little bit of brainstorming and a little bit of fantasizing and have come up with an absolutely brilliant idea.

The Metal Gear Solid series has recently come to a close, and while the story had excellent closure, there were a few questions still unanswered. One of the biggest was Raiden's story between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4. In MGS2 Raiden was a dainty pretty-boy, but in MGS4 he is a badass cybernetic ninja. While this is certainly not surprising for the Metal Gear universe, there is still a story that can be told there. And this side story should be a separate action game. A "gaiden" if you will. Perhaps even a "Raiden Gaiden."

Now Hideo Kojima has worked on action games in the past. Zone of the Enders is a fast paced anime inspired mech franchise that has developed a strong following over its short series. Many of these fans, including myself, would die to see a sequel to these games, but hear me out. Kojima has also toyed around with ground based 3d action as well. In Metal Gear Solid 3, one of the many easter eggs was a bloody action mini-game accessed by loading a save during Snake's captivity. This "nightmare" was actually a lot of fun. Here is a video of this sequence:



Tomonobu Itagaki on the other hand, has more than just dabbled in the genre. The former head of Team Ninja over at Tecmo is responsible for one of the greatest 3d action games ever made. Ninja Gaiden was raw, bloody, and expertly crafted. While the Dead or Alive series is pretty underwhelming and Ninja Gaiden 2 was a sloppy mess, I still have some faith in Itagaki. And if the now jobless game designer were to work with Kojima Studios, I think we could see something truly special.

Itagaki is a bit of character and it shows in his games. The same can be said for Kojima, but he has a staff that manages to channel that creativity into an amazingly tight final product. Itagaki could use a bit of this... restraint, to help him make a game. If we can get the gameplay of Ninja Gaiden with the story and characterization of the Metal Gear Solid series... this could revolutionize a somewhat stagnant genre.


Ok, i want teh bewbies too.



Brad