During the 2025 Xbox Developer Direct, Koei Tecmo surprised fans by announcing and releasing Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, an enhanced edition of the 2008 Xbox 360 action game Ninja Gaiden 2. Despite being labeled as a remaster by Koei Tecmo itself, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is more of a remake than a simple up-resed port. The game, which was made using Unreal Engine 5, is a significant upgrade over the original in terms of sheer visual fidelity, and it runs at a far higher frame rate as well. Arguably the best thing about this "remaster," though, is that it's available to all current Xbox Game Pass subscribers at no extra cost.

As most diehard fans will know, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is not the first Ninja Gaiden 2 re-release that's been made. About one year after the launch of the Xbox 360 version of the game, Koei Tecmo released a new edition of Ninja Gaiden 2 called Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, exclusively for the PlayStation 3. This enhanced edition was later ported over to the PlayStation Vita under the name Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus. Interestingly, all three versions of the game are slightly different from each other, and all have their own exclusive features. Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is, unfortunately, not a one-to-one remake of any of these versions, since it does not include all the content from either Ninja Gaiden 2 or Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2.

ninja gaiden 2 black controller problems game pass dualsense ps5
Related
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black Has a Weird Problem on Game Pass

Players are having a blast with the newly shadow-dropped Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, but it's come with a surprising issue for Game Pass players.

2

Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is Not Exactly the Same as Sigma 2 or Ninja Gaiden 2

Despite Its Name, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black Shares More in Common With Sigma 2 Than the Original

The word Black in Ninja Gaiden 2 Black's name seemingly suggests that it's a reworked version of the original, Xbox 360 port of Ninja Gaiden 2. Koei Tecmo did, after all, call the 2005 enhanced re-release of the first 3D Ninja Gaiden game, Ninja Gaiden Black. In spite of the similarity in names, though, this is not the case. Instead of being based off the 360 version of Ninja Gaiden 2, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is actually built on the source code of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. This is evident just by looking at the content that's missing from this new, remade edition of the game.

The original Ninja Gaiden 2 was famous for its intense difficulty and high enemy count. Hostile enemies would fill the screen at certain points in the game, which made it incredibly difficult to avoid getting hit. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, however, shaked things up significantly by lowering the enemy density in most of the game's levels and making it easier to play as a whole. To top it all off, it got rid of Ninja Gaiden 2's blood and dismemberment features, along with some other notable pieces of content.

Ninja Gaiden 2 Black does have gore effects, but it still doesn't include most of the features that were removed from Sigma 2. The New Game Plus mode, the Tests of Valor challenges, the Mission Mode DLCs, the Giant Death Worm boss battle, and the recolored Black Falcon costumes that were present in the original Ninja Gaiden 2 are not included in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 and, in turn, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. Even the enemy density in Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, which is higher compared to Sigma 2, is still not on par with the Xbox 360 version of the game.

Ninja Gaiden 2 Black Doesn't Include All of the Content that Sigma 2 Has

Although it contains some of the content from Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, such as the Momiji, Ayane, and Rachel story chapters, the Team Tag missions, and the Bow, among others, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black lacks many of the unique features that it had. These include the Giant Buddha Statue and Statue of Liberty bonus bosses, the Ninja Race mode (introduced in the Vita port of the game), and even the Co-Op Mode. With this in mind, it's best to think of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black not as a remake of any prior iteration of the game, but rather as a more graphically-impressive version of Sigma 2 that attempts to emulate the feel of its original Xbox 360 counterpart.