Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound Developers React to a Live Speedrun
IGN
0:00 The artist will be sad like, "No,
0:02 they skipped a cut scene." How did you do that?
0:07 He didn't get any screen time through the level.
0:09 He didn't get any screen time in the end.
0:12 You really time the Oh, I got it.
0:16 I just got it.
0:16 Oh, you got it.
0:17 You got it.
0:25 Hello everybody.
0:26 My name is David Mandreo.
0:27 I was the game director and producer for Ninja Guiden
0:31 Ragebound and I'm incredibly excited and a little bit nervous
0:35 uh to to start this dev react in IGN which
0:40 I've been told is the first time we're doing it live.
0:44 So we're going to see a speed run of Ragebound Life
0:48 and we're going to be commencing uh with my colleague uh Oruriel Tartarin.
0:53 Hi Oruriel.
0:54 Hello.
0:55 Hello.
0:55 I'm Oruriel Tartarin.
0:56 I I was the game designer of the game
0:59 and I'm really excited to see how this game plays,
1:03 how Brian, who we have here, can break our game that we think we know.
1:09 And hi everyone, my name is Brian aka Cutie.
1:12 I am a speedrunner and host for Gamesquick, which does a lot of speedrunning.
1:16 And this is the first time ever we are doing a live run.
1:19 So I will be running this live right now in person,
1:23 which means of course it's not going to be a world record run.
1:25 It's not going to be perfect.
1:26 We're going to do the best we can.
1:27 But I'm super excited for this.
1:29 Um, and we're just going to showcase it live and it's going to be awesome.
1:32 Uh, whenever we're ready, I'll do a quick 3 2 1.
1:35 So, 3 2 1 go.
1:39 Let's go.
1:40 Let's go.
1:45 Nice.
1:46 We'll see how it goes in this first level because we have least
1:50 how many how many times we redo the tutorial.
1:55 The first two tutorials are probably the most
1:58 iterated levels in in the game, right?
2:02 Yes, of course.
2:03 For obvious reasons, we we try to do the the tutorial levels at a later stage
2:10 in the development because it's when we
2:13 know everything we have to teach the players.
2:16 So, it makes sense for us to do it later.
2:21 Yeah.
2:22 This is this is the one of the end
2:23 of levels that we ensure that nobody is skipping basic stuff.
2:30 Uh but let's see if there are any skips cuz we always want to get
2:35 sure that everybody at least tries the the I don't know the wall climbing,
2:41 the long jump, the whatever.
2:46 Here we have the the hawks the third.
2:54 Yeah.
2:53 Endlessly chasing.
2:56 It's one of the most memorable and most
2:58 hated enemies in the original Ninja Gaiden, right?
3:02 Yes.
3:03 Just had to put them here.
3:07 Okay.
3:07 So, now you have to kill enemies.
3:10 We've seen Ryan skipping all of them.
3:14 Well, that that's that's a way to blink the faster one in fact.
3:18 But not all the enemies can be dodged.
3:21 So, we'll see which one he chooses.
3:29 And yeah, we are almost done.
3:32 It's been really, really quick.
3:36 And this level has it's the first one.
3:38 There are some mechanics that are available.
3:40 So, Nice skip and second.
3:50 Oh, second second tutorial was also Oh, that that one was that jump.
3:56 The jump
3:59 that jump fixed, but yes.
4:03 I think it isn't.
4:05 We never knew how to do it consistently, so you tell us.
4:11 It may be very very precise on the edge of the platform.
4:19 That's an interesting one.
4:24 The dies don't have time to spawn.
4:26 They already
4:28 speed runners do not uh do not have uh respect for Rio's teachings.
4:39 Nice.
4:43 And now charged.
4:45 Oh, nice.
4:48 Expect a lot of landing on the spikes because despite harming you
4:54 maybe the faster way to cross some sections about this challenge, too slow.
5:13 Nice.
5:14 because this this is this is one
5:16 of the the most hated parts for speedr runners, I guess.
5:23 Oh, there was the fight, I guess.
5:28 Oh, nice setup.
5:35 Of course.
5:36 Of course.
5:40 No need to fight.
5:42 I love how you start directly on the rolling like not a millisecond to lose.
5:51 Funny that the best way to avoid fire is by rolling on them on it.
6:01 And yes, of course, the constant jumping on the walls.
6:08 And I expect a lot of enemy setup on those levels, especially those ones,
6:15 the schools, as they follow you endlessly
6:19 as it might create nice opportunities for sound skips.
6:25 Yep.
6:30 We used to call internally the the big shielded guys.
6:34 We used to call them blockers.
6:36 Uh but as you can see everybody uh
6:39 they aren't blocking Brian of passing through them.
6:50 Nice.
6:54 Oh, it's it's really really fast.
6:56 I I can't even see what animals are spawning.
7:01 I thought well there there was at some at some time some debate if you
7:06 could internally I remember if if you could um uh do the guillotin
7:11 boost on on projectiles and I'm very happy we did uh we
7:17 did put it like small projectiles as the the axis that we've seen.
7:22 Um they really help for traversal.
7:26 Yes, this is really dynamic.
7:31 I see that he's taking if not all of them most of the collectibles
7:38 and the speed run.
7:40 I thought he would skip them entirely.
7:44 That's great.
7:49 Yeah.
7:50 The problem problem well of playing the game so fast
7:55 without killing enemies that keep you on get a mess.
7:58 So that's on you.
8:00 But we'll see.
8:03 He's guarding all the challenges.
8:05 So maybe I end up surprised.
8:10 Oh well, he's doing an amazing channel that Yes, it is.
8:17 I think the only thing that might be
8:18 a problem is the the amounts of enemies killed.
8:21 So,
8:26 we'll see.
8:27 I also expect some enemies that barely attack you.
8:30 Well, some bosses that barely attack you in the entire
8:33 fight because you can continuously stun them with a hypercharge.
8:43 Okay, that those are very fast attacks.
8:45 I think.
8:46 Are you attacking and crouching at the same time?
8:49 It's a it's a crouch cancel.
8:50 Yeah.
8:50 So, it's a it's a lot of up down up downs.
8:53 Yes, this is we have Okay, it's okay.
9:00 Nice.
9:00 Nice.
9:00 I'm laughing cuz the, you know, the crouch tag was Yeah.
9:04 was a hot topic.
9:04 You remember?
9:05 Cuz it was very very very exploitable at one point.
9:10 Uh but we kind of liked it.
9:13 So, we end up Believe it or not, it's already nerfed.
9:17 The game b it being nerfed.
9:21 It was It was very very exploitable.
9:27 Yeah.
9:29 Why we bother wearing platforms?
9:34 I guess Ryan does need doesn't need platforms.
9:45 Oh, nice, nice, nice.
9:54 I didn't even manage to grasp what what did you equipped or unequipped?
10:01 I think the game forces you to keep in the first tisman.
10:08 I don't know.
10:08 Don't remember quite quickly.
10:11 Just open the the menu.
10:12 That That's for sure.
10:17 Uh you missed the triple scarab.
10:23 Yes.
10:23 The game has cutscenes, but I guess we won't see any one of them.
10:30 Games.
10:31 The artist The artist will be sad like, "No, they skipped the cutscene.
10:40 I I love this bit because it was uh Miguel,
10:44 one of his intentions with this bit of the of the high trees
10:49 was precisely that you could just like press forward and timing the jumps if
10:55 you had already played this level a couple of times you could do
10:59 Brian's dream just like uh keep a kind of a rhythm to the jump.
11:04 Remember that buddy?
11:05 and that it could be played super fast.
11:11 Yes, in fact that's that's what we try to do in every level.
11:14 But here can be seen very clearly that you have to well
11:19 that you can hold the burden to go forward and never leave it.
11:28 But yeah, constant forward I guess.
11:32 Yep.
11:35 Hey,
11:41 now we go with a rumage.
11:44 Okay.
11:57 Okay.
11:56 He's wearing the He's wearing the talisman where your damage increases
12:03 the least damage the least HP speed you have.
12:07 So
12:09 that's whying from health.
12:15 Oh,
12:15 but timing's different when there's no cutscene and I'm not used to it.
12:24 But yes, this is the risk of setting up like this.
12:31 Nice.
12:34 You're melting.
12:36 How far?
12:37 Nice.
12:42 Oh, that was classic.
12:49 Nice.
12:51 There you go.
12:52 I love the the lunch at the end.
12:59 Okay, Kumori's time.
13:01 Let's go, Kapori.
13:03 Let's see how differently it plays.
13:08 Very spammy, I guess.
13:22 This level has more of a Oh, that was disorientating.
13:28 But yeah, elevator skip.
13:32 Okay, skip.
13:33 Yeah, this level has more of a maze structure, so we might end up a bit dizzy.
13:51 Funny because you can see him throwing nice before the enem is even spawning.
13:59 Yep.
14:03 But yeah,
14:10 constantly running is also that you might end
14:13 up with a lot of enemies on your back.
14:16 So the moment you stop, if if you screw basically if you screw up
14:21 uh and you get a lot of people chasing you.
14:25 Yes.
14:25 Yes.
14:28 Oh, that is really really quick.
14:32 Yep.
14:36 Damn.
14:45 How did you do that?
14:50 Yes, such a super quick skip of the scene.
15:01 It's fun seeing someone playing like this.
15:04 Yeah, I used to be the best one playing this game.
15:06 But at some point, I guess
15:10 whenever whenever we needed to to record some pro footage,
15:15 it was he was always like asking, "Hey,
15:18 can you can you do some some choreography with the enemies
15:22 here?" He would be the one recording uh the cool stuff.
15:28 Well, if you ever need a game tester, you know where to go now.
15:32 We do.
15:36 Let's see this.
15:38 Okay, first fight.
15:41 I love how how these three eyes are staring at us all the time.
15:47 Yeah, it was something this we added
15:49 this right right at the end of development, right?
15:52 It was it was something we wanted to do uh since the beginning,
15:56 but it always it was always like, "Oh, that's polish.
15:59 That's polish." But and when you start a boss,
16:02 they cheer you up very really fast.
16:07 Yeah.
16:05 Let's see if he does it again.
16:10 He has no time.
16:13 No, no time to stun it.
16:15 But yeah, that was very King of Fighter
16:17 styles when when they cheer you stunning the boss.
16:20 I I love it.
16:24 Wait.
16:28 Okay,
16:28 let's see what scores do you have here?
16:33 Oh, I see.
16:36 I was never very cool.
16:39 Yes.
16:41 Have you done any speedrun of the game
16:46 with S tier on the scores or try the list?
16:53 I think that that's a super hard like speed the S everything S speedun.
17:02 There is categories for that.
17:04 Yeah,
17:06 the S+ fun to watch not to play.
17:13 But that that that must be really long cuz you need to you need
17:17 to do all the secret levels and all the secret missions and all this stuff.
17:20 That's that that must be a very long one.
17:24 They do um individual level uh leaderboards.
17:28 So, so you you'll grind out like two to three minutes
17:31 just one level at a time and get the S+ on that.
17:34 Um, I don't think anyone has done a full run of the game doing S only.
17:40 That's a bit crazy.
17:42 Yes.
17:43 Well, I've we've seen crazier stuff has been done.
17:47 So, okay.
17:51 And here comes one of the I think one of the I
17:55 can say one of the de developers favorite moments of the game.
18:01 Most cheered inside the the rage bomb team which
18:08 is yeah the demon chasing you with with the subway.
18:17 This demon here has a lot of jabs.
18:20 Yes.
18:20 Well, I'm chasing you.
18:26 Yeah, that was really funny.
18:29 I don't know whose idea was.
18:32 Cheers on them.
18:39 We're getting a nice combo going.
18:41 If I remember correctly, it had the voices of the train station were
18:46 the ones found on the rail station or I think so.
18:51 Something like that.
18:54 Yeah.
18:54 Sure.
18:54 The audio the audio designer and composer made a lot of tiny tiny tiny details.
19:01 And yeah, there was something about the train station there.
19:14 time dance.
19:22 I really like how it turned out this level.
19:25 Yeah, remember we had also some problems
19:29 with the with the bike compromises between
19:31 going too fast and uh but being more spectacular if we went too fast.
19:38 But had some problems with u obstacle visibility.
19:42 We had to interate uh quite a lot on this one.
19:46 But yeah, I'm happy for change of pace how it how it turned out.
19:51 Yes, it's a fresh air after some levels.
19:56 Okay.
19:57 Okay.
19:57 This skateboard was nice.
20:02 For everybody confuses
20:03 for everybody for everybody watching that has never played Ragebound.
20:07 This some stuff happens in between.
20:11 There's dialogues on the story, believe it or not.
20:17 Okay.
20:17 No.
20:18 Okay.
20:18 Steel mine.
20:21 Which talisman did you choose?
20:23 Uh, steel mine.
20:24 Steel mine.
20:26 That's uh less damage on hypercharge.
20:29 Yep.
20:30 Makes sense.
20:31 Playa combines very well.
20:36 Oh.
20:37 Oh.
20:38 Hey.
20:41 Yeah, that was one of the classical tutorial things that we
20:45 really need to show that you can that you can froze downwards.
20:52 Yes, we have the for you doing things all the time here.
21:03 Nice.
21:05 Love it when the the axe fries on the projectiles.
21:11 Yep.
21:25 We already know that.
21:32 Nice.
21:36 It's funny.
21:37 We blazed so many enemies there.
21:41 So, you can charge up the red bone orbs, but I guess you don't need it.
21:55 Perfect.
21:56 Yes, there was a lock there.
21:58 Didn't remember.
22:02 Yeah, the mid-level banters between Kenji and Kumaru
22:05 was something that was really fun doing.
22:08 And Jordi, the narrative designer,
22:10 had a lot of fun with that, giving a little bit of depth uh to the characters.
22:18 Mhm.
22:23 Nice.
22:24 Quick level indeed.
22:26 Yeah.
22:26 I still get surprised when I see the art
22:28 of this one because it was also one of the most iterated
22:32 and you know you remember really it it didn't have like
22:35 final art till very late iterations of the game cuz we
22:40 were like changing it like no tomorrow whenever I don't
22:43 know we adjusted some stuff or we did some play test
22:46 and and saw that the combined mechanics between Kendi and Kumori
22:50 there was something that was not understood um so so Yeah,
22:56 arc was added um in later stages of development on that one.
23:02 So, I'm kind of still surprised when I see like, ooh, looks good.
23:07 Yes, always I'm surprised.
23:09 It's really really pretty.
23:11 The art team did a pretty great job.
23:14 Yeah, amazing job.
23:22 I always got nervous when testing this one cuz there's I
23:26 think it's the first level that has um like large pits.
23:31 Um
23:34 yes,
23:33 and a lot of aerial times and breaking platforms which can make quite funny.
23:41 Yep.
23:42 Nice one.
23:44 Didn't ever think about doing it.
23:46 activating the the cog with the guillotin boost.
23:50 No, I love that one.
23:58 The kumari parts are very really quick play, right?
24:07 Okay.
24:07 Okay.
24:11 Oh, you killed the enemy.
24:12 You don't you didn't get the uh the serpent eating the the enemy.
24:24 Nice.
24:25 You're getting many challenges despite not doing not needing them.
24:32 Great.
24:38 I also think this was one of the first levels we ever tested with real players.
24:47 I think so.
24:48 This was this was the I think the the the first
24:51 one we we did with Kenjan and and Kumari together.
24:58 Yes.
24:56 Or at least one of the first ones.
25:01 I think it was the first one with both characters.
25:05 But then,
25:08 okay.
25:12 You never know how the water the water turned turned into acid.
25:20 Oh, nice.
25:21 Oh, nice game.
25:28 Yes.
25:28 I thinking Miguel, the little designer,
25:30 did a great job with the timings of those fishes.
25:34 Yeah.
25:36 So you don't have to stop, right?
25:40 Yeah.
25:40 That that was a challenge.
25:41 I remember at a point like having this bug report of like I don't know which
25:47 whenever you did some strange actions or not
25:49 expected actions the the fishes would um would describe he never chilling.
26:15 You got the player two controller.
26:20 Now the game opens and you can choose between three levels.
26:26 Yep.
26:27 Mhm.
26:27 And it was fun also.
26:28 I think this one was the the third one expected to play.
26:35 Yeah, maybe.
26:35 At least when I played, I always did the other two beforehand.
26:43 It was interesting balancing the three, right?
26:45 Like that that they felt that they were
26:47 at the same level of challenge more or less, but uh uh challenge
26:54 differently now.
26:57 Yes, they it kept being interesting even though
26:59 even though you were like getting better, right?
27:04 Like I think uh the three of them have some exclusive enemies.
27:09 uh to the area.
27:10 So, you always get some some novelty um no
27:14 matter the order where where you you play it.
27:17 And here it has like the sauce uh like
27:21 a moving sauce and um I remember probably the this maybe.
27:28 Oh, the blocker ones.
27:29 Yeah.
27:30 Yes.
27:30 The ones with the shield and the boomerang.
27:34 Yeah.
27:36 But they are meant to stop you.
27:38 But that's where we went.
27:42 And oh,
27:45 that's what I was expecting to set up
27:48 some of the school enemies to get some skips.
27:54 That's great.
28:00 Okay, we also try
28:04 Reashi on the background anticipating.
28:08 I love this explosion effect.
28:13 Yes, we try to connect uh these sections where the boss can be seen
28:22 in other places than the arena to to anticipate
28:26 how the boss will will be fought.
28:29 So, she will be casting this blast on the fight.
28:39 There you go.
28:41 Yes.
28:41 One thing we tried on every level is to this every
28:45 every 2 minutes to have something interesting happening on the level.
28:51 Yeah.
28:52 Like to break so it's it's not always going forward.
28:56 I'm just killing enemies.
28:59 Some appreciate it.
29:04 There we go.
29:06 This one starts getting getting busier in terms of enemies.
29:10 What happened there?
29:13 I'm not even I'm not even sure how you ended up up there.
29:22 This one's good.
29:23 This one's good.
29:25 Oh my god.
29:27 The school of schools.
29:33 would be funny.
29:34 Miguel Miguel's thinking like, "Okay,
29:36 I'm putting some spikes here so nobody climbs and skip it." Yes.
29:44 You can see when he's skipping some places because the camera does not expect.
29:50 Yes.
29:50 Yeah.
29:50 I think it's it's it's behaving a little bit weirdly right now.
29:55 Okay.
29:57 You didn't you didn't activate Oh, there you go.
30:00 There we go.
30:00 The bulldozer is activated.
30:05 I we knew that if if if we we kne we had knew that you could do that.
30:10 Maybe we could we could have like the bulldozer kill the flying harpies.
30:16 Yes, that would that would have been cool to get this good moment of feeling.
30:28 That's his one.
30:40 You're okay.
30:45 Nice.
30:46 Now you get max damage already.
30:50 The red blade.
30:55 Yes.
30:56 Okay.
30:56 I remember in the team
30:58 she didn't even throw her ultimate, right?
31:00 No, no, there's no time for
31:02 Damn, there's no time for her ultimate.
31:04 Well, one positive thing is that the temple
31:07 behind doesn't get broken because it it
31:09 breaks a little bit with every ultimate
31:11 attack she throws you if I remember correctly.
31:14 So, yes, it is.
31:16 Nice job keeping the cultural heritage alive.
31:22 Yes, this is one of my favorite levels.
31:27 The temple castle castle all the war castle castle castle.
31:35 I like this one too.
31:36 It's like the the the three phases are very distinct.
31:40 Like the outer walls are very platform.
31:44 Uh the interior is a little bit more labyrinthic.
31:47 And then catacombs go platforming again.
31:55 There's a there's a thing that I don't know if it's known
31:58 by the players that some enemies might get dismembered when you kill them.
32:04 It may seem random, but in fact, it's tied to the kill counter.
32:10 So, the more kills you have in a chain are probably a nice skip.
32:17 Yeah.
32:17 To get the dismemberment.
32:19 Yes.
32:19 I think when you are at 25 kills, every enemy is dismembered.
32:24 So blood fast.
32:27 It's very badly hit.
32:30 Yes, this part is very satisfying.
32:35 Yeah, even even if you do it quickly, I think it's it feels good.
32:39 It feels good.
32:40 Feels power.
32:53 Go.
32:55 Will we see the enemy?
32:56 No.
32:57 You're doing a great job at keeping the identity
33:00 of of of the boss and healed up until the end.
33:07 Oh[ __] Can this be done?
33:11 Yes, it can.
33:12 Nice.
33:15 Nice.
33:21 Okay, I like to see this Kumari sections being played quickly because we
33:33 had the intention when we created them to create a small speed running section.
33:41 So yeah, this one now feels
33:44 it it feels like even maybe slower than the main path,
33:49 but usually it feels quicker.
33:52 Yes, on the sections there's there's timer on top
33:56 of Kumari and if you the timer reaches zero, you have to start over again
34:01 at the challenge.
34:02 And there are those orbs over there.
34:04 I think you break you some time.
34:08 But he didn't even take one.
34:10 I think.
34:13 Yep.
34:18 Nice.
34:22 Let's see.
34:22 There was here there was a big skip here.
34:27 Uh I think it was in the demo.
34:30 Yes, last demo.
34:32 If you if you manage to to jump over the falling platform,
34:38 I think you got into into into blockout territory.
34:43 It didn't look good.
34:45 So, we need to get to the end of the level, I think.
34:49 Yeah, something like that.
34:52 So, Ryan, apologies for patching that out.
34:57 No worries.
35:01 some speed runners were upset.
35:03 But yes, I I think that that was found by by one
35:07 of the the platform speed runners that like
35:11 yes,
35:11 your hands on the demo the demo speedrun.
35:14 The demo speedrun contest was great though to find some to find out some bugs.
35:18 Uh we did leave some tips uh that we knew about
35:23 uh but the ones that I don't know broke graphics and made
35:28 made you go Yes.
35:32 And into unknown territory to say that away.
35:37 Yeah, we're on those out.
35:42 Okay, let's see this one.
35:57 Yeah, he's a slow one.
35:58 Poor guy.
35:59 10 massive damage.
36:03 Never had a chance.
36:07 Yes.
36:07 He didn't get any screen time through the level.
36:09 He didn't get any screen time in the end.
36:12 That's bullying.
36:13 I thought about him.
36:17 Yes.
36:18 There's this mechanic where if you land a paper
36:22 charge attack on the boss, he get tired.
36:26 If you time it correctly, you can well, as you have seen,
36:32 you can bully the boss, so it never attacks.
36:36 It's It's quite tricky to to do it correctly.
36:41 You have a problem with making it look so easy,
36:44 but now I'm thinking maybe we should have, man, hardly.
36:47 No, no, no.
36:48 Just kidding.
36:48 Just kidding.
36:49 Mad skills.
36:51 Mad skills.
36:54 And this is the third the third one of the of the free selecting levels, right?
36:58 The pirate cave.
37:00 Fire cave.
37:00 Ancient fire cave.
37:07 I think this level got a lot of iteration also throughout the development.
37:12 Uh cuz it was one of the maybe
37:16 the second second level we did with Kenjang Kumari.
37:19 Uh right.
37:21 It was quite early in the game.
37:24 Yes, it was the second after the lap which we'll see later in the game.
37:31 And yes, I did it a lotion.
37:36 Yep.
37:37 Lot of changes.
37:38 Uh, with this one, we we learned a lot about vertical,
37:42 especially vertical challenges and uh how to use
37:46 the uh the screen space uh to put out
37:52 enemies to navigate vertically so that it didn't feel
37:55 unjust and you didn't get some enemy scare jumps.
38:00 Uh or unjust stuff when you go so fast and The character is that big.
38:10 Pretty hard to anticipate the enemies.
38:14 And it was a This was a challenge.
38:17 Was it on this bigger sections it was
38:28 more present because you have less vertical space.
38:31 So yeah, when you do two or three gems,
38:35 you already have quests the entire screen.
38:40 Yes.
38:46 Nice.
38:47 Nice.
38:50 Oh,
38:52 you went too too fast there.
39:00 Yeah, Jacko knife is complaining.
39:01 I'm not keeping up with Brian.
39:05 Yes,
39:08 we wanted to make almost every projectile to be hitable with the boost.
39:17 So,
39:18 yep,
39:18 you can use every everything.
39:19 you know, uh, as a platform,
39:21 as a as a way to traverse the level, like those barrels, the enemies.
39:30 Yeah.
39:37 Yeah.
39:38 Let's see.
39:54 Nice.
40:00 Those downwards varial sections were veryated because you
40:07 players ended up falling on top of enemies.
40:12 Yeah.
40:12 We need to
40:16 Yep.
40:16 But just need kind of to to stop some falls.
40:21 Yeah.
40:22 So, every time you go downwards, there's a platform
40:27 cuz in fact, you could on the on the one section when you went downwards,
40:35 you could fall and end up on a pit and have to restart.
40:44 Let's see.
40:47 I think Joe or I don't know.
40:50 I think Joe and texture these tentacles.
40:52 I love how they look.
41:00 I remember the placeholder graphics for those time was were very very funny.
41:09 They were not menacing at all.
41:11 No, but they did a job.
41:12 They did a job.
41:14 Yes.
41:20 Just go.
41:23 Yeah.
41:23 Come on, boss.
41:25 Get faster.
41:27 Okay.
41:27 Now, okay.
41:36 already stunned.
41:47 Cuz the rage will donut kill the the tentacle on the ground, too.
41:54 Yep.
41:54 Nice.
41:56 Story time.
41:58 Okay.
41:59 Why I'm not talking too much?
42:00 I'm concentrating harder than I ever have in my life.
42:03 It's great.
42:04 It's great.
42:05 It's funny to see someone playing.
42:08 It's really interesting.
42:09 It's really interesting.
42:12 Well, at least I'm having a a great time.
42:16 Okay, so now we enter the final section of the game.
42:20 We introduce the military enemies.
42:24 Yeah, there's a plot twist here.
42:26 So, now we are after the plot twist.
42:31 Not going to spoil it.
42:33 It's a no spoiler run.
42:36 Great.
42:37 That's it.
42:38 You only get the stages, but you don't know the story.
42:40 You still have to It's played out.
42:46 I love here how Kumari helps escape.
42:50 Morana says, "Conveniently here to sell you some stuff.
42:53 Conveniently kidnapped with you." Um, yeah.
42:58 Now, here like all the the enemy faction is is is completely different.
43:02 So we we're going military again.
43:06 Yes.
43:10 Now here we should use the gun enemies which
43:16 this one people really hated these ones because it makes
43:20 the game very very hard in comparison not having them.
43:26 Okay.
43:25 It's good because you
43:28 Yeah.
43:28 You need you need up until now,
43:30 you need to to focus especially on on on slow projectiles and uh
43:35 enemies that were uh like in in in your in your area.
43:42 Uh now you also need to manage uh from a distance,
43:48 but you can you can use it to do that.
43:50 But of course you can Nice.
44:09 I think the game goes too slow for you.
44:15 No, no need to to ride the transportation drone.
44:27 Okay.
44:27 Yes.
44:28 Let's see how this area turns out.
44:30 The following one where you have to ride the trunks.
44:36 Okay.
44:38 Are they Aren't they hitting you?
44:40 That wasn't supposed to
44:41 No, I think he's he's guillotining.
44:43 That they're supposed to hit you.
44:45 That's supposed to be electrical spikes.
44:49 Wow.
44:51 There you go.
44:53 Well, we we we going we got one hit.
44:56 It's good enough.
44:58 But I don't remember you being able to get the most mechanics.
45:02 No, no, no.
45:05 That shouldn't be done.
45:06 Don't worry.
45:06 Don't worry.
45:07 We won't patch it.
45:10 Are you just jumping at the same time or what are you doing over there?
45:16 That's guillotine jumping, I guess.
45:20 Yes.
45:23 Oh, yes.
45:26 It's Yeah, cuz I'm seeing like the jump.
45:28 It's a guillotine
45:30 jumping is on there.
45:32 Yeah.
45:32 So, the jump is activating not only the guillotine.
45:37 Oh, okay.
45:40 I'm curious what is activating that.
45:45 I love this background.
45:48 Yes.
45:59 Okay, we have to tone down have to tone down
46:05 the the pace in which the enemy is up here.
46:08 But now it seems that it's too too slow.
46:12 I don't know.
46:18 Yes, it seems an easy game.
46:21 Yeah, when you play it.
46:25 Well, well, we we managed to kill him a couple of times.
46:28 You should be proud.
46:30 Just kidding.
46:32 That's enough for me.
46:38 The no kill run, I guess, is is is hard,
46:40 especially when when he's taking so so many risks in bosses.
46:45 Um which is good.
46:48 It was one one of the definitely like like
46:50 the difficulty curve was one of the our main design challenges.
46:56 Uh we really wanted to be up to the challenge
46:59 of the uh of the series of the Ninja Gaiden series,
47:03 but at the same time like kind of not throw off uh people that were
47:07 just like um playing the series for the first time or I don't know 3D veterans.
47:14 Uh we know that they're incredibly hard games, but they play differently.
47:19 So, so yeah, it was kind of hard uh to make it accessible and yet hard
47:27 and difficult if you wanted to get like all the ranks or speedrunning as we see.
47:37 Yes.
47:37 If you find the game easy, I encourage you to do it with S tier on every level.
47:45 uh on the hard mode.
47:46 It's
47:48 this was one of the most different bosses that we had, right?
47:55 Yes, it is.
47:57 It's the only one that consists on different parts.
48:01 We have to kill them individually.
48:04 We also wanted to make some background bosses like this one.
48:14 But one challenge we had,
48:16 I thought you mentioned the the difficulty
48:19 curve as it's more of a classic platformer game where the player keeps the same
48:27 abilities almost since the beginning of the game.
48:32 We can't introduce like if it was a metro
48:35 ban new mechanics every time for the player.
48:39 Yep.
48:39 So the we have to make a curve the same offset with the entire game.
48:48 And it was a challenge because you have to focus more on the enemy
48:53 placement on how the enemies interact between them and with your mechanics.
49:00 All right.
49:00 Now that I have a a second to hang out, to answer your earlier questions,
49:05 um the the boosting on the the grapple on the electrical field,
49:10 it only works if there's something above you
49:12 on the ledge and then you can do little short hops.
49:14 And then for the guillotine boost, there's a it's fairly close.
49:18 It's like a one or two frame where after you boost on spikes, some spikes,
49:22 you can do either a jump off of the ground
49:26 or you can do a roll and not take damage.
49:28 And so that's what I was doing in that section.
49:31 That's amazing.
49:33 It's really tricky in terms of timing, I guess.
49:36 Yes, it took me a long time to learn.
49:40 That was amazing.
49:41 I'll try it.
49:41 I'll try it.
49:42 I'm curious now.
49:47 That's good.
49:47 That's good.
49:47 Mad skills.
49:51 No, the first time was a death curiosity.
49:53 the first time we got the the jet ski in the game.
49:59 Um, we did a we were just like hanging out uh on on teams Friday
50:05 on a Friday call and I put like the the wave race 64 mag run music to this.
50:18 Nice.
50:17 Okay, that was fun.
50:23 Okay, that's his room.
50:29 Sorry for what I'm about to show you.
50:32 Okay.
50:33 Okay.
50:35 Not sure if ready.
50:43 It just kind of falls right off.
50:50 The enemy didn't have a chance.
50:53 Weird.
51:00 Nice.
51:02 That's a good skip.
51:06 This level also has a lot of of different uh like different parts that are Yeah.
51:13 This first one very focused on platforming and there's more heavy combat stuff.
51:19 I love this game.
51:22 Why not?
51:39 That's him.
51:44 Just the lava effect here from
51:47 I love the covering.
51:49 I love it.
51:53 Don't remember who was in charge of it.
51:57 Um, I think Nerk King as usual did
51:59 the the the the concert art and the probably the palette,
52:04 but I think this was uh Leper.
52:07 Uh, Lewis did did this one.
52:12 It looks gorgeous.
52:22 I think at one time um um this obstacle had some had contact damage.
52:32 Uh but it was really uh too too abusive, too hard.
52:37 Uh you couldn't get like near it.
52:40 It felt quite unfair.
52:43 Now the the safest way to deal with it is to stick
52:50 Yeah.
52:49 on it and then wait until it goes up and roll.
52:55 Yeah.
52:55 We made this section also so you could do it like this
53:02 like continuously getting boosting.
53:11 Nice.
53:11 Nice.
53:12 They don't even have time to appear on the screen.
53:18 Okay, this ambush.
53:33 I love that that you're not trying to to shoot the gatling guns uh above you.
53:41 He doesn't stop.
53:42 They don't have time to shoot.
53:45 That's right.
53:46 He doesn't.
53:49 Nice.
53:50 Nice.
53:51 So maybe it's it's maybe safer to do that than try to stop and and break them.
53:58 Unless you get a hypercharge.
54:00 You have like a few opportunities there.
54:04 Okay.
54:04 So here the bio bio things
54:09 are are shown for the first time introduced in the game.
54:14 Uh and then yeah the second plot twist.
54:18 These guys are tough.
54:20 Yes, there's quite
54:25 they hit they they deal some crazy amount of my damage.
54:33 I remember this boss uh was considered very hard uh at sometimes.
54:40 Yes, we need to There you go.
54:43 Okay.
54:44 Okay.
54:47 Why were people complaining?
54:48 Really?
54:50 No.
54:53 All the time when I designed a boss,
54:56 I had to tone it down because it was impossible for everyone in the team.
55:03 Yeah, I think some of those went went into the heart into the hard version.
55:09 I ended up the first version of the boss was too hard.
55:14 It's end the hard the hard one.
55:22 Yeah.
55:21 Yeah.
55:22 And and and some were were even made harder.
55:28 Elevator section.
55:29 This section out of curiosity was very early in the game.
55:34 Um, very very early.
55:36 I know we love to have an elevator.
55:39 Uh, some of those cliches of the 16 bit golden era.
55:44 Um, but it got uh uh completely redone uh by the the end of development
55:52 cuz we had like much more interesting enemies to put and to throw you.
55:56 Um, but I think like artwise it's it's one of the the levels
56:03 that kind of feels more familiar cuz it it was early on in the game.
56:12 Nice.
56:27 Okay, laser time.
56:33 I think that this is one of the longest levels, too.
56:38 Yeah, it's funny.
56:39 As you said, it was one of the first ones.
56:45 Yeah, you get this crawling sections.
56:51 If you hit the sauce, they get angry.
56:58 And you really time the Oh, I got it.
57:01 I just got it.
57:02 Oh, you got it.
57:02 You got it.
57:06 Nice.
57:06 As I said before we started, I'm trying for every trick I can for you.
57:14 Yes.
57:16 I don't know how close that was, but I was scared.
57:20 I I thought he had failed but yes I was a million and I got through
57:26 I thought that we waiting for the elevator platforms are very tricky.
57:45 There you go.
57:46 Yep.
57:53 Oh, I love that.
57:55 Super precisely timed with a little stop not to get hit.
58:13 Nice.
58:14 Yes.
58:15 It's really funny seeing this.
58:18 being played like this with this uh
58:25 kind of platforming section combined with the drones
58:29 usually gets players nervous and you're prone to to fall or not time a jump.
58:37 But if you There you go.
58:38 Oh,
58:40 if you time it precisely like this, you're
58:47 supposedly meant to be to work this way.
58:58 Very good.
58:59 This section can get really crowded with projectiles.
59:05 Oh, you didn't take the bait.
59:07 It's a triple scarab.
59:15 I love also the depth of this background as also the visuals
59:20 were enhanced later in in in the game from the first version.
59:25 Whoa.
59:26 No, I missed everything on the way down.
59:30 Yes.
59:34 What?
59:35 All right, we're going to we're going to go this way.
59:38 Oh, okay.
59:39 Okay.
59:41 You have checkpoint near.
59:42 It's okay.
59:54 There was an an infamous cape here of one time.
59:58 uh you could mess with the lasers uh
1:00:01 that blocked your way and it gave some ugly results.
1:00:09 Yes,
1:00:12 it's really agent thing.
1:00:15 Oh, you're seeking the guts.
1:00:18 Nope, I don't care.
1:00:21 What are you doing there in the ground?
1:00:23 Come on, get up.
1:00:24 We're speed running.
1:00:31 Nice.
1:00:34 It there should be smoke.
1:00:35 Yes, there it is.
1:00:37 Yeah, the gas the venom gas is going up.
1:00:45 Yes, we have ways to to make the player incentivize it him to go faster.
1:00:52 What?
1:00:55 You don't even see any one of those tricks.
1:01:04 What a maze like section.
1:01:09 Nice.
1:01:12 And this was this was also as a curiosity one
1:01:14 of the first bosses that was um was in an early Yeah.
1:01:20 in in an early concept of what a kind of a shielded big boss would look like,
1:01:28 but the the behavior didn't didn't get
1:01:30 like up until later stages of development.
1:01:36 So, we had it in on the backlog
1:01:41 for believe it believe it or not, it has some interesting patterns.
1:01:47 Yes, this is one of the most different bosses cuz it it
1:01:53 throws on some balls that you have to deflect and return to them.
1:01:56 It it doesn't move.
1:01:57 I think it's only it's one of the two bosses.
1:02:00 No, the three bosses that that doesn't move.
1:02:03 Um it has some some interesting patterns.
1:02:08 Oh, it can't change.
1:02:13 Okay.
1:02:22 And now we're we're up for the train ride.
1:02:39 Nice.
1:02:45 Cool timing the gilling jumping
1:02:48 on the on the the the traffic lights or the train lights.
1:02:59 Yes, this was one of the most hard levels
1:03:03 to make for us was but it turned very very great.
1:03:09 We we knew we wanted a train level.
1:03:11 We had to do it.
1:03:14 We didn't know.
1:03:16 Classic ninja guys waiting for us.
1:03:20 I think it got it got so many changes right that this these kind of levels
1:03:25 um that need some coordination between foreground, background, enemies, etc.
1:03:32 It's like
1:03:34 yes, there are too many things.
1:03:36 There are things that have to go or whenever you find something that is not
1:03:41 working correctly etc.
1:03:42 and you need to make a change it's something that it's
1:03:46 takes more time but than just the the usual level.
1:03:49 So whenever somebody came made a change or whatever we need
1:03:53 to ask the art team hey guys we made a change.
1:03:56 Oh no I need to to adjust the scrolling layers we need to.
1:04:00 So yeah it was a little bit more more complicated.
1:04:06 Yes.
1:04:07 And yes, I love it.
1:04:08 Hard turn.
1:04:09 Highspeed train.
1:04:22 Okay.
1:04:23 Tot ninja style.
1:04:35 four, five, six.
1:04:41 We should have We should have put UI um a G guillotin boost uh combo counter.
1:04:48 How many could you do in a row?
1:04:54 There's a few spots you can do in infinite actually.
1:04:59 Nice.
1:05:12 We saw so many deaths on this part during the play tests.
1:05:22 The bike ninja ones were also one of the first concepts I think we had.
1:05:27 Yeah, Maria Michael did did that one and and Raul animated it or did
1:05:37 they animator that was one of the first ones we did to Yeah.
1:05:41 like to test it kind of the different factions of enemies, different families.
1:05:57 Okay, the tunnel part.
1:06:04 I'm really anticipating this enemy cuz I have this boss
1:06:10 cuz it's it was also we had some Yeah.
1:06:17 desperation moments with with that one.
1:06:20 And I'm I'm just willing to to see you break it.
1:06:30 Lots of enemies, man.
1:06:32 That's cool.
1:06:33 That's cool.
1:06:35 Oh.
1:06:46 Okay.
1:06:46 really risky.
1:06:48 Let's see.
1:06:49 Yeah, you survived.
1:06:50 That's it.
1:06:50 That's it.
1:06:56 Okay, I'm the finisher.
1:06:57 There you got it.
1:06:58 There you got it.
1:07:04 Nice.
1:07:06 Nice.
1:07:05 There you go.
1:07:07 Really well played.
1:07:09 This is one of the of at least we've been told one of the trickiest Yeah,
1:07:21 I I was a little scared for that one, not going to lie.
1:07:25 There was a spot there where you you saw me roll backwards.
1:07:27 I was like, "Oh, no." Yes.
1:07:36 My rooftop spawn.
1:07:39 I also like a lot this this background.
1:07:43 There's some references in the background.
1:07:52 Oh KT, what would that be?
1:08:02 Nice.
1:08:06 So old school players would remind would
1:08:08 remember this this effect from Ninja Gaiden 2.
1:08:15 really wanted to have that in the game.
1:08:25 Yeah, that's the last level.
1:08:26 This one we we threw everything uh to it.
1:08:32 Helicopter chase, convoy chase, the rooftop stuff.
1:08:38 We wanted it to have a little bit of everything.
1:08:49 Some demon jumpers hijacking the helicopter.
1:09:01 Yes.
1:09:01 You want to the animators?
1:09:04 Get the animator.
1:09:07 No, go ahead.
1:09:07 Go ahead, Rudy.
1:09:08 Sorry.
1:09:09 Yeah, that we wanted to make that every level told the story by itself.
1:09:14 So it it was not just like the the city level.
1:09:18 It was the level with the lightning
1:09:21 on the background and the combo and the fire cleaning.
1:09:26 Yes.
1:09:27 So it makes them more more interesting, more memorable and Yeah.
1:09:33 And it gives us opportunities to make engaging moments like this one.
1:09:42 Yeah, we managed to make bramble from the wall.
1:09:45 That's go.
1:09:48 No way.
1:09:51 That was hard.
1:09:52 I was saying that animators I think I think it was did that one Marti maybe.
1:09:59 Um, they they had a lot of fun with the with the like the special animations
1:10:07 like the the demon runner hijacking uh
1:10:10 the helicopter and the the ones I love more.
1:10:14 Just one animation that you'll see just once in the game,
1:10:17 but it's worth it because it's it's a funny moment.
1:10:21 Yes, it was Oscar.
1:10:22 Oscar Oscar did that one.
1:10:24 Yeah, I think Oscar did most of the funny animations.
1:10:32 Yes, you only see it once or zero times if you play skipping the cats.
1:10:46 Okay.
1:10:48 Hey, it's business time.
1:10:49 Here you have the demon lord.
1:10:52 It doesn't look that menacing when you're after him playing.
1:10:59 In fact, you have met him before with him many times for story.
1:11:07 Yeah, as it's a spoilerless spoiler-free run.
1:11:12 It's the first time we see it today.
1:11:15 They know Demon Lord.
1:11:19 But let's see if we can see how he changes face or took so long to animate.
1:11:28 So so so long.
1:11:29 It was show that that that did everything on this one and very very big.
1:11:35 I know it took took months.
1:11:37 Uh I'm really happy that result.
1:11:39 Lots of pixels there.
1:11:44 Yeah.
1:11:44 and like the rotations of of of of the the perspective of the of the hands, etc.
1:11:53 And hiding.
1:11:57 Yeah.
1:11:59 Make sure you're a bug.
1:12:01 I could kill him now, but I'm invincible.
1:12:02 Just FYI.
1:12:04 Actually, it didn't.
1:12:06 You are?
1:12:06 How?
1:12:08 So, fun fact, if you have Kmori and last stand equipped
1:12:12 and you do a supercharge that would take your health to zero,
1:12:15 you're now invincible.
1:12:19 Really?
1:12:21 With the comactions, the speedrun ones.
1:12:23 Oh, that was quick.
1:12:25 But he he didn't attack me on the way down, so I couldn't show you.
1:12:31 Oh, well, that will be That was the final boss, our VR secret.
1:12:36 and everybody watching the watching the stream.
1:12:39 That's good.
1:12:40 That's good.
1:12:43 Oh, that was that was intense.
1:12:47 So, that's indeed.
1:12:49 That was probably the the the the biggest
1:12:51 bug when they got into the the final game.
1:12:54 Let's let's call it a glitch.
1:12:55 It sounds like less serious.
1:12:59 I'll explain.
1:13:00 It's technically It's technically banned in the speedrun,
1:13:04 but I wanted to show it to you, but but then I didn't get to use it
1:13:10 and we don't talk about what happened there.
1:13:15 What?
1:13:16 This is news.
1:13:18 This is news.
1:13:21 That's time.
1:13:22 I'm clapping.
1:13:23 I'm not sure if the mic registers that, but I'm clapping.
1:13:26 It really I I guess it's it's it's a cliche, right?
1:13:29 like developers telling speedrunners like, "Oh,
1:13:32 you make things look easy." But this this is a hard game.
1:13:37 So, you really you really made it look easy.
1:13:41 It's an absolutely I'm not just saying this cuz you're here.
1:13:44 An absolutely incredible game.
1:13:45 I have hundreds and hundreds of hours in it.
1:13:47 The music, the pixel art, the movement, like it just feels so good to play.
1:13:51 So, if anyone is watching this, go buy this game.
1:13:53 It's like 20 bucks, I think.
1:13:55 I'm not sure what it is on Steam, but like go buy it.
1:13:58 It's incredible.
1:13:58 It really really is.
1:14:00 Thanks a lot.
1:14:01 Thanks a lot.
1:14:01 Thanks IGM for inviting us uh for the opportunity.
1:14:05 It's first time we see live speed running commenting at least
1:14:09 a live speed running of Ninja in Ninjard in this way.
1:14:12 So it's really really it's been really really fun and I'm sure
1:14:15 the whole team will well the whole team are expecting uh to see it.
1:14:20 So so yeah thanks on behalf of the the whole team.