Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, a remaster of the Xbox 360 game, is out today

A surprise remaster of Xbox 360 game Ninja Gaiden 2 has been released today.

Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is dubbed the “definitive version” of the game, and is available today on Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC, as well as Xbox Game Pass.

This new remaster was developed using Unreal Engine 5, which Team Ninja says helps to “elevate everything from character visuals to environmental backgrounds”.

“In fact,” it says, “the stages, characters, effects, and lighting have all been completely redesigned and remastered to fully immerse gamers into the story’s dark ninja world.”

The 2008 original was an Xbox 360 exclusive, developed by Team Ninja and published by Microsoft Game Studios.

A port for the PS3 called Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 was released the following year, but this had numerous changes made to it, such as added content, removed content and a reduced enemy count.

The Ninja Gaiden Black 2 title is a reference to Ninja Gaiden Black, an updated version of the original 2004 Xbox game Ninja Gaiden, which was released in 2005 and made numerous improvements.

The news was revealed alongside the announcement of Ninja Gaiden 4, a brand new instalment in the Ninja Gaiden series.

“This simultaneous announcement and same-day release alongside Ninja Gaiden 4 might have caught some people by surprise,” Team Ninja 4 head Fumihiko Yasuda told Xbox Wire.

“The biggest reason for developing Ninja Gaiden 2 Black was to address the concerns of core fans who might be wondering, ‘What’s going to happen to Ryu Hayabusa?’.

“We also wanted to give players something to enjoy as they wait for the release of Ninja Gaiden 4. We chose Ninja Gaiden 2 because it stands as one of the most solid action games in the series.

“We added ‘Black’ to the title to signal to fans that this is the definitive version, much like Ninja Gaiden Black was for the first game.”