I haven’t seen Ryu Hayabusa on a Nintendo console in almost nine years. Although Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge made its way to the Wii U in 2012, there were previously rumors about a recompilation of the restart trilogy on Switch. Like many popular characters, Ninja Gaiden’s protagonist, Ryu Hayabusa, was often asked for Smash, and reboot director Tomonobu Itagaki weighed.
After working on the above Ninja Gaiden restart, Ninja Gaiden II and Ninja Gaiden: Sword of the Dragon, Tomonobu Itagaki recently spoke with Dexerto about the series. When asked if he thought Ryu could ever come Super Smash Bros. last, gave the idea “with two fingers up”.
Commenting further, he replied:
Super Smash Bros. is a very popular game. I think it’s a big enough scene for Ryu Hayabusa to play an active role.
It is worth noting that Tomonobu Itagaki left Tecmo in 2008 to form his own team, Valhalla Game Studios, which you remember launching. The third devil on the Wii U. As such, Itagaki could not confirm if there are any plans to add Ryu, although we do know that he is currently trying to start a new project.
In the meantime, while we wait for additional news about that trilogy port, you can check out the original NES game via the Switch Online service.
Want to see Ryu join Smash Bros? Would it make a candidate likely? Tell us in the comments.