The Ninja Gaiden collection is a barebones PC port, locked to 60 fps

(Image credit: Team Ninja)

Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection is coming to Steam on June 10th, bringing Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and Ninja Gaiden 3 to PC for the first time. The developers previously confirmed that the collection would run at up to 4K and 60 fps, but it's not going to have the extensive graphics options of Team Ninja's latest PC game Nioh 2 according to a PC Gamer interview with producer Fumihiko Yasuda.

I asked Yasuda if the Master Collection's PC port would include features like 120 fps support and ultrawide resolutions. "The Steam version doesn't have advanced graphics options, but runs at 1080p, 60fps, and if hardware conditions are met it will automatically run in 4K and 60fps," Yasuda said. "The resolution and fps may fluctuate during gameplay, and of course to play in 4K players will need to have a 4K TV or monitor."

There's another small disappointment for PC gamers: Yasuda said that the Steam port only works with a controller, and does not have keyboard/mouse support. I think the vast majority of Ninja Gaiden players would prefer to play on a controller, anyway, but it is odd to see a PC port in 2021 without at least cursory keyboard/mouse mapping.

I hoped to see the Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection support unlocked framerates, but considering the challenges of porting three games designed for 15-year-old consoles, the 60 fps limit is no surprise. There is one case where I actually hoped to see a lower framerate—the amazing stairway fight in Ninja Gaiden 2, which packed so many enemies on screen it slowed the Xbox 360 to a crawl on release. The slowdown actually made that moment more memorable, but it was later patched to run more smoothly. Unfortunately, I couldn't convince Yasuda to sabotage the Collection's performance just for me.

"Since our focus is on the high speed action, unfortunately we 'fixed' the Master Collection in that respect...." Yasuda said.

A shame. If modders tackle the Master Collection and find ways to increase the framerate or add ultrawide support, maybe they'll also throw in an artificial framerate limiter to recreate Ninja Gaiden 2's finest moment.

Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he'll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.

When he's not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it's really becoming a problem), he's probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).