Ninja Gaiden Black and the Tutorial-Less Tutorial

Ninja Gaiden Black (Xbox, 2005) is a game of legendary difficulty amongst hardcore gamers, a game so hard that the first level lacks even the instructions on how to move. Yet this design style leads to a strong sense of player agency – in a space with no enemies, the player can simply learn by experimentation, using the few buttons on the controller. The first enemy encounter is also a teaching moment – Early enemies are agile ninjas just like the player character, and their actions mimic the attacks and movements of the player, so that she can learn by watching the enemies she is fighting. This talk is an exploration of Ninja Gaiden Black’s approach to the tutorial-less tutorial, and how educational games could incorporate this style.