YMMV / Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z

• Broken Base: Fans' initial reception for the Spin-Off game ranged from negative to mixed, similar to something that DmC: Devil May Cry dealt with before its release.
• Complete Monster: Alarico del Gonzo is the holographic head of Forge Industries, and the one responsible for the zombie outbreak. Discovering an underground space lobster, he decided to harvest the chemical Substance 72 from it in order to cure his disease and become a God-like figure, unleashing the chemical onto Soviet soil once he hears of Ryu Hayabusa coming to stop him. Doing so causes everyone in Russia to become a zombie, with del Gonzo using them to distract Ryu. Resurrecting Yaiba Kamikaze as a cyborg, he has him hunt down Ryu so that he can activate Yaiba's killswitch to detonate the two ninjas, killing some of his men in a fit of rage once that fails.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Yaiba's dialogue. All the trailers have him badmouthing for minutes.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • Some fans played this game just for Hayabusa.
  • Some fans bought this to play the arcade mini game: Ninja Gaiden Z Mode.
  • Some people bought this game to play as Beck, the protagonist of Mighty No. 9, as a character costume for Yaiba. To the disappointment of many, this DLC is not available for purchase on Steam after the pre-order period, but a mod exists to for those who missed the pre-order period.
• Polished Port: The PC version has a number of graphics options, a better camera in the Wideshot option, rebindable keys (with the option of secondary keys for each action), and can run at 60 FPS.
• The Scrappy: The game's hero, Yaiba Kamikaze, is intentionally designed to be the complete opposite of Ryu Hayabusa, spending a great length of the game being an arrogant, foul-mouthed ninja who swears at Ryu. Most players, however, found his sense of humor grating at best, and the game subjecting him to Sir Swears-a-Lot monologues and Vulgar Humor was negatively received (particularly compared to similar attempts of the time like Lollipop Chainsaw and No More Heroes). Not long after the game's release, he ended up getting despised by both Ryu's fans and those who do not care about Ryu — winning disdain from almost everyone.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • The lack of a jump button.
  • The camera is at its worst again, this time it's a God of War-esque camera with bad angles. This can be mitigated somewhat in the PC version thanks to its Wideshot option.
  • The 'weapons' that you rip out from zombies do not last long, requiring you to rip out some zombies again.
  • The upgrade system doesn't do anything much.
  • Countering requires absolute pin-point precision to pull off, coupled with hard-to-see attack ques and unflinching enemies swarming you at all times.
• Sequelitis: Players are divided about whether this game is worse than the original release of Ninja Gaiden 3 (which itself was already contested), but when compared to its re-release version, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge, people universally consider this game a step down. Issues include the new hero Yaiba being completely unlikable (and not just because he's a Villain Protagonist; he's disliked for lacking even a fraction of Ryu's charisma), questionable writing, mixing hack 'n slash gameplay with strange Scrappy Mechanic, unintentional Camera Screw, and generally a poor attempt at rebooting the series with Denser and Wackier tone. Its Metacritic score averages below 50 out of 100 (compare this to Razor's Edge, which sits around 70), and fans' reaction to this game is even harsher than critics, blaming it as a Franchise Killer that put the franchise in limbo.
• That One Boss: Ryu Hayabusa himself. He has the AI of what you expect from a NG boss. His attacks are quite damaging, even in the normal setting. Unless you can properly counter his attacks, you'll have to throw a slug into his face. And if you try to do that, make sure you are far away from him.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: While it's supposed to be a different NG game, fans were not pleased that it's more of a God of War clone.
• Unexpected Character: Momiji, the girl the player assumed in the prologue of Dragon Sword, appears with Ryu in this game, acting as one of the few links to the main series. Much to her fans' chagrin, she's a Faux Action Girl who has to be rescued by Ryu just like in Dragon Sword, but her appearance alone was noteworthy.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: One of Yaiba's costumes is a schoolgirl costume. Another has him in a pink jumpsuit with bear motifs. The said costume is supposed to be a promotional material for a Japanese zombie film.