First time posting in this thread and I fully support Ryu Hayabusa and have since Smash 4 when all the major Japanese 3rd party publishers were getting their characters in Smash and Koei Tecmo was left in the dust with just Fatal Frame trophies. I think Hayabusa's best time for inclusion is now, be it 5th Fighters Pass character or later Ultimate DLC.
This would be great. Everyone should know Ninja Gaiden for NES was the pioneer for cutscenes in video games. They did it for Fatal Fury/King of Fighters, why not Ninja Gaiden?
I am expecting both. I would massively prefer the modern design as default as I think it's cooler and think Koei Tecmo would prefer it as well as that is how they still market him, most recently in Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate, but would not be opposed to the NES design if NES legacy is the reason for getting him in Smash. Bonus points for his Dead or Alive 2 appearance just so I can have an alt where his face is revealed.
Question, Ninja Gaiden would only really be representing half of Koei Tecmo as he is a Tecmo property. I have no doubt Ryu Hayabusa would be chosen from Tecmo's properties by itself but Koei has more popular series in Japan such as Nobunaga's Ambition and Dynasty Warriors. Are we worried that Hayabusa would be competing with Koei properties for a rep since Tecmo and Koei are still very distinct? Before being real-life figures are mentioned as a reason against inclusion for Smash, other real-life figures are already represented in the game albeit unplayable such as Vlad Tepes (Dracula), Will Wright (Mr. Wright), Ryuta Kawashima (Dr. Kawashima), and most recently, Ishikawa Goemon (Goemon).