Inafune describes the issues of a Japanese audience that thinks Yaiba is just for Americans

Highly-stylised fighting game Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z will have difficulty appealing to a Japanese audience due to its largely American comic book style, industry veteran Keiji Inafune told Polygon; however, the studio expects to change opinions in the East once it releases a demo for the game.

According to Inafune, the game features an art style developed with the sensibilities of California-based studio Spark Unlimited who are working alongside Team Ninja and Comcept to develop the third-person combat game.

"It is because it's a visual style of American comics, which was developed by Spark Unlimited," he said. "It is different from a lot of Japanese games. But we believe our chance is to gain interest through its uniqueness. Once Japanese players demo the game they will realize it is not an American game; It is a fun game. All bias will be gone and we will bridge the gap by doing so."

The Mega Man creator announced his collaboration with Team Ninja and developer Spark Unlimited on Yaiba last year. Inafune previously explained to Polygon that he had to persuade publisher Tecmo Koei that the company should collaborate with a non-Japanese studio in an attempt to create a Western success.

The game is scheduled to launch next year on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

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