Ninja Gaiden 2 was set to be a revolution in fighting games, the brawler to end all brawlers. Tecmo and the aptly named Team Ninja, headed by the rock star developer Tomonobu Itagaki were devoted to making a ninja game that would be slick and deadly, offering gamers the definitive action experience with massive combos, great hordes of enemies and a punitive difficulty level. And they promised a game that would make destroying monsters look cool.

Things did not turn out exactly as they had planned. The game launched last month to positive reviews, but there were some glaring chinks in the armor of Ryu Hayabusa. One of them was the in-game camera, which often got in the way of the action and the boss fights which were hailed as some of the hardest in videogaming history.

Then there was the Tecmo lawsuit, which game creator Itagaki launched over unpaid completion bonuses, which led to a number of other employees also leaving the company, following his lead.

Even if things are not looking up for the creators, they are determined to make Ninja Gaiden 2 a better game and for starters, they are focusing on making it better-looking. So the Xbox Live Markeplace is now host to a set of costumes that Ryu can switch at will while slaying abominations from Hell, including one that is apparently complete with the severed head of a demon. The costume pack is the first of three such offerings which will debut in the following months, priced at 200 Microsoft Points, which is around 2.50 dollars.

The developers are stressing the fact that the costume change is just a cosmetic option that has no effect on the moves that the main character can perform while in battle. The only goal is to make Ryu look even more deadly than he already is. We're looking forward to a new Mission Mode coming to Ninja Gaiden 2 later this month.