[quote name='IXI Dragunz IXI']Was Sigma good? No. Itagaki didn't get the boot, he left. Well thats what I heard at least.[/quote]
I thought Sigma was very good. And before you naysay, I've played NG, NG:Black, NG:Sigma, and NG2... I've beat Master Ninja on all except for NG2, and my personal thoughts are that NG:Sigma is better than NG2 at least. NG2 is just too buggy for a finished product and they actually made the camera worse (which if they'd left it along from the previous engine, it'd be fine). It's also MUCH more of a hack adn slash game, vs. the original's more technical and creative combat. Itagaki even adopted the dual swords from Sigma into 2 without even altering them. For a port he's unhappy with, he sure shows it in a funny way by copying and pasting a piece of it.
And Itagaki intentionally left out Mission Mode in NG2. Why? Because he didn't like it. Forget the fact that the fans loved it. That's why Tecmo added it in as downloadable later. Itagaki didn't want it in the game. I've pretty much lost faith in him and I think Tecmo/TN can still operate fine without him.
Oh, and before this post is regarded as completely irrelevant to the topic, the local BBVs here in MD do not have it at sale price.