There’s almost a countless amount of fighting games from the ’90s arcade days that don’t get the love and attention they probably deserve, but a few companies are certainly trying to preserve and bring them back for old fans as well as new audiences.
During Evo 2026, we had the opportunity to interview SNK’s Retro Game Dev Manager Laurent Vernezy and Retro Game Dev Director Lionel Ackah about their project to breathe some new life into the studio’s classic fighters.
Vernezy and Ackah are part of the team working on the NEOGEO Premium Selection titles alongside Code Mystics with their most recent release being the unique Ninja Master’s: The Scroll of the Ninja Emperor.
We of course had to ask the pair of developers why Ninja Master’s was chosen for a revival in particular as well as their process and any issues they may have come across.
It sounds like SNK and Code Mystics have gotten these retro rereleases down to almost a science, but this game in particular provided a different sort of challenge with how big each character’s movelists are since they have unique attacks depending whether or not they’re using weapons as well as incorporating a bunch of Supers that have special activation requirements.
They talk quite a bit about the decision to preserve these classic fighters as they were while adding more modern features to them plus their wish to receive more feedback to hear what they should work on next.
We previously interviewed Vernezy last year about Kizuna Encounter’s return too and if we’ll see these NEOGEO Premium Selection titles on console at some point as well.
You can check out our full interview with Vernezy and Ackah below from Jon ‘Catalyst’ Grey.
Catalyst: Why did you guys decide to revisit Ninja Master’s?
Vernezy: First to preserve the game, and two, as you know very well, the fighting game was released back in the day 1996 at the time when 2D fighting games were still at their peak, so there were a lot of titles left behind in that era. So we also wanted people to discover or rediscover this game, because the game has a lot of depth and unique mechanics. We definitely wanted people to definitely give it a try now.
Catalyst: Can you describe a little bit because the game features a very large Gallery mode about how you go through the archives to find the artwork and documents like that?
Ackah: It’s really instinctive at this point, ultimately, and are able to incorporate them throughout the game. Through achievements, you can unlock quite a bit. You have avatars, Gallery modes where you can get access to all of the characters, all the artwork from the past and the new key works, so there’s all that and more which was made for this game specifically plus also design documents and materials from the past.
Ackah: We have introduced a lot of other features as well like online lobbies with up to eight players and a tournaments lobby. There’s Training mode with slow motion and a bunch has been added from to original arcade version.
Catalyst: Are the old assets that you’re putting in the gallery mode available in 4K resolution, or do you know, how are you trying to get them in as high of quality as possible?
Ackah: As high quality as possible.
Catalyst: Do you guys think that you’ll do more Gallery features like this in future games too?
Ackah: Any game we released with Code Mystics always included Gallery mode, so yes, there should be plenty more.
Vernezy: Exactly, I mean, we usually put everything we have on hand, in house into the titles.
Catalyst: What’s been like the biggest challenge with taking an older title like this and updating it for modern audiences? What’s been the biggest roadblock for you?
Ackah: I don’t think there was that many roadblocks to be honest.
Vernezy: The only thing I would say in the case of Ninja Master’s were the movelists. Because again, the game has so many mechanics, which is a good thing. So there’s a lot of content, and it’s a game where in characters do wield weapons, but the the difference with Samurai Shodown is they can pull them out or put them back at will. And also they can lose their weapon depending on some enemy attacks.
Vernezy: Some certain moves can be only be used when you put back your weapon, etc., so it was quite a lot of work, and especially because the game’s moves are very Japanese with a lot of kanji, and they read the same way, so it was kind of challenging.
Ackah: Yeah, it was, true. So, it’s like there’s three different movelists per character, but on top of that, there’s six supers in an old school fashion when your hands were very busy.
Catalyst: If people never got the chance to play Ninja Master’s the first time around, now that it’s been rereleased, what would be your big pitch to someone who’s coming in fresh? Why should they pick up the game and play it?
Ackah: I think they’ve never seen before mechanics like these. Also, it’s from the past. I don’t see any other game that has this kind of depth, and they also have a special combo system where you can press like AABCCBB and get a combo to come out. So even with the amount of depth for new players to learn, they will have fun.
Ackah: They can see combos right away, so it’s a very interesting learning curve. You don’t have to do all the crazy stuff. From the beginning, you can just do the classic jab attack, standing crush attack, and then special moves and it’s fine, and then if you want to to go crazy and fancier, you have a lot for each character.
Vernezy: And the other thing I would say besides the mechanics, I personally like the character designs. There are in total 12 characters, but they are very unique. You have the cute ninja. You have also the two hero ninja characters, but then you have like a very bulky bald monk who fights with this Buddhist necklace. There’s Nobunaga as a final boss, so you can experience all of the different characters.
Catalyst: Now you were mentioning the movelist, how many moves does each character have in this game?
Vernezy: So usually they have I would say four to five special moves and six different super special moves and for which the conditions to trigger them are very unique. Yeah, there is one that’s very funny. You need your opponent’s health to be under a fourth to use, so that’s very different than what players are used to today.
Catalyst: In terms of a rollback netcode, do you have an indicator that that says how many frames of delays and such are being used? What is the max ping that you can have for like a one or two-frame delay?
Ackah: So we don’t have specifics, but it was made by Code Mystics, and they are the best in the in the business.
Ackah: I’ve never heard any backlash. So, once again, I want to use this occasion to thank them warmly because Code Mystics have done wonderful work developing this game.
Vernezy: Yes, the Code Mystics team works very hard. I think back to the time of when we were first going rerelease titles on Steam. And since then, we have made a good template or recipe, and everything is fine.
Catalyst: How long have they been working with you guys on the netcode and games?
Vernezy: We started working with them in 2014 from the beginning.
Catalyst: Did you guys ever consider doing a rebalance of the game, and why did you decide just to keep it as is basically?
Ackah: Because it’s a preservation program, so we want to keep the game as is. Plus, there’s other work that we’ve done to add different features. The hidden characters are unlocked from the get-go for example, but the goal is to preserve the games as they were and in the past.
Vernezy: Also, there’s the special charm with the old games. There’s now always tier lists from the strongest characters down to ‘you have to try your best,’ and it’s nice here to not have a linear tier list when you have to learn the matchups and get to see some real heroes putting in work with the weakest characters.
Catalyst: The game preservation is wonderful to see. It’s interesting when developers choose to either rebalance things or just leave them alone because when Capcom redid, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, the community kind of rejected it because they rebalanced the game, and they were like ‘just leave it alone.’ It seems like the community has really gravitated towards don’t rebalance stuff for old titles. If it was a beloved game in the arcades, just keep it as is. And you guys seem to have a similar philosophy.
Catalyst: Is there a place that content creators and players should tag you guys anywhere so the developers see it? I’m sure you guys will see it anyway, but is there a good way for people to reach you?.
Ackah: We have our official accounts for that like SNK on X as well as Code Mystics, and if they have any ideas for stuff and games that they would like to see, they can let us know in your news section. Please feel free to comment, and know that we look at all the comments. We love to see that, and it helps.
Catalyst: Oh, I apologize in advance for some of the comments.
Ackah: That’s part of the game.
Catalyst: People are so passionate and don’t always articulate themselves well, but they care so much that they spit it out. It’s really wonderful that you guys just take that in and just process it.
Catalyst: Do you guys have any final thoughts or things you want to share?
Ackah: I hope the players enjoy this new entry in the selection series. It’s also the game’s 30-year anniversary, actually, so it’s been great bringing back Ninja Master’s now.
Ackah: We are looking forward to seeing the player and fan reactions for Ninja Master’s, especially as a unique title and to things like combo videos and busted setups posted on the SNS for the game in the coming weeks.
Vernezy: So, the next step is Ninja Master’s. Then, for the rest, we’ll see.
