The controversial Ninja Gaiden 3 might lack some series mainstays like former series director Tomonobu Itagaki and decapitations and dismemberment, it still appears to be shaping up to be a challenging and interesting ninja adventure.  Also, it is still being done by Team Ninja, so the game still has a lot of promise.  We'll be able to see if the game pans out soon enough, as Tecmo Koei announced this week that the newest game in the long running series will be available on March 20th of 2012.  For the rest of the details, including the contents of the special edition of the game, hit the jump.

The pre-order bonus actually stands out for bucking recent trends.  It is not the traditional kind of annoying, retailer specific pseudo-DLC that we have become used to.  Rather it is actually a simple pre-order bonus.  Those people who pre-order the game at GameStop and Amazon will get a special downloadable two-character demo stage from the other big Team Ninja game: Dead or Alive 5.  Gamers who pre-order the game at GameStop will get access to a Dead or Alive 5 demo stage featuring a duel between the Ninja Gaiden series' Hayabusa and DOA’s Hitomi. At Amazon, people who pre-order will get a duel between the DOA characters Ayane and Hayate.

In addition to the pre-order bonus, Tecmo Koei also announced that there will be a Collectors Edition of the game.  The collectors edition, which is exclusive to GameStop (for better or worse), gives those who purchased it a chance to play all four characters in the Dead or Alive 5 demo stage, as well as an exclusive Ninja Gaiden 3 “Unmask” game art book, a soundtrack CD, and a unique “Duel of the Masked” figure.

So while there is some mild retailer specific nonsense, this actually is not really as offensive as the usual run of pre-order DLC is.  I can handle separate characters.  I'm undecided on how I feel about the retailer specific collectors editions, but I supposed this is harmless enough, so long as it does not really include anything that could affect in-game play.