Patreon Pin Up 2/17/25: Momiji Wallpaper

For this pic I had this sort of gag premise in mind where Ryu notices his village is under attack in the distant forest while an oblivious Momiji is stroking his pole. (If you've played Ninja Gaiden, you know that damn village is always under attack.) But when the rubber hit the road the joke wasn't landing for me the way I wanted it to and was just kinda confusing in its presentation. So I deleted the village and was left with a pin up that had an oddly spacious and scenic backdrop. I still liked the mountain and didn't want to just crop the whole image so I thought I'd call this one a wallpaper. If you like, your desktop folders can go where the burning village was!

I go way back with Ninja Gaiden. From the original games on the NES that to this day, no one anywhere has ever beaten (and if anyone says otherwise they are a liar!) to the reboot trilogy of the Xbox era. The reboot games take place in the same universe as Dead or Alive so naturally every woman that our hero encounters is a glamour model stuffed into fetish wear and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Momiji here was my favorite out of all of them somehow. I say "somehow" because I can't really pin down what it was I liked about her above the others. Maybe it's because she's Ryu's apprentice and when it comes to fiction I have an unhealthy obsession with unbalanced power dynamics. Who's to say? 

In any case we've got two new games coming out this year and I hope Momiji shows up in at least one of them. It's a fun time, when a series you like makes a big comeback after being long thought dead and buried. Do you have an example of such an instance that comes to mind? Any games that surprised you with a big comeback or maybe a series that you're still hoping that will happen with? I could talk about this stuff all day.