same goes for samurai and cavalier i think - you can take cavalier archetypes
You can use Rogue archetypes with the Ninja and Cavalier archetypes with the Samurai, provided you have the correct class features to replace. This means Ninjas and Samurai do have a pretty decent number of archetypes available to them. The Antipaladin gets more archetypes than Ninja or Samurai because all of its class features have been modified and as such is not compatible with any Paladin archetypes.
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Ninja's can't take rogue archetypes. They are like a base class, base class means classes like cavalier and magus. The only link to the associated class is that you can't multiclass with them.
Ninjas and Samurai are their own separate class.
Now, this is a fairly new revelation, for the longest time alternate classes were just big archetypes, thus all the rogue stuff worked for ninjas. But we've had official clarification that they no longer are to be considered just a big archetype but their own class. Now that that revelation came out, someone made an archetype for ninja.
Alternate classes have the least love, and are really in need of a FAQ telling us how they work.
Here is my FAQ request thread explaining things.
Where is the statement that an alternate class cannot take the original class's archetypes? That does not follow from the statement that the alternate class itself is no longer to be regarded as an archetype.
As a counterexample -- the Unchained Rogue is an alternate class of the original Rogue, but it is explicitly able to take archetypes of the original Rogue. Other alternate classes are more limited because the class features to be replaced may or may not line up correctly with the original class.
here Is Mark saying there's nothing official letting ninja's take rogue archetypes.
But here's the summation of the flow of thought.
Alternate classes = Archetype that has been written in full.
Since it's an archetype it can use all the stuff from it's "associated class", FCB and other archetypes, since it technically is the "associated class"
PDT have removed any link saying that alternate classes are archetype, and have stated that they aren't Via Mark.
So now we have
Alternate classes = Base classes (cavalier, oracle) that can't multiclass with it's "associated class". Meaning the only difference between an oracle and a ninja is that one can't take levels of rogue. In all other ways they are the same since they are both base classes.
Thus rouge isn't the "original class" of a ninja, but the inspiration for or "associated class" to the ninja.
Being treated as it's own base class that can't multiclass with rogue, Ninja has no rules saying it can use rogue FCB or Archetypes. So just like a bloodrager can't take a barb archetype it qualifies for, a ninja can't take a rogue archetype it qualifies for.
Mark hopes to one day release a FAQ on this stating that they can, but he's not sure how the PDT would rule so we have no guarantee that it will be allowed.
Now, lots of people don't know about the PDT clarifying that ninja isn't an archetype, lots of people don't care about this change and just kept doing what they were doing, and 'technically' "Nothing has changed cause it's always been this way"
Mark actually said that there was nothing official saying that they couldn't take archetypes from their base class -- so the question is still open. Mark was, in fact, correcting an erroneous statement on your part, it seems.
Certainly the alternate classes in Pathfinder Unchained can take archetypes of their base classes -- there is a direct statement in that book to that effect.
And what is the default rule of Pathfinder? That if the rules don't say you can't you can??? If the rules say nothing about them being able to then they can't. That's just how the rules are currently told to be read.
And yes, the unchained classes have rules different from the alternate classes.
There are different types of classes
Core - in core rulebook
hybrid - a mix of 2 other classes
Occult - in occult book
Unchained - in unchained
Alternate - a class that has an "associated class" that they can't multi-class into, but are otherwise a base class.
Base - all classes that aren't in a different category and are considered classes comparable to the core classes but are just from different books.
We don't have rules saying that a class can take an archetype for a different class if they have all the features to trade away. Thus the default rule is you can't. So lack of a rule saying the ninja can take rogue archetypes it by the rules can't.
We used to believe we had a rule saying you could, that "rule" was that alternate classes were just archetypes, and by the rules you can stack archetypes that don't change the same thing. But that "rule" was apparently false. And now with a lack of any other rule saying you can you can't.
So Mark saying there's nothing specifically and officially addressing whether you can or can't is the exact same as saying currently you can't, but that might change.
Even if we were allowed to take rogue archetypes, almost every one replaces trapfinding, which a Ninja does not get and therefore can not use said archetype.
Actually it's closer to half of Rogue archetypes that replace Trapfinding. That still gives the Ninja are more limited selection, but there are still plenty of options. The Scout immediately comes to mind as a prominent example of a Rogue archetype that doesn't replace trapfinding.
@OP:
1. Archetypes are given to classes that can work with them well. Sorcerers have few archetypes because you can actually shape the class much more through Bloodlines – same applies to Oracles with Mysteries and Clerics with Domains. Swashbucklers, Bards and Rangers have more because there are few ways to customize them. So expect more archetypes for classes without options to pick from.
2. There are quite a few rogue archetypes that stack with ninja. Off the top of my head, Rake, Bandit, Scout, Heister...
3. Fun facts: there are only 1 or 3 Cavalier archetypes that work with Samurai, depending on how you count Weapon Prof. They are:
1. First Mother's Fang – debatable, as the weapon proficiencies in each class are different.
2. Gallant - actually, this is part of my favorite Samurai build. Yojimbo + Gallant with Order of the Blue Rose gives you a defensive warrior who deals a ton of nonlethal damage with a katana. Now if only an archetype gave me the ability to lose armor...
3. Wave Rider – pretty simple here.
It wasn't until recently that the Ninja got its first and only archetype (The Frozen Shadow Ninja) and it seems that nothing else is coming for this class.
Actually there is another Ninja archetype in the Villain Codex. Far as I recall it was pretty good.