Man, I just love this game. It's the ninja game I've dreamed about playing. It has everything, fast paced action, wall jumping, different attacks involving fire and spin attacks in the air....it's awesome, unlike some other ninja games I played (cough Shinobi cough). This game was something special when it came out, with it's tight game play and pretty amazing graphics, it was a very challenging yet enjoyable game to play. So lets look into this ninja classic.

The story is, hey wait a moment, somethings happening! It's almost as if the game is being played by itself, yet with different graphics and angels that aren't in the game. It's a scene of some kind, yet it cuts in the game....I think I'll call it a cut scene. Today, cut scenes are very common, almost in every game. They're there to bring some of the story to life and move us forward in the game. But back then, they were very rare. In fact, this game was probably the only one of it's time to have such a cut scene this epic. Even it's in 8 bit and the sounds are limited and they don't have voice acting, but you can't help but feel something when seeing the opening cut scene to the first level when the music plays. Oh yeah, the story....

Well, we see two ninjas having a duel in the night, and one loses. Then Ryu (this is an entirely different Ryu to Street Fighter), finds a letter from his Dad saying that he went to a life or death battle and he might not return. If he is not to return, then Ryu must take the Dragon Sword to America and talk to Walter Smith. Nice name, Walter Smith. So Ryu wants revenge for his Farther and sets out to America. This has a pretty deep story line for a NES game. it's detailed, it's got mystery, it's got that blood lust you feel when playing that revenge often seeks in your body, yeah, it's a good story.

When I first started playing this game, I was a little giddy for some reason. I spent a little time running back and forth, getting to grips with the controls. I attacked, jumped and attacked, I ran and attack, I did it all. Then I went to play the game. The first stage isn't that hard. It's challenging first time gamers, but gives them the knowledge they need for future levels. This includes wall jumping, a feature all ninja games should have. Even Mario games have wall jumping! Yet Shinobi was unable to include this feature in their games....This game also lets you hit candles or side posts to give you power-ups. These require points, which can be obtained through the same method. You can throw fire, have a 360 degree sword attack, and even throw the fabled shuriken.

The music is pretty amazing. They play epic pieces for epic levels, they play soft and sweet music for soft and sweet parts. The music, however, lacks the epicness that makes the music a 9 instead of a 10. Megaman 2 owns this epicness, but it is better than Ninja Gaiden by a shy or two. The graphics have that culture wonder to it. It explores different parts of the world through out the game, in which it captures it in 8-bit beautifully, while making the layout bright or gloomy when need be. Although sometimes I feel like they didn't put as much work into the boss sprites. They seem lazy and just mashed together for the most part.

The game as a lot to offer with fresh level design. Some parts just feel so...Ninja like, like having to wall jump down a wall, then jump off it to a platform not far....genius! And sometimes, it takes an entirely different route to things, such as moving from right to left, instead of the normal left to right. This feels weird, let right at the same time. You feel like your exploring more of the area around you. Some parts of the level make it a lot harder than it need to be, though. I was really pleased to find a way to wall jump on just one wall. Made me feel like a real ninja, plus it's helpful for getting out of sticky situations.

This game isn't hard. It's far from hard. Hard is when you are challenged, but there is a possibility you can do it. Castlevania is hard. This game is so far from hard it makes an entirely different level of difficulty on it's own accord. This game is insane! Sure, the first four stages are hard, they are enjoyable, but when you get to stage five, then you start to see this games true colours. The level design gets devilish, the enemies are placed incontinently, and the walls....the walls are so annoying! You jump to get over an enemy, but you cling to the wall, ruining your perfect plan of jumping over the enemy. So you have to improvise, and jump off and attack them, but then you get hit by that enemy and fall into a pit. Rinse, lather, repeat. That is the story of stage five. The story of stage six? 6-1 is ok, but 6-2 is an entirely different matter altogether. It's mean, it's devilish, and you'll spend most of your time here. I could never get passed it. Besides, even if I did get passed it, then I would need to get through another stage, then a three stage boss, in which death would bring me back to 6-1 again. I'll never defeat this game without some cheat code.

Overall, I give this game a 8.9/10        This classic game brings intense platforming at it's best. It's stunning graphics and well set up music makes a great experience, but the real experience lies in playing as a Ninja that can wall jump and can control his jumps in mid-air. If only we had more ninja games like this, only a tad easier, or maybe a little bit easier, or maybe something possible! Maybe the true game lies in the difficulty, if it were too easy, it wouldn't feel so epic, but if it were too hard, then.....hey wait a minute! This game is too hard, and would like to see some relief in the difficulty near the end.

I beated Ninja Gaiden 3 the japanese version that one is made to be easy and it's feature a password function .I feel really ashamed that finish the game over at school though.