Ninja Gaiden....a trilogy I've waited long enough to review, now I'm starting. I will be reviewing Ninja Gaiden II and III after this. This game is a very special NES game, and it was probably the game to blow the minds of all the children in the 80's. Ninja Gaiden was released in 1989, developed by Tecmo, and it set a lot of standards. This game was a hit, and there was even a port on the SNES titled Ninja Gaiden trilogy. It contained Ninja Gaiden I, II, and III all in one neat little package. And I can finally review this game. This game was even referenced in the 1989 film, The Wizard. Back then, no one knew how to pronounce Gaiden. It was like Street Fighter. No one knew how to pronounce Ryu. In the movie, the old Chinese man that the three kids meet corrects them. "No! Ninja Gaiden!" A lot pronounced it GAY-DEN. But officially, it's GUY-DEN, in case you were wondering. Now, I know I'm probably boring you by going on about the history, so I'll just conclude this. Ladies and gents, here is my review for Review  Ninja Gaiden.

Story: 8/10

Okay, woah. The story of this game is VERY impressive. It's not just a bad guy kidnapping a princess, and the hero has to rescue her, no this is entirely different. This story is interesting and connecting because there's actual cutscenes in this game. There's dialogue, characters, and there's character sprites too. Every kid in the 80's wanted to find out what would happen next. After you beat a level, there's a cutscene, and thankfully, they're a good length. It was mind blowing for NES standards. The only thing I hated was that there's people carrying guns in the cutscenes. The main character even gets shot in the first. (SPOILER). When I was eight, I was paranoid that my mother would return the game if she found out about this. The main character even says throughout the trilogy, "What the.....?" He was obviously ending that sentence with the mother of curse words. It's very easy to comprehend the story because of the well-designed cutscenes. The story is about a ninja named Ryu and a father named Ken that...wait, wait, wait. Ken and Ryu? As in the two characters from Street Fighter? Yeah, this story is basically a bunch of ninja incarnations, by the way. Anyways, Ken was murdered in a duel, but before the duel, Ken sent Ryu a letter saying he should meet an archaeologist known as Walter. When Ryu finds Walter, he is told about two items that are connected to the end of the world coming up in the future. Ryu meets these characters that will either try to send him to his fate, or helping him on his quest, which is trying to avenge his father and also keeping the items from the organization of villains. I haven't exactly told the story very well, but the cutscenes will explain a lot to you. It is fun to experience the cool cutscenes the game presents to you. After the first cutscene, you'll already be put in suspense trying to figure out what happens next and keeping yourself from looking up an internet guide or asking a friend who knew all the tricks to the trade to spoil it if you can't beat a certain level. I'm interested that they could do this in 1989, and the story is top notch, so I'm rating the story line an 8/10.

Depth: 7/10

Okay, I know what you're thinking. You're all like, "omfg, too hi rating 4 nes gme, use flames to burn." Well, hear me out for the probably 75% of you that have never played anything of Ninja Gaiden. This game may only have seven levels, but they're a pretty good length, so it feels like you're playing Super Mario Brothers twice in one session, if you know what I mean. This game also has a lot of unique weapons. First of all, you have your sword, which isn't effective in most situations, and it has pretty short range, but I THINK you can get a sword upgrade from an item container, but at the same time I think that's only in Ninja Gaiden III. The weapons you can get in this game come from hitting an item container with your sword (They look different in each level, but it'll be obvious of what the item container is). When you do that, an item will come out. These items can only be used if you're climbing a wall, and you do a LOT of that in all three games. You can get stuff like Ninja stars, flames, discs, flame shields, all of that. They all do have limited use though. you have ammunition in this game. But if you use it once, a certain amount will be used like four or eight. It's kinda stupid, yes, but these items can be used in a lot of situations, especially in Ninja Gaiden III. It would be even better if you could also use them on the ground, but alas. And about climbing, which needs to be executed a lot, especially in level two, this technique is used for a lot of platforming, and you have to be really precise. To grasp onto a wall, you simply just jump on to it. Sometimes, when you're on a wall, you can't do much defending yourself. I like to think of it as the stairs in the Castlevania NES trilogy. And let me mention that this series has the mos annoying enemies. The bosses are relentlessly easy, but the enemies concern me. And sometimes when you're climbing, you get knocked into a bottomless pit. There's knockback EVERYWHERE! THIS IS CASTLEVANIA (Hmph, at least this game has no Pitfalls). By the way, this series is pretty difficult. More on that later. Anyways, I'd say this game offers a lot in depth. In one level, up to four enemies can be introduced to you, so there's a big library of enemies in this game, in case you couldn't tell.  There's about 20-30 in this game. All of them are unique, but some of them just run around doing nothing. To the depth side, since this game has actual cutscenes that are, not to mention, clear, this game won't require a manual to understand what's going on, assuming, you still have the manual, or you play NES games on an emulator. I'm starting to wish Contra had cutscenes, even though it's a 1986 port. Without cutscenes, Ninja Gaiden wouldn't be Ninja Gaiden. It would be one of those NES games, and there's a lot of them, where you think you're going around killing random bosses and people for no apparent reason, but then you buy the game on eBay, check out the manual, and you say, " omg, didnt no dat. so coolio". Ninja Gaiden not only makes for a clear story with interesting cutscenes, but also has a lot of depth to offer for a standard NES game. Overall, this game offers a lot of depth to it.

Difficulty: 8/10

Okay, I'm sure everyone who has played this game knows that this series is known for its difficulty. It's not the level design, but the annoying enemies, much less enemy placement. Sometimes, you're given enough room to breathe and to strike enemies with ease. The second half of level two pulls no punches. In the beginning, it's not so bad. You have cleaver-wielding guys that swing their cleavers SO slowly, and they have short range and slow speed, and Elvis impersonators that have guns. But in level two, you got enemies guarding the ledge. Sometimes, they just stand idol and don't move. You have to time your jumps and sword swings, or you fall to your death or run out of health. Yeah, this game has a health meter. The amount of damage Ryu takes depends on the enemy itself. Bosses take away a few degrees of health, and boxers only take away one. The health meter certainly makes the game a lot more forgiving. If there was no health meter, it would be Gradius and Contra all over again. Okay, speaking of the health meter, in that scene from The Wizard, why does the girl say that Jimmy hasn't taken a hit yet, when he was playing Ninja Gaiden on an arcade machine, when he's clearly missing three degrees of his life meter? She must have no idea what's going on in the game. Jimmy was even in level one, so he took three hits, but I'm getting a little off topic here...when a sequel is released, the game seems to achieve more difficulty. Ninja Gaiden II got a little more annoying, barely beat it, and I never came close to beating Ninja Gaiden III. The sequels seem to have more annoying obstacles than their predecessor. That doesn't mean Ninja Gaiden I is easy though. Ninja Gaiden is a REALLY tough game, and I could never pass level two until, I was eleven years old. It took me three years to finally beat the game, starting from when I was eight. Yeah, that's right. If all the enemies in the game were deleted, it would be kind of sad if you died once during a play-through. Enemies are your main obstacle, getting past them will require quick thinking or incredible luck. This is why Game Genie was invented, people. This is definitely a game where you'll go through moments where you have a really close call. And when I played this game, I never knew Game Genie EXISTED. So that made things a little harder for myself. Your eyes do not deceive you, when I finally beat the game, I died 376 times. I have gotten better by only 150 deaths, but still, so since a Game Over requires three deaths, then that's about 70 Game Overs. The game was VERY frustrating. But honestly, don't be surprised if you find yourself cheating or just getting frustrated. This game is pretty brutal, and did I mention the enemy placement? Did I? Well that's a BIG flaw in the three games. The enemy placement. Enemies guarding ledges, enemies guarding walls, enemies re-spawning out of nowhere or surprise attacking you, it's like Castlevania or Mega Man. I know people who have done a no- death run while speed-running the game, and I'm questioning the amount of practice they've done to achieve that feat. Well, I think you get that Ninja Gaiden is a hard game, but is it still good? Yes. Difficult? Yes, but something tells me if you sample the game, you'll somewhat actually like the difficulty of this game. I know this sounds ridiculous, but the difficulty plays a role in this game's replay-ability, because of overall, fun obstacles in the game, and being on the edge of your seat for the cutscenes.

Graphics: 8/10

Graphics and sound don't matter in a video game, but BOY does this game have good graphics. They improved the graphics in the SNES port and in the Ninja Gaiden sequels, but let alone Ninja Gaiden I has impressive. Some of the enemy sprites aren't very distinguishable, but the sprites during the cutscenes are great, especially for Ryu, I love the settings in both cutscenes and levels, and this game just seems to have a lot to offer when it comes to good graphics. How do I even describe them? Yes, it sounds like I'm describing Super Metroid, but for an NES game, this game looks beautiful. Which, now that I think about it, doesn't say THAT much, because this is a later NES port, 1989 to be exact, but let alone, this game has good graphics, and you'll find that the graphics are actually something that will encourage you to keep playing. For an example, I've never felt that way with the Atari 2600, but maybe that's because those game are just horrible. Ninja Gaiden's graphics is like this. Picture yourself this boy/girl in the 80's wanting to pick up a copy of the game. "Dad/Mom, can I buy this game?" "Hm. The box looks like it's a graphic game, put it back." Oh, it's GRAPHIC all right. The GRAPHIC(s) in this game are truly amazing. Thank you, parents in 80's. Ninja Gaiden, in my book has 8/10 graphics. You're probably thinking I'm just gushing over generic 8-bit graphics, but the atmospheres of this game, you have NOT seen yet.

Sound: 7/10

Musically speaking, I do actually enjoy some of these pieces. I like the sound effects, but let's talk about the soundtrack. I am impressed. Every level and cutscene has a catchy tune, and the themes in levels keep you pumped up for the challenges ahead. I do like how this game has an actual variate, unlike most NES ports. The soundtrack makes me enjoy the game even more, and I can't say much about the sound, but it is great, none of the less. The music makes you think, this is some intensity. And I do agree this game is intense. It doesn't help that this game is difficult, but the music is pretty cool. Sounds like I'm running a marathon! But, in seriousness, this game's music and sound effects are interesting. It's like a Konami game almost, but better. The developers must have though it out well, and I'm glad they did. This isn't my favorite soundtrack in the series though, the sequel to this game wins that award, but when it comes to this game, this soundtrack is one of my favorite game soundtracks.

Replay-ability: 8/10

Despite this game having a large degree of challenge to it, it doesn't mean this game is actually a bad game. The challenge adds a bit of fun to the adventure, and the level design and the fact that you're bashing baddies makes the game really fun to me. I wish this game was two players, of which the two play simultaneously. Not only would the game be less difficult, but it would also make the game more addicting. The idea of the game makes this game addicting, and it's a bonus that there's cutscenes to make the game more addicting. The game would still be addicting without them, but these cutscenes are amazing. They definitely make the game shine out. Graphics and sound don't matter, but I honestly think that they add to this game's addicting factor, or whatever you want to call it. This is usually something that occurs in video games mostly Retro games to be frank, and this is one of them. But I will agree that what makes this game mostly addicting has got to be playing through the levels. I just might play this game when this review is done, in fact. (I hope you do too) I think this is the biggest reason of why I like this game so much, and I will never stop playing this game! It is too addicting to put down. Whatever made me think this game wasn't addicting back then is just behind me right now. It's probably the difficulty, but now I have learned the difficulty plays a role in what makes this game fun, overall. It's not the platforming, but killing enemies and dodging them to continue your quest.

Overall: 8.5/10

Overall, I'm rating this game an 8.5/10. It has a few flaws, but this game is very addicting, has great sound and graphics, this game looks beautiful, there's CUTSCENES, and the difficulty and level design make the game worth playing. I can definitely classify this as a great game. One of my favorite NES, much less video games. I didn't just play this game. I experienced it, and that's because of the game's visuals, and it just stands out to me. That's probably because I'm into games like Contra though. Should I recommend this to a casual player? Yeah, no way. I recommend this to those who strive for challenge, and that's what this game will give. I should have probably said this earlier, but maybe I made it obvious.  I highly recommend you try out the series, and I will be reviewing the next two games in the series as well, and I will need to practice for them to learn the story again and see what the other two games are like, but I do remember the sequels being as good as Ninja Gaiden I. If you're new to the series, start with this one though. It's less difficult than Ninja Gaiden II, but I think Ninja Gaiden II is better, but I'll let you decide on that one. This has been Ninja Gaiden for the Nintendo Entertainment System.