"An NES classic"

Ninja Gaiden, one of the better time burners from my younger years, still fun to play on occasion. This game was pretty revolutionary at the time, with some excellent cinemas and interesting story. This game spawned two NES sequals, but never a new one for SNES(why not???).

Graphics: 7. Good, with cool designs, but nothing extra special. The characters are really small, but that's fine since you move around the screen a lot. The cinemas were probably the first that animated a little bit, and look pretty cool. Some bosses could have been animated a little better, but they're enough. The best thing about the graphics is the variety. Your enemies range from machine gunners in camouflage to street punks to sword weilding demons. Overall the graphics are quite good, but nothing extra good.

Sounds: 6. There are some really cool tunes in this game, but those are few. If you've played you probably know which ones I'm talking about(levels 4,1 and 5,1). Some of the cinema themes are quite hummable. There is one tune that you hear over and over that is absolutely no good, and that's the boss theme. Oh man, except for one battle, you'll hear this totally uninspiring tune while you fight the bosses. This brings the sound down from a 7. The annoying tunes of the game seem to remind me of commercials on TV; they're loud, repetitive, and bother the player. The sound effects are pretty lame too; your sword makes a nondescript sound and your enemies make a splashing sound when they pop. There are a few big faults with the sound but the good tunes save it.

Control/Gameplay: 7. Pretty quick and responsive. There are some tricky jumps in the game that require you to jump a certain way. The biggest problem with the controls is when you accidentally make a backwards jump and don't end up going far, sometimes falling in a pit. Most of your deaths in this game will come from getting knocked into a pit by some kind of flying object or enemy(why do birds hate ninjas?).

Replay value: 8. I played this game a lot of times, and it's fun to go through the game.

Challenge: 8. This game is pretty hard when you first start. I had to improve over time when I was a kid. Now the game is a good challenge. The last boss is pretty hard, and if you die fighting him you get sent WAY back! The last level is also really hard in places, especially the last part of 6-2.

Overall: 7. A classic NES game. It's important to play this so you'll know what's going on in the sequel. I recommend this to NES fans, action fans, and anyone looking for a good challenge.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/10/00, Updated 08/10/00