Ninja Gaiden

Ninja Gaiden is Tecmo's landmark 1988 NES action platformer. Players control ninja Ryu Hayabusa, who sets out to avenge his father and prevent the resurrection of a demon statue, tracking his enemies from the Americas to the Amazon. The Dragon Sword delivers fast combo strikes, while sub-weapons — shurikens, windmill throwing stars, fire wheels, and jump slashes — consume soul power collected from fallen foes. Wall-jumping and wall-clinging are essential movement skills; enemies respawn endlessly and any fall is instant death. The game pioneered cinematic storytelling on the NES with animated cutscenes between stages, and its punishing three-phase final boss is widely regarded as one of the hardest encounters in NES history.