Ninja Gaiden begins with a cinematic animation in which two ninjas duel to the death and one goes down. It is then revealed that the doomed ninja is the father of Ryu Hayabusa. When Ryu learns of this, he embarks on a quest to find out who killed his father and why. This quest takes him to America to find an archaeologist with whom his father was working. From there, Ryu becomes embroiled in an evil, supernatural conspiracy involving a villain named Jaquio who has plans to use an ancient castle and some relics to unleash a terrifying evil upon the world.

Ninja Gaiden is a side scrolling game where Ryu the ninja can run, jump and slash with his ninja sword. He can also attach to any vertical surface. Power-ups that allow Ryu to toss fireballs and ninja stars as well as perform other feats are scattered throughout the landscape.

Ryu will battle through urban city settings, forests, jungles, snow covered castles, underground railroads and ancient castles. A major feature in Ninja Gaiden are the cinematic scenes – sometimes fullscreen – through which the storyline unfolds.

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Alternate Titles

"忍者龍剣伝" -- Japanese spelling
"Shadow Warriors" -- European title
"Ninja Ryukenden" -- Japanese title

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Part of the Following Groups

Merchant	Title	Platform	Price
	Ninja Gaiden	NES	$5.40
	Ninja Gaiden
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User Reviews

Slice and dice! Ninja know no fear!	NES	Satoshi Kunsai (1822)
Damn cool, but the gameplay isn't very good	NES	Bregalad (881)
Amazing and hard as hell...	NES	Ivan Obretenov (9)

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The Press Says

The DOS Spirit	NES	Dec 06, 2012	6 out of 6	100
Thunderbolt Games	NES	Dec 17, 2004	9 out of 10	90
Mean Machines	NES	Jul, 1991	90 out of 100	90
IGN	Wii	May 14, 2007	9 out of 10	90
Nintendo Land	NES	2003	89 out of 100	89
Computer and Video Games (CVG)	TurboGrafx-16	Apr, 1992	89 out of 100	89
Video Game Generation	Wii	May 29, 2007	8.8 out of 10	88
1UP!	NES	Feb 01, 2008	87 out of 100	87
GameFan Magazine	TurboGrafx-16	Oct, 1992	84.5 out of 100	84
Video Games	NES	Sep, 1991	70 out of 100	70