Like Advance Wars, but with samurais and ninjas.
Ninja Burai Densetsu is a turn-based strategy game for the Sega Mega Drive. Sometimes it's enjoyable, but sometimes it's just annoying. You'll have different classes/soldiers to choose from, and just place them on the map like a checkerboard. The point where it can get annoying is the fact that you can't revive any of your soldiers in any way, and you also need to finish each stage/battle with a limited amount of moves. This makes the game almost impossible to finish. Still, you can find it dirt-cheap on ebay, so despite it's annoying factors, it'd probably be worth the price.
Gameplay: 8.0
The different types of soldiers that are available for choice include samurais, mounted samurais, ninjas (the main class of the game; it's in the title), spearmen, archers, healers, and riflemen. The worst things that can happen to you throughout the game are: 1) One of your soldiers dies. When a soldier dies, they never come back. That's the end of them. This can happen quite often during the later levels, but if this happens to you in, say, the first stage, then you're having trouble. 2) One of your soldiers fights with a soldier from the opposing team...but both fighting soldiers are the same class. If your ninja is fighting an opposing ninja, then forget it. It'll be all about luck from there on out. Those two features seem like minor annoyances, don't they? Wrong. When they happen often, the game will get boring. Why? Because, unless you're very good at strategy games (aka, very smart) you will be losing by that point. It's horrible, but the sad truth. Okay, I think I've bashed the gameplay enough. Everything else about the game makes it a fun and unique strategy game, giving you the new experience of recruiting ninjas on the Mega Drive.
Graphics: 9.5
The graphics are great, really. It's hard to find a fault in them, and when you finally do, it's a minor one. Both top-down and side-scrolling views are pretty to look at. It sets a good example for other Mega Drive strategy games as to what they should look like.
Story: N/A
Usually in my reviews, I rate stories, because I find a story in a video game to be important. I guess this one is an exception. I could barely follow it. I just don't understand kanji.
A great Mega Drive game that's worth the cost, Ninja Burai Densetsu is strongly recommended if you're great at strategy games (or if you have some kind of strength in games like Checkers or Heroscape...I like Heroscape, but suck at Checkers). If you're not good at strategy games, than expect a challenge. This game isn't the easiest game you'll come across.