Great game when it came out and really good cinematics for a NES classic. I loved this game. Great game.
You play as the ninja Ryu Hyabusa and it turns out Irene your girlfriend goes missing. In fact she's been kidnapped by the evil Ashtar a new evil bad boss that is of course trying to take over the world. Now first thing you notice when playing this is the cinematics are really good for an old NES game and that it is a very dark game. In terms of it's sinister plots and evil menances that are in your way. You simply must slice and dice any enemies that come your way. You get life and you get majic power for your magic attacks. This game has good music also a little spooky but decent for it's time. Although the enemies can respawn in the exact spot if you walk out of the screen it just adds a little more challenge than the original first part.
The boss battles are awesome because you fight big bad guys with a lot of health and you must use your ninja skills to take them out. Whether that's using the wall to doge attacks or it's using your powerups you saved magic for the end of the stage. There are many useful powerups you get in this game and you often find they give you ones that you need for the next part up ahead. You don't get many lives so it will take a few retrys before you can get through it if your not cheating of course.
Each act of stage as they are called leads directly to the next cinematic scene explaining what is going on and what you have to do next. Which is kicking evil creatures butts that are working for Ashtar. This game is so much fun for me to play again and I personally think it stands well against other Nes classics that have had great reviews. I give this a 9.5 or 95 per cent rating because it simply a great classic that is highly underrated. I enjoyed this game as much as I did when I was little and you have to play this if you've played any other Ninja Gaiden because it is simply superb in terms of graphics, gameplay, music, long term ability (if your not using cheats), and fun factor. I recommend old school gamers or people looking for a great 2 D platformer play this.