Ninja Gaiden is the more highly caffeinated cousin of Castlevania. It borrows its basic formula, like the sub-weapon system and the status bar, but while Konami's vampire slaying series is slow and deliberate, Tecmo's ninja slicing game traverses at a near-breathless pace. You move fast, and the enemies move faster still, but the controls are essentially perfect. Scaling walls is executed by rapidly jumping back and forth between two columns, using rad, spinning flips that defined why every kid in the 80s thought that ninjas were just the coolest thing in existence. It also demands the need for split second reflexes, lest you miss a midair slash and be knocked into a pit for the 30th time by some infernal bird. The need to push forward is highlighted by the enemy respawn points, which can trigger infinitely if you're standing at the wrong point on the screen. The music is also intense – the percussion is some of the crunchiest on the NES, with pounding drum loops and strong melodies that perfectly suit the game's speed.
The presence of unlimited continues is a necessary crutch until you gain the muscle memory to get past every section. The final stage becomes needlessly cruel, as merely dying at the final boss – not just running out of lives – will force you to replay several stages, including the hardest one in the game. It's tough and not exactly fair, but to complete Ninja Gaiden is to master the essential 8-bit action game skill set.
Just as much as the difficulty, Ninja Gaiden is defined by its story, one of the first 8-bit games to include animated cutscenes. From the opening scene, where two ninjas enter a moonlit duel, to protagonist Ryu Hayabusa's journey to uncover the mystery behind an ancient statue, the story remains compelling in spite of its obvious simplicity. It also helps weave together otherwise disparate locations – modern cities, industrial areas, snow-covered mountains, ancient ruins – into one cohesive theme. Even the cinema direction, borrowing from numerous anime tropes, manages to impress, just based on how well they're animated while using such a small amount of memory. Just like with the action sequences, the soundtrack is skillfully implemented, perfectly accompanying the game's many dramatic moments.
The NES sequel, The Dark Sword of Chaos, smoothes out some of its predecessors edges, resulting in a game that's more pleasant to play, though not quite as interesting. The final entry of the NES trilogy, Ancient Ship of Doom, could have been excellent, but the localization process made the game impossibly difficult.
While Natsume as a game developer was never quite in the same league as Konami or Capcom, they put out a range of NES titles, ranging the gamut from okay (Dragon Fighter) to excellent (Shatterhand). One of their better efforts was Shadow of the Ninja, an obvious Ninja Gaiden clone. While neither the controls nor the level design quite stack up to Tecmo's game, it's a decent action title in its own right, with great music and a distinct visual style, while also featuring two player simultaneous play. It’s spiritually connected to Ninja Gaiden, though. Natsume was working a Game Boy port of Shadow of the Ninja, but then Tecmo became the publisher, changed some sprites and music, and turned it into Ninja Gaiden game Shadow.
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