Released: 1988
System: NES
Developer: Tecmo
Publisher: Tecmo
Ninja Gaiden is the Granddaddy of all Ninja games. This action platformer is insane! The awesome ninja who stars in the game is Ryu Hayabusa, who is seeking revenge for his father's murder. NG was unique for the time for having a deep story and cutscenes. Yes, cutscenes, which almost ALL games have today, were very rare in 1988. The gameplay is very frantic as Ryu runs, jumps, and climbs through several levels. The levels themselves are designed well, and the bosses aren't too hard; the thing this game is infamous for is the respawning enemies. They will appear out of nowhere (like a ninja), and when Ryu gets hit, he jumps back, often into a pit (because there's tons of pits in the city). Good luck getting to the end! It cannot be overstated how huge the impact of this game was, not just on ninja games, but action platformers in general. Today Ryu may be the most popular VG ninja of all time (mainly because of his series making a comback, but that's for another day).
This game cannot be fucked with.
LOL! No, seriously, you're right.
Ninja Gaiden is a great game. Definitely one of my favorites on NES. It has caused me endless amounts of frustration though. Those damn birds!!! 
Ah well. One of these days...
Ryu can take down countless goons and kill giant bosses, but he can't hit those pesky birds? What kind of ninja are you, dude?!!
I loved this game. It took me almost a year to beat it.
Better than me. I gave up a long time ago.
One of the best intros for an NES game. Loved Ninja Gaiden. it was truely action-packed.
Intense action all the way (with some frustrations too).
Another one of the many NES games I didn't get the chance to play. I have to change that someday.
Definitely give it a try, but you've been warned about its hardcore difficulty.
I rented Ninja Gaiden once. The cutscenes were certainly unheard of at the time. I remember the game was very hard, so I was very familiar with the song they played when you died. "Dun-dun, dun, dun, dun-dun-dun-dun, DUN-DUN-DUN!"
I got this game thinking it would be fun. Oops, I was wrong. I saw the Game Over screen quite a bit too.
I remember picking up an old Nintendo Power that had screens of this and a walkthrough of maybe the first level (?) at a church sale as a kid.
This game looked so cool as a kid (the word is "rad"). I remember looking at the pictures of Ryu and the badguys.
I like the way they used the cut scenes. Really draws you into the next Act.