Ninja Gaiden is about a young Ninja of the Dragon Sword. Ninja Gaiden is a basic side-scrolling game with a time limit. You can do the basic obvious moves, like jump and attack, but there are several special moves that can be performed once you obtain a power-up. Special moves, like the fire shield, use ninja energy, which you also obtain from powerups.

The story line follows something like this: You are being followed by some unidentified personage. At the beginning of act one, you run onto a street, kill some guys, and get to the boss. The following acts reveal more and more of the storyline, but I have only been to act three, so I don't know that much past that. Anyway, basically you run past and/or kill enemies and collect powerups, and then beat the boss. Each boss is harder than the previous boss, and each level is progressively harder.

The graphics are impressive for the NES, and are interesting enough to keep my attention for a while. Some of the animations are a little cheesy, like the second boss. He swings his axe in a circular motion, but they only have four graphics for it (up, right, down, left. ugh.) The backgrounds are believable, for the game anyway.

The music is cool for a few minutes, but I muted it because it was too repetetive. The sound effects are also extremely cheesy and stupid, and I got tired of hearing an idiotic "whoosh" sound every time I swung my sword.The controls are easy to master. The only thing I found hard was jumping off of a wall onto the same wall higher up. The special moves are easy as well, once you have them. The hardest part about this game is staying alive. All in all, this game is great. I have never been bored playing this game.