4.5/5 ★ – Rig2Big's review of Ninja Gaiden.

Here’s the deal… Ninja Gaiden is obviously a masterpiece, except it isn’t. It’s one level—NO, ONE SAVE STATE—away from being a near-flawless asset of video game history. The first 4 acts are fine, the 5th act is where things start to be sorta horseshit, but none of the unfairness is really too annoying because you’re at least guaranteed checkpoints. It’s the 6th act that is just so fucking sadistic. On its own, it makes this one of the most stupidly difficult games of the entire NES library. You have the three hardest levels back to back to back, AND THEN three really challenging boss fights in a row… if you die at any point within this cruel & unusual gauntlet, you’ll be sent all the way back to 6-1. Forget the “trial & error” part of studying a boss fight, you’ll have MASTERED the preceding levels by the time you’ve created a viable strategy. So I’ll do this game a favor, and preserve its legacy by just pretending that a checkpoint exists between the platforming levels of act 6, and the final boss trio. Boom, mastapiece… of the best of the NES.