pretty solid sequel to the first ninja gaiden. Honestly the difficulty in this game isn't that bad, the stages are the hardest part in this as all the bosses are pretty easy due to the new item pickup that clones you up to 2 times which lets you shred their HP and thankfully the game isn't as evil as NG1 sending you all the way back to the first stage if you die to a boss.
I still think I prefer 1 slightly more but they are both pretty close.