This reminds me a lot of Shinobi 1987, in that the core movement is slick and, coupled with the dazzling setpieces and graphics, really sell you into the illusion of playing as a fast, precise action ninja star. Much like that game, however, the levels after the first and a half start to pour so much shit at you that it starts to feel apathetic. Some cool shit with the power plant, air fortress, and space station, but I can't really care about it all along with trying to tie my skill altogether since there's so much to keep track of. Doesn't help powerups seem to appear at random intervals...

Was initially confused as to the amount of low scores that cropped up in mid-2022, but after finally finishing it, I'm starting to get it, Arcade original (me) or otherwise (most of the others playing Genesis conversion). Gonna hope Kouichi Yotsui and Co.'s second outing with 1996's Osman improves on a lot of this, though there's all that weird business with Strider 2, Strider II, and Strider 2014.