As my friend Frank put it, "This was Dark Souls before Dark Souls!" He was saying it to help cheer me up, as this game completely whooped my ass. I was able to get to the final boss before it killed me quicker than I could think, sending me instantly back to 6-1 rather than the stage right before the boss (6-3), which is almost always the common courtesy. This could be fine, if 6-2 wasn't genuinely one of the most difficult levels in a video game I've played ever! The fact they punish you like that for not beating the boss (in his 3 forms!) is insanely cruel, especially with how 6-2 relies more on luck than skill after a certain point.

Ninja Gaiden is hard, no one argues that! I definitely knew I was in for a treat when it became practically impossible to find any modern strategy guides that didn't involve save-stating (though they do exist!), but I was pretty proud of myself for not needing to rely on it... until the final boss that is. Oh, how I wish I had a Game Genie! But even then, would I feel satisified beating it by cheating? My other friend, Cat, answered perfectly for me: Hell no.

I got as far as I could on my NES before I got to the point where I wanted to genuinely throw it out the window. I made it to the final boss, though! Au naturel. That's pretty impressive, right? Eh, maybe not. But I'm happy with my progress. After beating Bloody Malth, I had to go to work, and even had to leave my NES on so I didn't lose my spot, that's how invested I got into finishing this. I didn't finish Ninja Gaiden, but I got pretty darn-tooting close, and honestly - that's way further than I thought I could ever get, so I'm pretty happy! The game doesn't have much to fault it, minus that darn level 6-2, as the controls are very tight, and the enemies are not too hard to master (minus those FUCKING jetpack ninjas). The bosses feel awesome to master, though it can be hard to do as they send you back so far if you lose to them, but soon you learn to master both their level and the boss itself! Bloody Malth was bloody difficult until I realized I could just smash his face in super fast, and I could kill him before he kills me! The Kelbeross was also difficult until I found a safe spot under the stools they like to hop around on. 6-2 to me was too much though, and took away the fun I was having... after being sent back, I decided to spare my little sanity I still have and turn off the NES, which had been chugging along with my bullshit for the past 48 hours.

Who knows, maybe one day, many years from now, I'll lose the last of my sanity and will try to beat it once again.

3.5/5