History VideoGame / NinjaGaiden

On February 17th, 2021, during a Nintendo Direct it was officially announced that the modern series is getting a collection release titled ''Ninja Gaiden Master Collection'', composed of Sigma 1, Sigma 2 and Razor’s Edge, with most of its DLC, in one pack; set for release on June 10th, 2021, for UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch and PC - that which marks the much anticipated debut of the modern trilogy on the latter two platforms.

* ActionGirl: Although this series falls for the FauxActionGirl a little bit too often, Ayane, Momiji and Rachel in ''Sigma 2'' definitely play the role straight.
** Irene should count: those times when she isn't ''already'' captured [[spoiler: or dead]] she can definitely hold her own. She even pulls her own BigDamnHeroes [[spoiler: in ''The Ancient Ship of Doom'' when she rescues Ryu from death with the help of a submachinegun]].
* AnachronicOrder: Some ContinuitySnarl and FlipFlopOfGod aside, the series goes like this, from a young 18 years old Ryu to a 23 years[[note]]25 as of ''[=DOA5=]''[[/note]] old Master Ninja:

* ArtifactOfDoom: The Dragon Ninja clan apparently exists to look after these, keeping the lids on various [[SealedEvilInACan cans of evil]].

* CanonImmigrant: The fact Ryu married Irene and opened up a Curio/Antique Shop to run it together in the OVA carries over to the ''Dead or Alive'' series, which is set after everything that happened in his solo series. After Igakaki's re-imagination for the ''Ninja Gaiden'' series on the Xbox, it looked like this fact got {{retcon}}ned for good, but it took his departure from Team Ninja and Hayashi's intervetion as the new director to put the pieces back together in ''Dead or Alive: Dimensions''.

* ContinuityCameo: Ayane from ''Dead or Alive'' shows up in the modern trilogy. Inverted with Irene, who makes a cameo in ''Dead or Alive: Dimensions'' as Ryu's CIA contact during the story mode. [[spoiler: The cameo doubles as confirming Sonia from ''Ninja Gaiden II'' as Irene's alias]].

* ContinuityNod: With ''Dead or Alive: Dimensions'', Hayashi has tried fixing some of Itagaki's mess, with Irene making a cameo in particular, as an attempt at settling Ryu's appearance in ''Dead or Alive'' as being placed years after his solo adventures.

* ContinuitySnarl: Ryu's appearance in ''Dead or Alive'', since the first installment made clear in his character bio that the current Ryu is, {{canon}}ically, the one who already has ventured through all his solo games, reinforced by stating he's a Curio Shop owner, something that would only happen after the end of the NES trilogy with Ryu married to Irene and everything else, namely from the OVA. Itagaki then envisioned the ''new'' ''Ninja Gaiden'' series for the Xbox and kind of made continuity unstable, such as having Ryu wear his "Black Falcon" outfit as the default outfit from ''Dead or Alive 4'' and onward, while making no mention of Irene or his shop ''in-game''.
** As of ''Dead or Alive: Dimensions'', things seemed to have been fixed, thanks to a couple of cameos here and there.
* ConvectionSchmonvection: In ''Ninja Gaiden II'', Ryu can run on lava and swim in it, although it starts to hurt later. Possibly justified since he can set himself on fire every time he uses fire-based Ninpo (and other elemental Ninpo).

* HighlyVisibleNinja: Who said ninja games need a stealth mechanic? Considering Ryu has the access of the Dragon Sword and he's constantly facing demons and fiends that might not be fooled by stealth easily, perhaps stealth wasn't that necessary. It's also implied in ''III'' that it's sometimes defied, as Ayane manages to get some top secret information from the government without being detected. If it's against mundane humans (and cutscenes), stealth ''is'' an option for Ninjas here; meaning that Ryu can afford to be visible because he allows it to and anyone who sees him without his permission is gonna die.

*** ''Sigma 2'''s case is a bit special though. Due to an exclusivity contract with Microsoft, ''II'' could not be ported onto the [=PS3=]. The only way to do it after Itagaki left was to add, remove and change so many things that ''Sigma 2'' would be considered an independent game rather than a mere port. It worked: although the levels, combat system and enemies are pretty much the same, the playing experience is quite different.

* AirJousting: Both Ryu and his old man suck at it in the Original Trilogy.

* BlindIdiotTranslation: ''Basaquer'', ''Kelbeross'', ''Malth'' and even BigBad ''Jaquio'' fall pray to this in the original NES trilogy. Their actual names were supposed to be "Berserker," "Cerberus", "Mars" and "Devil King" (Jakiō.) The mistranslated names do have plenty of charm, though...

* WarmupBoss: Surprisingly, most of the early bosses in the NES games were this.
* [[OhCrap What the...?!]]: In the NES trilogy, this is Ryu's version of an OhCrap Moment. He tends to draw these like a moth to a flame.
** At the FinalBoss of ''The Ancient Ship of Doom'', Ryu instead stutters out the villain's name upon seeing its monstrous form.

** DownTheDrain: A sizeable chunk of the sequel's third chapter takes place in a sewer.

* AwesomeButImpractical: The Unlabored Flawlessness in the Xbox ''Ninja Gaiden''. It's the wooden sword upgraded some 7 times (other weapons peak at 3 or 4) with no discernable change until it becomes a giant wooden paddle. It's a surprisingly powerful weapon, able to wreak havoc at about the same power as the upgraded War Hammer, but its high upgrade cost and very restrictive secret to its power ([[CriticalStatusBuff when you're low on health]] [[DesperationAttack it becomes exceptionally vicious]]) makes it difficult to use.

* BackFromTheDead / DisneyDeath: Ryu after being killed by Doku in the Xbox ''Ninja Gaiden''.

* {{BFS}}: Aside from playable examples, cleavers are used by Fiend Nightmares and Spirit Doku has one long nodachi in the Xbox ''Ninja Gaiden''.

* BoringButPractical: For the array of awesome weapons that you have stashed in {{Hammerspace}}, you'll probably end up being forced to use the Dragon Blade to beat bosses and higher-tier enemies.

* BossInMookClothing: Good Lord, the Vigoorian Berserkers. They are armed with a [[{{BFS}} Dabilahro]], [[LightningBruiser are fairly fast for their build]], [[ImplacableMan have a solid guard but are also very resilient]], and on top of that have nothing but powerful close range ''and'' distance attacks. Of course if you try to use a Flying Swallow, [[KungFuProofMook you will be promptly dissuaded]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard to try again]]. Manage to deal them enough damage? To reward you, they [[TurnsRed turn red]] and become even more dangerous. Granted, there is a simple tactics to take them down (let them attack at close range and use a counter) [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard but it doesn't work so well when there are two or three of them]] (which is, 90% of the time).

* BraggingRightsReward: In ''Ninja Gaiden (Sigma)'' for the Xbox/[=PS3=], the Plasma Saber MK II (on Normal) or the Dark Dragon Blade (Hard and above), sort of. You get them by gathering all 50 gold scarabs, but the latter is so close to the end of the game that they won't be of much use. Add to this that you have to bring the scarabs to Muramasa, and since there's no shop at the top of the Emperor's tower (where you get the last scarab), that means you have to go backtrack through tough enemies and swarms of [[DemonicSpiders ghost piranhas]] just to find a shop where you can get the damn sword. You then discover the Plasma Saber is every bit identical to the True Dragon Sword and that you can't use the Dark Dragon Blade against the FinalBoss ([[spoiler:since he's the one using it]]). With the exception of some fiend challenges like the ones with many {{B|ossInMookClothing}}erserkers, it's not really worth the trouble. This trope is averted with the highest difficulty Master Ninja Mode, which rewards you with...nothing!

* CameraScrew: In the modern trilogy, specifically the ones released on Microsoft platforms, the camera will often be your toughest opponent, chosing the most impractical angle possible, zooming in without reason and putting {{mook}}s or even Ryu himself off-screen. Surely ''Sigma'' and ''Sigma 2'' have fixed this problem, haven't they? Er...well, no.
** Fortunately, the camera in ''Ninja Gaiden III'' does its job decently, although still not perfectly. The most frequent problem is that enemies in the foreground obstruct your view because of the low camera angle.

* ChargedAttack: Hold-type, though a variation. To pull off the devasting Ultimate Techniques in the modern games, you must collect essences by holding down the heavy attack button in the first Xbox ''Ninja Gaiden''. The sequels and remakes allowed the techniques to be performed even if essence isn't collected, but it will kick in much faster if essence is absorbed.

* CompetitiveBalance: Weapons in the modern trilogy use some combination of [[NecessaryDrawback range, damage, combo potential and the power of the Ultimate Technique]]. The Dragon Sword is the most balanced but in the first game there are several weapons that mostly play the same way (War Hammer, Dihilabhro and the Unlabored Flawlessness are all heavy blunt weapons, as well as the Dark Dragon Blade in bonus-quests). The sequel has a bit more variety in that regard, since no two weapons play quite the same.
** Also used for the girls in ''Sigma 2'': Rachel is the MightyGlacier, Ayane the FragileSpeedster, while Momiji's a JackOfAllStats.

* DeadlyLunge: The Flying Swallow and Guillotine Throw techniques can make short work of the standard Mooks.

* {{Doppelganger}}: The aggressive Doppelganger Fiends in the modern series. They are capable of doing nearly every single one of Ryu's moves and every single advanced techniques a player ''must'' know.

* EasyModeMockery: Done literally in ''Black''. You unlock Ninja Dog mode if you die too many times on the first level, but not before Ayane admonishes you for being so weak. She then proceeds to give you a purple ribbon powerup, and all the power bracelets become ribbons as well. Ryu remains in his purple ninja trainee outfit for the remainder of the adventure after Chapter 2 instead of changing to his [[IconicOutfit iconic Black Falcon suit]].

* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: The ankylosaurus at the end of ''Ninja Gaiden II'' Chapter 7 would seem to fit, but it's actually seen and referred to at least once before you fight it. The two you eventually face in the Underworld, however, fit this trope.

* HardLevelsEasyBosses: This is also the case in ''Ninja Gaiden II'': while the levels are basically massive gauntlets with endless hordes of cheap {{mook}}s, most bosses are surprisingly easy to take down. Even the four Greater Fiends and the FinalBoss pose little threat. ''Sigma 2'' balanced things by reducing the amount of on-screen {{mook}}s but made most of the bosses harder, improving their AI and health.

* HyperspaceArsenal

* InfiniteSupplies: Ryu has an endless supply of standard shuriken. Enemies with small arms have to periodically reload (most evident with the MSAT), but they never run out of magazines.

* KaizoTrap: The giant armadillo boss in ''Ninja Gaiden II'' explodes after death, which kills you instantly. The only way to avoid a OneHitKO is to hold the block button, which is rather counter-intuitive since no other explosive attack in the modern series can be blocked.

* LifeDrain: A special ability of Kitetsu, Doku's demonic sword in the first Xbox ''Ninja Gaiden''. You can do it to minor {{mook}}s the same way Doku does it to you and regain quite a bit of health. You can even do it to ''Doku himself''. However, the rest of the time you use it, the blade drains ''your own health''. In ''Sigma'', holding the sword doesn't deplete your lifebar, but the effect of this trope is considerably {{nerf}}ed.

* MightyGlacier[=/=]StoneWall: The purple zombies of the first Xbox ''Ninja Gaiden''. They carry enormous bayonet guns, their attacks are pretty damaging, but are so slow you have to be really careless to get killed. It takes three full Ultimate Techniques of the Unlabored Flawlessness to make them bite the dust, meaning they have more health than some ''bosses''.

* {{Nerf}}: The Flying Swallow in the Xbox game was toned down in ''Black'' because you could spam it on pretty much everything with 100% success. ''Black'' featured {{mook}}s that were specifically designed to punish you for overabusing it, i.e. block the attack entirely and counter it. You definitely didn't want to be caught using that on the Advanced MSAT soldiers.

*** The Art of the Fire Wheel is further {{nerf}}ed for the Xbox ''Ninja Gaiden'' compared to the NES days. It creates a flaming shield around Ryu, but it knocks away most enemies on contact which severely limits its usefulness (continuous damage is impossible and it knocks them out of your melee weapon's effective range). You are also far from invincible.
*** It has been un-nerfed in ''Razor's Edge'', as Momiji's Ninpo, although her ki gauge takes a long time to fill.

* NonStandardGameOver:
** In the first game, after you get the bow, you can use it to shoot a wounded Ayane dead; the game will promptly end as a result.
** You can likewise shoot Sonia dead near the end of ''Ninja Gaiden II'', which will result in this.

* OneHitKill: Master Ninja Mode's ungodly difficulty in ''Sigma 2'' relies on the fact that the player has very little room for mistake. Several enemy attacks like fire geysers, and any boss grapple or {{mook}} suicidal attack will kill you instantly regardless of your lifebar's length.
** In your arsenal, the Inazuma Drop for any non-boss humanoid enemy. The only caveat is that you have to actually pull it off.

* PerfectPlayAI: The Doppelganger fiend in the first Xbox game would make you feel like you're fighting against a computer-controlled Ryu.

* RecurringBoss: Doku, Genshin, and Regent of the Mask.

* RockBeatsLaser: [[VideoGame/BaldursGate Vigoorian forces, meet Dragon Sword! Dragon Sword, meet Vigoorian forces]]! Subverted against tanks and a helicopter, which Ryu needs to use specially-tipped arrows to destroy.
** Note a bow is simply outdated since {{mook}}s have access to firearms at that point. [[FridgeLogic What sensible military would use resources to make armor-piercing/explosive arrows for a weapon as outdated as a bow, especially since enemies gain increasingly large caliber guns as the game progresses]]?
* RPGElements: The Mission Mode and online modes for ''Ninja Gaiden III'' has you start as a low-ranking {{ninja}}. Completing trials will level up your character, improving combos and equipment. This is quite surprising, as the story mode in the same game removed everything that remotely looked like an upgrade system.

* SpinAttack: Ryu's movelist with the Dragon's Claw/Tiger's Fang consists of some hard cuts and a lot of spinning. Certain weapons also have access to a 360 degree input that usually turns out to be a spin attack. In ''Razor's Edge'', the shuriken gets its own spin attack.

* UnexplainedRecovery: Ryu's adventures in New York end with an animated Art/StatueOfLiberty using up its last moments of movement and first moments of freedom extending its hand to helt him escape before sinking into the sea. Rachel's chapter in ''Sigma 2'' sees said statue right back where it should be as the sun rises.

* UpToEleven: The Xbox ''Ninja Gaiden'' was already a violent game, but ''II'' makes the first game look pretty tame. Fights against large groups of enemies are essentially guaranteed to turn into utter bloodbaths as Ryu dismembers enemies and, with the right weapons, can cut enemies in two.

** Regent of the Mask in ''III''

* BossBonanza: One major source of the trilogy's notoriously brutal difficulty. At the end of the first game, you had to fight three bosses in a row, and you would lose all your subweapon energy after each boss, forcing you to go on with just your base. sword! Death at the end hands of any of the three would result in being sent back to the start of the entire ACT (the bosses were stage 6-4, and a death during one of them sent you clear back to 6-1!). This made learning boss mechanics through trial and error extremely difficult due to the long amount of time it took to get back to them after a defeat. At least the defeated bosses stayed dead when you got back to them, or many people would have given up entirely.

* BossBonanza: One major source of the trilogy's notoriously brutal difficulty. At the end of the first game, you had to fight three bosses in a row, and your health would not be replenished after victory in the first two. Death at the end hands of any boss would result in being sent back to the start of the last level. This made learning boss mechanics through trial and error extremely difficult due to the long amount of time it took to get back to them after a defeat.

* HighlyVisibleNinja: Who said ninja games need a stealth mechanic? Considering Ryu has the access of the Dragon Sword and he's constantly facing demons and fiends that might not be fooled by stealth easily, perhaps stealth wasn't that necessary.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: The music for the boss of the 2nd stage in the arcade game sound a lot like Music/BlackSabbath's ''Iron Man''.

* LargeAndInCharge: In both the NES trilogy and modern games, the bosses literally loom over Ryu Hayabusa. But just like [[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar Kenshiro]], [[VideoGame/{{Doom}} the Doomguy]], [[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} Samus Aran]] and [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} the Belmont Clan]], size means jack shit to our resident superninja, as he can and will carve a path through his enemies.

* ActuallyADoombot: In "Ninja Giaden II'' Jacquio makes a return. According to him, when you fought and killed ''Jaquio" in the first game, you were just killing a puppet of his.

* ThrivingGhostTown: Tairon, capital of the Vigoor Empire, doesn't seem to have anyone other than a lone shopkeeper and a bunch of military personnel. Subverted when there are people in the nightclub, but they all run screaming when a giant dinosaur-fiend shows up. That, and the Vigoorian military imposes a curfew more or less as soon as Ryu shows up.

* FrickinLaserBeams: Paz Zuu from the Xbox ''Ninja Gaiden'' uses EyeBeams which, oddly enough, doesn't damage you directly; instead, it traces a path, which ignites shortly afterwards. Unfortunately, the black pincer fiends in the same game aren't so kind-hearted with their own EyeBeams, [[DemonicSpiders infuriating more than one player]].

* SequelDifficultyDrop: A good part of the bashing ''Ninja Gaiden III'' received is [[ItsEasySoItSucks due to this]]. The thing is, Hard Mode is still just as brutal as ever, so the jump between Normal and Hard is pretty steep.
* SequelDifficultySpike: Or rather "re-release difficulty spike" − the original Xbox ''Ninja Gaiden'' was hard but nothing pain-inducing. ''Black'' (and by extension ''Sigma'') cranked it up a couple notches by introducing new vicious enemies, giving pre-existing ones better AI (and a grappling maneveur for Black Spider Ninjas), throwing out the window what little MookChivalry they could have, significantly {{nerf}}ing overly efficient moves like the Counter or Flying Swallow and adding the utterly sadistic Master Ninja Mode.
** ''Ninja Gaiden II'' is also infamous for being this, [[FakeDifficulty but not always in a good way]].

* CheckPointStarvation: The first NES game was generally pretty good with checkpoints, as you would usually respawn at the same screen you died at...unless you died to a boss, in which case you're taken back to the beginning of the stage. To make matters worse, if you're unfortunate enough to die at any of the three final bosses, however, you're kicked ''[[UpToEleven all the way back to the start of 6-1 rather than 6-4]]''

* CheckPointStarvation: The first NES game was generally pretty good with checkpoints, as you would usually respawn at the same screen you died at...unless you died to a boss, in which case you're taken back to the beginning of the stage. if you're unfortunate enough to die at any of the three final bosses, however, you're taken ''[[UpToEleven all the way back to the start of 6-1!]]''

The game had a re-release in late 2012 on the UsefulNotes/WiiU (January 2013 in Europe) entitled ''Razor's Edge'', with Team Ninja addressing the flaws, such as re-adding back dismemberments, brutal difficulty, fleshed out gameplay, weapon acquisitions and upgrades and additional playable characters (Momiji, Ayane and the first appearance of [[CanonImmigrant Kasumi]] from ''Videogame/DeadOrAlive''). Also, some of the most disliked cutscences were eliminated. Ports for the [=PS3=] and [=Xbox 360=] were released in April 2013. Both versions include all the downloadable content from the Wii U version already on the disc.

''Ninja Gaiden'', originally titled ''Ninja Ryūkenden'' ("Ninja Dragon Sword Story") in Japan is an action game series produced by Creator/{{Tecmo}} (now Creator/KoeiTecmo) centering around Ryu Hayabusa, a {{ninja}} from the Dragon Clan, who gets involved with [[GovernmentConspiracy government conspiracies,]] kicks loads of ass and slaughters legions of supernatural beings along the way.

''Ninja Gaiden'', originally titled ''Ninja Ryūkenden'' ("Ninja Dragon Sword Story") in Japan is an action game series produced by Creator/{{Tecmo}} (now known as Creator/{{Koei}} Tecmo) centering around Ryu Hayabusa, a {{ninja}} from the Dragon Clan, who gets involved with [[GovernmentConspiracy government conspiracies,]] kicks loads of ass and slaughters legions of supernatural beings along the way.

EatenAlive: At the start of one of the boss battles, Rachel gets devoured whole and alive by a fiend right in front of Ryu.

** And despite the fact that the characters call Ryu's name as "Ree-yu", some reviewers and critics ''still'' mispronounce it as "Ra-yu". Just like that other [[StreetFighter Ryu]], or any other [[AProtagonistIsRyu Ryu]] for that matter.

* ExcusePlot: Primarily a trait of Itagaki's games, which can both be summed up as "BigBad attacks the village, Ryu chases BigBad to his lair and defeats BiggerBad". Both [[UpdatedRerelease Sigmas]] and ''Dragon Sword'' are a tiny bit more fleshed out. ''Ninja Gaiden 3'', however, is much more plot-driven, going back the tradition of the NES games.

* UnexpectedGameplayChange: [[BiggerBad The Emperor]] in the Xbox ''Ninja Gaiden'' is fought on a floating platform that you must move back and forth (default) or up and down (by holding the guard button) to avoid its BeamSpam. It's painfully unintuitive and tedious.

* ''Ninja Gaiden 3'' has a sliding move that is useful as a dodge , an offensive technique to put enemies off balance, and a way to get under obstacles. It completes the trilogy's list of dodge moves with the first game's UnnecessaryCombatRoll and the second's FlashStep.

** As stated above, some of the female characters manage to abandon the FauxActionGirl category eventually. The best example is Momiji, who gets captured in ''Dragon Sword'', but gets to be a full-blown ActionGirl in ''Sigma 2''. And by the time of ''Ninja Gaiden III'', she spends a whole level [[BackToBackBadasses fighting alongside Ryu]] almost as an equal.

* DeathOrGloryAttack: ''Razor's Edge'' turned the stee-on-bone attacks into this. If you time it right, you can one-hit-kill an enemy before he grabs you − and repeat the attack on nearby enemies (a max-upgraded allows up to 4 kills in a row), and regain a tiny bit of health. If you don't, well, [[CaptainObvious he grabs you]].

''Ninja Gaiden'' is an action game series produced by Creator/{{Tecmo}} (now known as Creator/{{Koei}} Tecmo) centering around Ryu Hayabusa, a {{ninja}} from the Dragon Clan, who gets involved with [[GovernmentConspiracy government conspiracies,]] kicks loads of ass and slaughters legions of supernatural beings along the way.

There was also a set of licensed versions produced by Sega for their consoles in 1992. Rather than being ports of the previous Tecmo versions, Sega produced three different games that were unique to each platform. The UsefulNotes/GameGear version had the widest release of these versions, being available in North America, Europe and Japan (where it was released under the ''Ninja Gaiden'' banner instead of the usual ''Ninja Ryukenden''), while the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem version was available exclusively in Europe. The UsefulNotes/MegaDrive version, which was a beat-'em-up similar to the arcade game, was never released, but was leaked in the form of a pirated version that was still [[ObviousBeta in an unfinished state]].

** ''Ninja Gaiden Shadow'' (Game Boy) --> ''Ninja Gaiden'' (Xbox) --> ''Dragon Sword'' --> ''Ninja Gaiden II'' --> ''Ninja Gaiden 3'' --> ''Ninja Gaiden'' (NES) --> ''The Ancient Ship of Doom'' --> ''The Dark Sword of Chaos'' --> ''Ninja Ryukenden'' OVA --> ''Dead or Alive'' series

* AppropriatedTitle: The original incarnation of the franchise was known as ''Ninja Ryukenden'' (Ninja Dragon Sword Story) in Japan and ''Shadow Warriors'' in Europe. When Team Ninja rebooted the series, they chose to stick with one title worldwide instead of having a different {{market based title}} for each region. This caused a side effect which led to the Japanese versions of the game being easier to distinguish (the older series is known as ''Ninja Ryūkenden'', while the rebooted version is ''Ninja Gaiden''), a privilege not afforded to American fans.

* GratuitousJapanese: The original Japanese version was titled ''Ninja Ryukenden'' (''Ninja Dragon Sword Story''), so the localization's title almost makes it seem like a GaidenGame when it isn't at all.

* KeepItForeign: The series' international title of ''Ninja Gaiden'' was chosen because Tecmo thought ''Ninja Ryukenden'' was hard to pronounce for Westerners. Interestingly, evidence seems to suggest that ''Ninja Gaiden'' was actually the original title (since the original arcade game was developed as a parody of American ninja films and their misunderstanding of Japanese culture), with ''Ninja Ryukenden'' being something Tecmo came up later due to the original title being too nonsensical for Japanese players.
* LargeAndInCharge: In both the NES trilogy and modern games, the bosses literally loom over Ryu Hayabusa. But just like [[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar Kenshiro]], [[{{VideoGame/Doom}} the Doomguy]], [[{{VideoGame/Metroid}} Samus Aran]] and [[{{Franchise/Castlevania}} the Belmont Clan]], size means jack shit to our resident superninja, as he can and will carve a path through his enemies.

''Ninja Gaiden'' is an action game series produced by Creator/{{Tecmo}} (now known as Creator/{{Koei}} Tecmo) centering around Ryu Hayabusa, a {{ninja}} from the Dragon Clan, who gets involved with government conspiracies, kicks loads of ass and slaughters legions of supernatural beings along the way.