Ninja Spirit

Ninja Spirit (最後の忍道, Saigo no Nindou: Ninja Spirit in Japan) is a horizontal platform video game created in 1990 by Irem.

Story
The game is about a ninja named Moonlight who lost his father to a mysterious half-man half-beast creature. The game plot is based on the quest of his revenge in feudal Japan.

Gameplay
There are a total of 7 stages varying from woodlands, wastelands, swamps, temples and cliffs. Each stage begins with the player slashing his way to the end, until he confronts a boss. The ninja is always armed with a katana blade which can be fluidly used to attack in all directions. Extra weapons include shuriken, bombs, sickles and chains. Powerups such as having multiple ghost ninjas to assist you are common.

There are two styles of mode: the PC engine mode which provides a lengthy healthbar, and the Arcade mode, which is a more challenging mode where the ninja dies with the slightest contact.

Port
The game was successfully ported onto multiple platforms, with the TurboGrafx-16 format being the most popular. It did not however have a large fanbase at the time. It was mainly overshadowed by bigger franchises like Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi. The solid gameplay did hold its own, but the lack of an indepth story, spinoffs or sequel prevented it from expanding to the next generation of systems.