For my entire life, i've never fully gave Ninja Gaiden a try. One time, I got up to Act 4, said "nah" and stopped playing. Just a few months ago, I tried the Special edition on NSO, got destroyed by the masked devil, then tried 6-1 and ALSO got destroyed (for some reason, my dumbass was trying to outrun the enemies, so no shit I couldn't do it) then said "nah" and once again quit. Recently, i've been playing some games people would label 'NES hard' like Castlevania, Mega Man 1, Ghosts n Goblins etc. I always saw Ninja Gaiden mentioned when people talked about hard games, so I thought, why not just put an effort in? If it gets too hard and I lose motivation, I could just use save states (which I didn't end up needing to use).
Now, after finishing it a few minutes ago, I want to beat the shit out of my old self.

I ADORE this game. The controls, the music, the special weapons, the level design, its all nearly flawless. Alot of peoples main problem however, was the difficultly.

Now, i'm not gonna try to say this game isn't hard, since I would be disrespecting my 7 hours of playtime, but what I can say is that 5 of those hours were in Act 6, which is really where the complaints of difficulty come from.

The game does start showing signs of bullshit at Act 5, but really shows its insides at Act 6, which is ridiculously hard, on your first few tries atleast. If you don't know, dying on any of the last 3 bosses sends you back to the start of 6-1, and makes you do the whole act over. Its one of the most infamous fuck you's in all of gaming.

However, I don't hate that feature as much as others. The first time, it was soul crushing, but over time, I practiced Act 6, every-time i would note something new to do on a boss or enemy. Using that special weapon there, or jumping over an enemy instead of attacking, it became like nirvana.

Obviously, there are still bullshit like Jaquio, which is one of the hardest bosses on the entire system, but he can be by-passed with spin-slash, one more thing, if you killed one of the last three bosses, but die to the next, you don't have to re-fight it.

The game is extremely generous overall, when you game over, you're sent back to the start of the stage instead of the act, plus spin-slash can kill nearly all bosses with one use.

I just love this game, I even love the flaws.
One of the games that shows that the NES isn't just an outdated machine.

just a note, while searching up how to kill jaquio, i found a post on a forum saying "how do i kill myself painlessly?" and honestly bro? until i got the spin-slash, same.

I feel bad giving this game such a low rating, since i like alot about it. The different endings, the gritty tone, the experimental music, the ability to run, and the fact that its more story driven than the previous games. And then i remember that samurai boss with like 9 health bars, and I suddenly don't feel bad anyone.

Jesus Christ, this game is hard. Hard is an understatement. This game is FUCKING hard. Hell, i've even heard some people say that streets of rage 2 on mania is easier than this game on normal mode. And while i only beat streets 2 on normal, i wouldn't be surprised if it is. On top of that, those motherfuckers over at Sega hated children so much that they made it so if your playing on easy mode, the game ends at stage 5, and you aren't able to progress any further.
They also decided to bring back Mona and Lisa as the stage 2 boss. Fucking BS. They aren't as hard as they were in streets 1, but still.

Unless you want your life to be dedicated to beating this, I would recommend using the 9 lives and round select cheats if you want to get any ending other than the bad ending on easy.
I've heard that Bare Knuckle 3, the Japanese version, is easier, so once i get my hands on a translated rom, ill be able to give my true thoughts on this game.

For now, fuck it.