Ninja Gaiden for Game Gear is a rather odd experience. It really doesn't feel much like a Ninja Gaiden game at all - at times I got more of a Strider vibe than anything, thanks to the fact you can attack while moving. The cramped screen dimensions means the level designs (particularly the intricacies of the platforming challenges) are kind of simplistic, which also contributes to the feeling of this game being just a bit off. It's also really weird to use your special weapons by pressing down+attack, instead of up+attack like it is in every other Ninja Gaiden platformer.

This game has the weirdest difficult curve, I swear. The first stage is a joke - especially the boss, who you can beat without taking any damage your first try, using an easily exploitable tricks that takes no effort to work out. The second stage is a bit more of a struggle - especially the second boss, who deals a ton of damage and can kill you in a couple hits. (by the way, this game's hit detection is really annoying - you have practically no i-frames, and can potentially die from one attack in a couple seconds if you get caught in an inopportune place). Then the third stage goes back to being really easy (albeit with an interesting vertical stage gimmick, feeling like an inversion of the bonus stages from Shadow Dancer on Genesis), with a third boss that is almost as easy as the first stage's? The fourth stage is a boss gauntlet, which is kind of annoying. Then the fifth and final stage can be pretty irritating to play through, followed by two easy final boss phases, and a third phase that's a bit more annoying. Oh, and you have no continues at all in this game, though there are a few extra lives to be found.

It's a weird one. This isn't a bad game, per se, and I don't dislike it, but I think it's pretty solidly the weakest Ninja Gaiden game I've played yet. As far as Ninja Gaiden games on Sega platforms are concerned, I think the Master System game delivers a stronger experience.