Former speedrunner bias: This legendary precision platformer is a top-tier NES speed game. It's an absolute pleasure to run, jamming through the game, jumping and slashing without stopping - it's almost made for it. Anyone can easily bring their completion time under 20 minutes with a little routing and practice, which is a huge difference compared to the often multi-hour casual or blind playthrough. Learning good strategy and executing it enhances the experience of playing, and I'd recommend any fans of the game or other classic platformers to give it shot. It's just a fun run.

Sadly at a certain point, the RNG of the final boss and a few weird physics elements give it tarnish. Ninja Gaiden 2 is an improvement here, plus with its levels and mechanics being a bit more polished, it comes out on top as the better speed game. That said, the first one is close behind it.

Played live at SGDQ 2013 and various smaller events over the next few years. Created romhack "Ninja Gaiden Master" in like 2014. Personal best time is 12:17.