I first played this game on the NES, it was rather cool and from what I remember it had a bit more depth to it than the Genesis version. However, as I have not played that version in a long time I will stick to only reviewing the second incarnation that I played. That is the one found on the Genesis and it was totally epic. I was amazed by the graphics at the time and the game is easy to pick up and start slicing your way through the hordes of enemies. Though the game is not without flaws as it is to short for a game you would of paid quite a bit of money for when it was initially released. One can easily when this game in less than an hour.
The story has you as a ninja named Hiryu Strider, out to defeat this all powerful being from the third moon. At least that is what I can gather from the few cut scenes that usually are at the tail end of every stage. You must battle your way through the Soviet Union, some strange ice area, on a giant battle ship, a huge jungle and finally the third moon itself! Each stage usually has two or more boss type characters to face off against to. The game comes at you fast and rarely lets up.
The controls are simple, you jump with one button and attack with another. It is not all that hard to pick up. Then you are going through the game battling a very wide assortment of villains. In the first stage alone you must battle a Soviet strongman, a strange laser cannon and the Soviet council that turns into a giant hammer and sickle wielding centipede robot thing! The music is also outstanding. It changes multiple times during a level and always fits the moment. Though at times it cuts out because the area it covers is so small right when it is getting good. This happens most notably in the jungle area while you are jumping on the dinosaur. The music is great, but cuts off too soon as the boss makes its appearance.
The game is short, only consisting of like five stages. Being that it is an arcade port that is not entirely surprising. It was worth a rental back in the day, but I would of hated to pay full price for it considering once you get good at it you can win it in like 30 minutes. However, these days if you collect games like I do you can get a cartridge for less than ten bucks and I think that it is worth owning this very epic game at that price.
So this game is fun, the music grand, but it is short. Still, all in all it made the Genesis console look great especially before the release of the SNES.