Ninja Gaiden

STORY / GAMEPLAY
The Atari Lynx version of Ninja Gaiden is a faithful translation of the original arcade game. It's a beat 'em up game like the Double Dragon series where you fight against similar looking, incoming attackers through various, extremely difficult levels. As a game, Ninja Gaiden doesn't break any new ground; its real strength is actually its solid arcade action! It has a classic, simple gameplay, a few different moves, power-ups and, as far as handheld consoles go, it translates well onto the Lynx. It's not the smoothest game we ever played on the console, but it's incredibly playable. Note that the Lynx version is a far different game compared to the Nintendo, Sega Master System and Game Gear version regarding their graphics, story and gameplay. It surely is tough to play and sometimes frustrating, but it's also a game that showcases the Lynx's capabilities.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The Atari Lynx version offers some fantastic graphics and sound. The backgrounds (and the sprites) are nicely drawn, carrying most of the original's details! The sprites may seem to move a bit awkward, but I believe that this is a cons found in almost all Ninja Gaiden conversions. The sound is nice, featuring really interesting music scores and some basic sound effects. In our opinion, we think that the Lynx version is by far the best among most of the 8bit (and 16 bit) versions (except of the Amiga, for sure!)