[n 1] The series gained popularity on the NES for its tight action-platform gameplay, catchy music and, according to G4's X-Play, for being the first console game to have the story presented in cinematic cutscenes.

[4] The arcade version of Ninja Gaiden (released in 1988, in Japan, North America, and Europe)[5] was a Bad Dudes-style beat 'em up, in which the player controls a nameless blue ninja (red for a second player) as he travels to various regions of the United States, to defeat an evil cult led by a descendant of Nostradamus, who is trying to fulfill his ancestor's prophecy of the rise of an evil king in 1999.

The player fights primarily with their bare hands, although a sword can be used for a limited time as a power-up; they can use overhead environmental objects as a prop from which he can deliver more powerful kicking attacks.

[7] The original Ninja Gaiden arcade game was ported to the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, and ZX Spectrum.

The first Ninja Gaiden for the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in Japan on December 9, 1988, in the United States in March 1989, and in Europe on August 15, 1991.

Set in a retro-futuristic version of 1988, a ninja named Ryu Hayabusa finds a letter by his recently missing father, Ken, telling him to go to America and meet with an archaeologist Dr. Smith.

Ryu ends up in South America and battles Jaquio, an evil cult leader bent on reviving the ancient demon called "Jashin" and responsible for the attack on Ken Hayabusa.

The game introduced many of the series' staples, including cinematic cutscenes, the boomerang-like Windmill Shuriken, and the magical techniques called Ninja Arts.

Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos was ported by GameTek for IBM PC compatibles and the Amiga, both for their release in North America.

The third game, titled Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom features rogue secret agents, genetic engineering and the eponymous warship.

The gameplay is largely unchanged and more is revealed about Foster, the CIA agent who sent Ryu after Jaquio in the first game and his true intentions towards the ninja.

[citation needed] The main story of the game involves Ryu Hayabusa setting out on a quest to retrieve the Dark Dragon Blade from the hands of evil after most of his clan was wiped out.

The title was developed over five years by Team Ninja under the direction of Tomonobu Itagaki and eventually released to high sales and critical acclaim, having a 94% score on Metacritic.

Later, another updated version directed by Yosuke Hayashi was made for the PlayStation 3 as Ninja Gaiden Sigma, released on July 3, 2007.

It added a few new costumes for the playable characters, touch controls and making ninpo attacks stronger, and a new trophy list for the game.

An Unreal Engine 5 remaster that combines features from the original game and Sigma 2, titled Ninja Gaiden II Black, was simultaneously announced and released on January 23, 2025 for PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S.

Information about the game in the coming months revealed that the new director, Yosuke Hayashi, would be taking the series to new directions, including the addition of "resistance" in cutting through enemies.

Changes to gameplay included removing dismemberment, replacing the roll with a new "slide" maneuver, and a "kunai climb" technique that would allow Ryu to scale certain walls.

In February 2020, Nioh 2 director Fumihiko Yasuda stated that several members of Team Ninja were interested in making a new game, and that he "[hoped] to deliver some good news one day".

[17] In 2024, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty director Masakazu Hirayama stated in an interview that there were currently "no plans at the moment" to revisit Ninja Gaiden.

[18] However, a new entry in the modern series with Hirayama as the co-director was announced during Microsoft Gaming's Xbox Developer Direct video presentation in January 2025.

[22][23] It was planned to be a belt scroll-style beat-'em-up similar to the arcade version of Ninja Gaiden, instead of following the side-scrolling platform game format from the NES trilogy.

The Mega Drive version is not a port of the arcade game, but some of the stages (such as a casino) and enemy characters (like the hockey mask-wearing punks) are similar,[25] though the play mechanics are very different.

It is developed by the Spanish indie studio The Game Kitchen and will be published by Dotemu, in association with Koei Tecmo, in 2025 for consoles and PC.

The NES version of Ninja Gaiden received a novelization in the Worlds of Power series which had books based on other current Nintendo games.