saigo no nindou

Saigo no Nindou (最後の忍道 Saigou no Nindou), known outside of Japan as Ninja Spirit, is a 1988 platform, hack-and-slash, action arcade video game developed and published by Irem.

The game's hero, Gekkou, is a young ninja who lost his father to a mysterious half-man half-beast creature. The plot of Ninja Spirit is based on the quest of his revenge in an alternative feudal Japan.

Ninja Spirit was successfully ported onto multiple platforms. The most popular port is the TurboGrafx-16 format which includes two styles of mode: the PC Engine mode which provides a lengthy healthbar, and the Arcade mode, which is a more challenging mode where the ninja dies with the slightest contact. That version was ported to the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console on May 14, 2007, was delisted on March 30, 2012 and was available again on September 17, 2013 in Japan and on September 19, 2013 in North America and Europe.

Ninja Spirit later appeared in the Japan-only Game Boy title, Shuyaku Sentai Irem Fighter along with other characters from the game, as well as characters from three other Irem franchises: R-Type, Mr. Heli and Hammerin' Harry.

Ninja Spirit for the Turbografx-16 is notable because it was the first game in history to receive a perfect score (10) in a video game magazine, The 1991 Video Game Buyer's Guide by Electronic Gaming Monthly, in 1990.