Ninja Gaiden has become some strange sort of initiation rite for self-proclaimed hardcore gamers. "You don't like it? You're simply not good at it!" seems to be the tagline. While that might be true in some cases, it's also a very annoying rhetorical trick to turn every criticism of the game into a proof of the reviewers assumed wimpness.

Of all the hideous monsters and hellspawn that haunt Tecmo's third-person action game Ninja Gaiden—mace-weilding zombies, giant fire-breathing worms, faceless samurai—nothing frightened me more than demon hunter Rachel's ridiculously oversized breasts. No kidding. When I first encountered them—they're seriously the size of small Third World countries—I let out a ninja-like cry—something like "Aiieeeee!"—then braced myself (left trigger! left trigger!) for their attack.