~ NINJA SPIRIT ~
I've always thought of Ninja Spirit as an extremely cool game. It's like Irem took the few decent concepts that Legend of Kage had going for it (mainly the wild jumping) and placed them in a context where the fundamentals are actually sound. Some of the bosses are embarrassingly easy, but most of them look pretty darn cool, and the music that augments the battles is wonderfully fast and intense. In fact, the soundtrack on the whole is superb.
High-flying leaps, ceiling walking, multiple weapons, and impressive enemies contribute to Ninja Spirit's high fun factor, which makes up for its lack of difficulty (and note that its "Arcade" mode is significantly tougher than its "PC Engine" mode and does feature an extra ending scene). As far as old-school ninja games go, I'd say NS doesn't come close to the amazing Shinobi III, but it can hold its own against any of the rest.
The tragic opening.
NEC was very proud of this big boss back in the day. He appeared in lots of ads and preview/review screens.
You can defeat some bosses with the powered-up bomb weapon before they even have a chance to attack you.
Moonlit Stage 3 has its fair share of challenging parts. First, musketmen try to sneak up on you while you concentrate on ghost warriors who can kill with a single slash...
...Then, these staff-twirling monks make nuisances of themselves in the marshlands. 
Do a little ceiling walking in Stage 4.
The Stage 6 stormlands look pretty cool and give you plenty of dangerous enemies to deal with.
The last stage's famous ninja pit. Note the (equally famous) safe spot.
The bit of ending text that appears for only a split second so that no one ever has enough time to read it.
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