Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden may have started off as an arcade game but the NES version of Ninja Gaiden is really what made the series popular. They were released at about the same time with the NES version featuring simplified graphics yet faster gameplay. A few years later the series was remade and remastered for the SNES as part of Ninja Gaiden Trilogy.
Although the superiority of the Super Nintendo versions is debatable due to slowdown and some censorship on Nintendo’s part, this version is highly sought after.