Ryu Hayabusa, Pixeldom's most famed Ninja
Games which feature Ryu Hayabusa:
- Ninja Gaiden (Arcade, 1988, Mega Drive, 1991)
- Ninja Gaiden (NES, 1989, Atari Lynx,1990, DOS, 1990, Game Gear, 1991 Sega Master System, 1992)
- Ninja Gaiden Shadow (GameBoy, 1991)
- Ninja Gaiden 2, Dark Sword of Chaos (NES, 1991, DOS, 1992)
- Ninja Gaiden 3, The Ancient Ship of Doom (NES, 1991, Atari Lynx, 1991)
- Ninja Ryukenden (TurboGrafx-16, 1992)
- Ninja Gaiden Trilogy (SNES, 1995)
- Dead or Alive (Arcade, Sega Saturn, PSX/PlayStation, 1997)
- Dead or Alive 2 (Arcade, Dreamcast, PS2, 1999
- Dead or Alive 3 (XBox, 2001)
- Ninja Gaiden (XBox, 2004)
The preeminent ninja of classic video gaming, Ryu Hayabusa is an unstoppable flurry of blades, a hail of shurikens, a storm of pinwheeling flame! While the importance of Ninja Gaiden as a game cannot be understated, it is Ryu who was immortalized in the Valhalla of video game hereoes (Standing comfortably next to the Bionic Commando and Mario Mario, no doubt). Each game put in him in increasingly contrived situations (Usually centering around Dragon Blades, demon lords or some other equally cliche bit of ninja danger). Often, he was haunted by the death or dissapearence of his father (In the original his name was Ken. As of the Turbo-Grafx 16 remake it was Joe. The recent XBox release calls him Joe, though offers no further evidence that he may or may not be alive).
Whether 8, 16 or 128 bits, Ryu Hayabusa continues to hack, slash and ravage hordes of foes across the history of videogaming. Further details of his exploits can be found in any of the linked nodes.
Sources: http://www.classicgaming.com/ninjagaiden/frames.html