Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos

better but still too hard

On the gameplay level I have to admit that this is a pretty typically lazy give'-em-more-of-the-same sequel. But it just so happens that in this case what they're ladling me more of just happens to be pretty damn good, so the end result is still perfectly playable. The game also has the unique distinction of having probably my favorite opening cutscene of the entire NES library.