Strider — Acrobatic Ninja, Global Stakes
Hiryu, the Cypher blade, and flips across the world.
Capcom's Strider (1989) put you in the boots of Hiryu, an agile future-ninja wielding the plasma Cypher blade, leaping and flipping through a globe-trotting espionage plot full of cinematic flourishes.
The NES version is its own beast: more exploration-driven than the arcade game, with a map, dialogue, and items to find. It's tough and a little cryptic, but the sheer style of Hiryu's acrobatics, the cliff-scaling, and the boss fights made it unforgettable.
Strider would go on to bigger fame in arcades and on other systems, but this is where a lot of us first met him. Pure cool.