[Editor's note: RJB talks about how he'll keep going back to Ninja Gaiden until he beats the game flawlessly for his Monthly Musing. -- CTZ]

Why would anyone subject themselves to this torture, time after time? Because I can.

I can finish Ninja Gaiden on NES. I can do it with no continues. I cannot, however, do it in one life. I almost made it, once, but I died against that bastard Jacquio.

And that's what keeps me coming back.

Ninja Gaiden is a series well known for its brutal difficulty. While the recent 360 title might have gone too far and relied on cheap tricks, like infinite staggers and juggles, to defeat you (a problem exacerbated by the ridiculous camera) the original Ninja Gaiden on NES relies purely on skill and timing to get through.

[Editor's note: RJG tells us how Zelda II was the start of his affair. -- CTZ]

The game I love most is a game reviled by many, for reasons I could lecture on endlessly. From the thought that it's not a “real” Zelda game, due to the radically different play style (despite the fact that at two games deep, there was no real Zelda formula). Or that it was too hard, and people are pussies, and that maybe falling in to water and drowning because you're carrying half a damned kingdom on an invisible tool belt makes people cry because life is unfair.

Anyway, the game that started my love affair is Zelda II, and it taught me some very important lessons about life. Zelda II taught me that less is more. I'm not just talking about the presentation, which, at 8-bit beauty, is simplicity in itself. I'm not talking about the shrill tones of the four-layered MIDI soundtrack, so that the sound effect when you're on low health or shooting energy from your sword takes up one channel and a quarter of the musical score disappears.

No, I'm talking about the story. It has everything, but it has nothing. It has a boy hero, not yet a man, but already proven on the field of battle. Having saved Hyrule previously Link, now sixteen, gets a strange mark on his hand, signaling his true destiny is about to unfold. As you can see here, Link's exploits in the original Legend of Zelda only covered so much ground. Now, in Zelda II, there is a lot of land to cover.