The game that got me into gaming. The shining light of all C64 games.
At the time there had never been anything quite this grand. It looked sensational, it was played from an isometric perspective, it required puzzle solving as well as combat, you could use various ninja weapons, you could climb walls and jump across stones in creeks. In short, this broke the mould of what was expected from a game at the time. It took the standard issue platform ninja games (there was plenty) and dug graves for all of them.
Now I've gotta be honest, I don't even know if there was a storyline, but this had absolutely no impact on the game. You are a ninja, kicking serious hide and solving puzzles as you run around Japanese inspired scenery to suitably Japanese styled music. There was a variety of weapons to find including a sword, nunchakus, a staff (easily the weapon of choice), smoke bombs, shuriken and even a molotov cocktail.
There was also a variety of levels including Japanese gardens, a dungeon, and a Japanese temple. The game seemed huge at the time, although now it seems tiny... I remember playing this with my best friend at the time. We started at midday, stayed up 'til about 5am in the morning, woke up at 9am, and completed the game at about 4am the following morning. It really shouldn't have taken that long, but anyone who has played it will confirm that it's not as easy as it looks... Particularly jumping across creeks.
Even after completing this game, I knew I had to get my own copy. This led me to buying my first ever console, the Commodore 64...
In short, it was simply brilliant for it's time. One of my personal favourites and a genuine classic.