I loved the arcade version of Ninja Gaiden but just could not get into the NES version, I can't even call it a port it is a completely different game.

I had a friend that loved that series on NES and could not stand the arcade game. He would play it relentlessly when I would visit. He let me try maybe once per his three to five game overs so I never really had a chance to learn it. I just knew enough that I wasn't spending my allowance on a copy of my own.

Later when I saw the Atari Lynx port of the arcade game, I contemplated getting a Lynx (I was working a part time job at the time) but after some basic math I decided that would be a bad investment (I was making like $4 an hour and the Lynx was $180).

To put that in perspective to today, I was making just under $10 an hour and the Lynx was $450. No brainer that I would get tired of the game LONG before I saved versus going to the arcade on the weekends and playing $3 to $5 in quarters.