Oni V: Innin No Tsugumono on Game Boy is one of those ninja games that actually makes you feel like a sneaky, shadow-dashing warrior. Right off the bat, you're thrown into this moody feudal Japan setting where every flickering torch and bamboo grove hides either a secret path or some dude waiting to shuriken you in the face.

The controls are surprisingly smooth for a Game Boy title—you’ve got your basic slashes and jumps, but the real fun starts when you unlock the ninpo techniques. I remember wasting like five minutes just spamming the fire wheel jutsu because, well, setting enemies on fire never gets old. The sprites are chunky in that classic handheld way, but the animations for backflips and stealth kills have this satisfying snap to them.

What surprised me was how much story they crammed in here—between missions, there’s actually some decent (if slightly garbled) dialogue about clan betrayals and cursed artifacts. Not exactly Shakespeare, but way more effort than most action games at the time. Just don’t expect the password save system to do you any favors.

If you’ve got a soft spot for retro ninja action with a side of melodrama, this one’s a hidden gem.