The (modern) ninja gaiden series.

[Elton John]

There are the old nes ninja gaiden games, and there was the reinvention of the franchise with ninja gaiden on the xbox by team ninja lead by a man named tomonobu itagaki.

As a warning, these games are some of the most graphically violent games i have played. Not for the squemish.

Ninja gaiden black on the xbox is what i consider to be the best action game ever made. Hard on normal, brutal on master ninja difficulty this game combined deep silky smooth fast paced combat with smart enemies. Any enemy no matter how minor was a threat if you didn't pay close attention.

You also had a wide variety of tools at your disposal. The game also had a bit of exploration which was abandoned in later entries.

itagaki left team ninja after ninja gaiden 2 xbox 360 released due to tecmo not paying him and several others what they were owed. He formed valhalla studios and was working on a game called devils third to be published by thq until they went under and now it's published by nintendo exclusively for the wii u.

Ninja gaiden 2 was good, but not great. Ninja gaiden 3 was.... Not an enjoyable game.