Back in elementary school, my friends and I became diabolical experts at folding paper throwing stars and then hucking ‘em at each other’s heads. But nowadays, thanks to a surge in ninja videogames, one doesn’t have to risk the end of fun & games if someone loses an eye.

Ninja games have been around for pretty much ever—Shinobi and Ninja Gaiden and the fantastic four-player Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were arcade and Nintendo hits back in the mid-80s—and the genre seems as popular now as ever been.

The anime-based Naruto series made a solid entry into North America with Ubisoft’s recent Rise of a Ninja. Atlus ported over the hilariously titled DS dungeon-crawler Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja last year and has a sequel set to drop next month. Toronto indie developers Metanet took their award-winning N+ (which combines nonviolent ninja physics with the look of prehistoric classic Lode Runner) to Xbox Live and are now prepping a PSP release for next month, as well.

The worst in recent memory are probably Genji: Day of the Blade, a PS3 launch title with an infuriating camera and “historically-accurate” giant enemy crabs, and the 360-exclusive Tenchu Z which mixed a nonsensical plot with non-fun stealth assassinations.

Arguably, the best of the bunch have been from Tecmo's Team Ninja who resurrected the action-oriented Gaiden series, eschewing any pretense of stealthiness in favour of straight-up swordplay, wall-running, ninja star-throwing and overall ultra-violent mayhem. The 2004 original was an Xbox classic—famed for a difficulty level that could lead you to commit hara-kari—and, to be honest, the new now-gen sequel doesn’t add much to the equation except perhaps an easier "acolyte" setting for less adept gamers.

See, Ninja Gaiden II is all about combos...you can’t simply slide through on frenzied button-mashing. There’s not much more to the game, really, other than sharp graphics and finely-detailed fighting. But that’s cool—sometimes you don’t need a deep storyline or revolutionary design. Sometimes you just wanna walk down a hall, kill a roomful of ninjas and demons (and ninja demons) in the most spectacular manner imaginable, slaughter their boss in an epic, blood-soaked battle and then wash, rinse and repeat.