20 Video Game Enemies Designed To RUIN Your Day
16. Birds - Ninja Gaiden (NES)
It's quite possible, and perhaps there should be a study into this, that no other game series is responsible for more broken controllers than Ninja Gaiden. From its brutal side-scrolling beginnings, all the way up to the intense and frenetic hack-and-slash gameplay of the more modern entries, this series has carved out of a niche for itself as a truly hardcore experience that is not for the faint hearted.
There's tons of enemies that could qualify for this list, but the birds from the original NES game are the ones that are still giving players nightmares.
These enemies aren't big, they aren't strong, but chances are, they're responsible for more player deaths than any other. Often lurking just out of sight and then bolting at you with zero hesitation, the birds in the original game love nothing more than interrupting your perfectly timed jumps across chasms.
Their sudden spawn-in attacks and precision in taking you out, may make it seem like the game is unfair, however the most dedicated players will find that simple trial-and-error will get them past these winged foes. However, the wounds run deep from the sheer amount of game-overs these little feathery devils have caused over the years.