Sega Ninja

Sega Ninja, known as Ninja Princess in Japan is an arcade game released in 1985 by Sega.

Plot
Princess Kurumi's castle has been taken over by a traitorous retainer, Zaemon Gyokuro and she herself is kidnapped being carried away by his men.

Princess Kurumi escapes, transforming herself into a kunoichi and sets about saving her home and putting a stop to Gyokuro's takeover.

Gameplay
Sega Ninja is one of the earliest run and gun games.

Kurumi is able to shoot throwing knives in eight directions as she travels across her kingdom fending off ninja assassins as she does so. These knives can be upgraded via a power up into a much larger shuriken projectile. To help her stay alive, she is also capable of using ninja arts to temporarily disappear, allowing projectiles to fly through her harmlessly.

Every so often a slightly different style of map will occur where Princess Kurumi must dodge bolders being thrown upon her, dodge a stampede of horses, climb a stone wall or cross raging rivers all whilst still fending off ninja assassins as she does so.

Trivia

 * This game became known as 'The Ninja ' on Sega's Master System, where Princess Kurumi was replaced with a male protagonist called Kazamaru who is out to save Kurumi instead.
 * Princess Kurumi is one of the many SEGA AGES cameos and is unlockable as a score card girl in SEGA AGES: Columns II's Jewel Case.
 * Sega Ninja was one of the very first Run and Gun games.
 * Sega Ninja was also one of the very first games to star a female protagonist.