Demon Sword is at the very least an interesting game. It definitely has its fans in the NES world, but I'm not really one of them. I bought this game mainly because I didn't know where I stood on its ridiculous gameplay and ninja antics. I know now and soon you will too.
As always the elephant in the room in discussing Demon Sword or its sister game Legend of Kage are the jumps that make wire fighting look physically plausible. By pressing the up button once on your controller you will be able to soar above the treetops by making a jump that would be impossible for even the most bionic of men (or women). Another push of the up button and you'll be high above the trees and into the clear blue sky where not a single interesting thing happens.
Because of the vast heights that you can jump to, it is often difficult to figure out where you should be and who you should be killing in this game. This is not a great feature for a martial arts beat 'em up. Of course Demon Sword has its followers who aren't bothered by the crazy high-flying antics featured in this game, but I have only seen these people online and have yet to meet one in real life. I can see how fans of Crouching tiger Hidden Dragon might develop an affinity for this game, but I assume these people are in the minority.
You start and stay as a man in a dress, and as you play you pick up pieces of the Demon Sword. Your sword is stubby and fairly ineffective at first, but as you beat a few bosses and whatnot, it'll grow in size and effectiveness. That's basically the point of the whole game: kill bad guys, kill bosses, collect sword pieces, wear a dress. Not only is the gameplay crazy and unrealistic, it's also boring. You'll beat up the same bad guy again and again. It just gets stale very quickly.
Let me take a moment and say a nice thing or two about this game and the fine people at Taito who made it. They took a chance. They really tried to go big on this one, and you can't say they didn't give their all. Demon Sword is at least playable, so it's better than Super Pitfall. It's not a complete train wreck and I can see how white guys with too much time on their hands and an obsession with all things Asian might enjoy this game. I just really didn't have fun with it. I played it and it wasn't fun. What more can I say?
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