features of previous Ninja Gaiden games which included ninja arts (but they lamented at the lack of the "jump and slash", absent from Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos) and similar usage of cinematic cutscenes that made the original Ninja Gaiden game popular. They also particularly praised the new moves Ryu had as well as an excellent plot. GamePro magazine previewed the game in August. They said that the game's visuals were good and on par with the previous titles and that the scrolling was great. The game was released in Japan on for the Famicom under the title Ninja Ryūkenden III: Yomi no Hakobune; it was released in North America for the NES in August. It was ported to the Atari Lynx in 1993 by Atari, and then Tecmo re-released the game as part of its Ninja Gaiden Trilogy Super NES compilation in 1995. It was released for the Wii's Virtual Console service in North America on . The game was featured in Electronic Gaming Monthlys July 1991 issue as an "EGM Exclusive". They praised the game, saying that "Ninja Gaiden gets better every time!" It was also one of the featured games in the August issue of Nintendo Power, where it received 11 pages of coverage, which included a full walkthrough of the first four Acts plus a brief plot overview of the entire game. It was in this issue where Ninja Gaiden III was purported to be the final Ninja Gaiden game by Tecmo. As in their preview, they gave praise to the action, gameplay, elaborate plot, and difficulty. GamePro reviewed the game in its September issue. The magazine gave the game top ratings in all categories except sound. They noted the difficulty level as being dictated by the enemies' strategic placements in the various environments; they added that while Act 1 is easy, the remainder of the game is very difficult. The review praised the usage and usefulness of the secondary weapons, Ryu's new ability to hang overhead, and the new addition of the sword power-up, which it said bore resemblance to the game Strider. They slightly criticized the game for leaving out the "cloning" power-up from Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos as well as the limited continues and lack of passwords. In March 1992, Ninja Gaiden III received three nominations in the "Nintendo Power Awards '91" in the following NES-related