time, which was pressing a series of buttons on the title screen to enable various sound tests. The same year, Electronic Gaming Monthly listed the NES version as 88th on their "100 Best Games of All Time", saying it was "easily the best" of the three Ninja Gaiden games which had been released at this point, citing its gameplay, storyline, music, and the body-splitting ability. They said they were not including the SNES compilation in the listing because they felt the changes it made to the gameplay and music made the game worse. In 2012 GamesRadar ranked it the 20th best NES game ever made. The staff felt that it was a large improvement over its predecessor due to improved gameplay, audio, visuals, and control. In a retrospective review, Allgame editor Aaron Kosydar praised the game. He described the graphics in some scenes (such as the train level) as "astonishing for the NES". Kosydar stated that the game was fun, but mild criticism was noted for the difficulty, describing the final boss as "nearly impossible". Ninja Gaiden II was reviewed again in 2007 when the game was released for the Virtual Console and received some praise as well as criticism from reviewers. Austin Shau from GameSpot compared the game with the first Ninja Gaiden game as examples of "mean-spirited games" on the NES with high, unforgiving difficulty and excellent controls and gameplay. He applauded Tecmo's artistic detail in the cutscenes, saying that it enhances the storyline and offsets the tedious dialogue. He said that the visuals are better than those in the first game with the usage of "dynamic environments" such as speeding trains, and he praised the game's fast-paced sound. He and IGN's Lucas Thomas praised the improvement in the controls from its predecessor, more specifically Ryu's ability to freely climb up and down walls and use special weapons while on the walls. Thomas enjoyed the game's "chief innovation" of Ryu's ability to clone himself and use them to take care of enemies – something in which he says "make progressing through levels and taking down bosses much easier and quicker". Reviewers said that the game's difficulty remains high for players as with the previous Ninja Gaiden game. Shau noted that the game is still difficult as was its predecessor but that the sequel is slightly easier. Thomas stated that the sequel is not any easier to beat than