Welcome to Activision's "The Last Ninja"

Story
        In typical japanese-shogun-flic style, you are the last living member
of your clan after they were brutally slaughtered by the bad guys. So now, 
you seek to exact revenge. Pretty neat, huh ;)

This game was released in 1987 for the Commodore 64, but was quickly ported
to the up and coming game platform, the IBM-clone. This game supports CGA,
EGA, and Tandy 16 color graphics. There is joystick support ( and I recommend
it ), but you can also use the keypad.

I guess I'll describe the keyboard usage ( The joystick is almost the same.
Whenever I reference the Shift key, it's the same as the joystick button.):

        7       8       9       1,3,7,9   Movement along the path (diagonal)
           \    |    /          2,4,6,8   "Precise Positioning"
                                5         Stop Moving        
        4  -    5    -  6       

           /    |    \
        1       2       3

        Note: movement is relative to your facing.

Fighting
( if a weapon heading does not use all keypad directions, see the section on
Fighting Without a Weapon.)
        Without a Weapon
                Shift + 1/3/7/9         Duck under a blow
                Shift + 4/6/8           Various punches
                Shift + 2               Kick
        With Sword or Staff
                Shift + 6               Stab opponent's torso (ouch !)
                Shift + 8               Stab opponent's head
                Shift + 4               Slash
                Shift + 1/3/7/9         Block
        With Nunchakas
                Shift + 1/3/7/9         Block
                Shift + 6               Strike opponent's head
                Shift + 4               Slash
        With Smoke Bomb or Shuriken
                Shift + 4               Throw item

Somersaults
        This is a REALLY over-emphasized skill you need to know in the game.
There are sections that can only be passed by balancing precariously over a
steaming lava flow or a raging river.
        
        *There are three distances you can jump: long, moderate, and short.
        
        *For all jumps, you should be moving in the direction you wish to go.
        
        *All jump button combinations depend on the direction you're facing.

        Long            Shift + 8/2
        Moderate        Shift + 7/9/1/3
        Short           Shift + 6/4

Picking Up Objects
        When you enter a screen on which an object you need is located, it 
will flash white. IMPORTANT: To avoid as much frustration as possible, make
sure you're precisely next to the object.
        
        Once you're facing the object:
                        Press Shift + 1/3/7/9 (same as ducking/blocking)
        
        You cannot have a weapon out while you do this. (so make sure that you
kill the enemies on the screen before you try to pick something up :)

And finally,
Game Commands
        Pause           ESC
        Save            ALT + F1 ( you can only save one game :( )
        Restore         ALT + F5
        Quit            ALT + F10

Enjoy the game.